Kevin Smith Says Ben Affleck's 'Jay and Silent Bob Reboot' Cameo Is an '8-Page Chasing Amy Sequel' (Exclusive)

Zach Seemayer‍
Updated
Kevin Smith Says Ben Affleck's 'Jay and Silent Bob Reboot' Cameo Is an '8-Page Chasing Amy Sequel' (Exclusive)

Kevin Smith is bringing a bunch of unexpected feels along with hilarious nostalgia in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.

The director, along with longtime creative partner Jason Mewes, sat down with ET's Ash Crossan at Comic-Con on Friday and opened up about the long-gestating meta-sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -- and the unexpected cameo that brought pal Ben Affleck back into his life.

After debuting star-studded trailer for the film on Thursday, Smith shared an emotional Instagram post on Friday, detailing how an entertainment reporter posing a question to Affleck in a junket motivated him to reach out to his estranged pal and ask if he'd be willing to make an appearance in Reboot, and after a brief text exchange, it was in the works.

In the new film, set several years after the events of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the titular heroes find out that the original Bluntman and Chronic film -- a superhero movie based on them -- is getting remade in the form of a modernized, gritty reboot. So they head back to Hollywood to stop the production. Unfortunately, Smith explained, the movie has mostly been shot by the time he reached out Affleck, and he didn’t initially have an ideal place to slot his old friend into the film.

MY BOYFRIEND’S BACK! When the trailer for @jayandsilentbob Reboot dropped (link in my bio), folks found out a few of our secrets - one of the biggest being that @benaffleck is back as Holden McNeil! The co-creator of #bluntmanandchronic and friend of #jayandsilentbob plays a crucial role in the Reboot and his scene is one of the best bits of cinema I’ve ever been involved with: it’s absolutely magical and life-affirming and all the things I really care about now, post-heart attack. But when we started shooting the movie, the scene didn’t exist. This scene - and more importantly, my reunion with a guy who I’ve missed terribly for nearly a decade - only happened because of @kevinmccarthytv. Kev interviewed Ben for his @netflix movie #triplefrontier and kicked off by asking Ben “Did they call you for Reboot yet?” And Ben said no, but he was available. So producer @jordanmonsanto said “Call Ben.” I told her “That’s just some nice shit to say at a junket. He wasn’t serious.” A week later, Jordan, @jaymewes and @jenschwalbach we’re all pressing me to reach out to Ben, so I finally did. I was scared to be rejected, but I texted him “To paraphrase the sad old King Osric in CONAN THE BARBARIAN? ‘There comes a time when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a director’s love for the people he used to make pretend with.’” And after a long beat of wondering how he’d receive this, my estranged friend wrote back as only he could: “Of course you still liken yourself to a king,” he joked. And then “Would be a pleasure to see you again, Old Man.” So naturally, weepy me - who breaks down emotionally during comic book flicks - was a blubbery mess. Not only did we score an amazing scene for the flick, but I also got my friend back - all because of entertainment journalism. Thank you, #kevinmccarthytv - your #viewaskew themed opening question not only allowed me to make an 8 page sequel to #chasingamy in the middle of #JayAndSilentBobReboot, it also brought back a massive missing piece of my heart. #KevinSmith #benaffleck #JasonMewes #reunited #comiccon #holdenmcneil

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Jul 19, 2019 at 7:54am PDT

"I had a good sleep on it, and I woke up and I was like -- Ben played Holden, who was the co-creator of Bluntman and Chronic in the mythology of our movies and stuff, so I could pull him into the third act," he recalled. "Basically, there’s a scene that is the emotional culmination of the flick, that’s his scene, that didn’t exist prior. It was like, one throwaway visual moment. But with him going like, ‘I’ll come out and play Holden,’ we were able to do an eight-page sequel to Chasing Amy, right in the middle of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot."

"And he gave us, like, it’s one of the best scenes -- if not the best scene -- in the movie," he added of the surprisingly heartfelt moment. "It’s incredibly emotional, it’s some of his best performance, definitely some of my best writing. And it’s in a Jay and Silent Bob movie! That, to me, is the trick, that to me is like -- after 25 years in this business, I’ve gotten to a place where I can take the least likely vehicle and put stuff in it to deliver to your heart that you might be surprised by.”

Along wit Affleck, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot also features cameos from Rosario Dawson, Chris Hemsworth, Tommy Chong and more. Hemsworth's cameo, in particular, is significant, as Smith referred to Reboot as the Avengers: Endgame of the "View Askewniverse," except "we had way less money. But we did have Thor, so that kind of worked!"

Smith teased the trailer premiere on social media in the week leading up to Comic-Con, posting "in-movie artwork" to Instagram, including fake comic covers and faux movie posters that all play important roles in the universe of the movie.

"In anticipation, I’ll be sharing images from #jayandsilentbobreboot that I haven’t made public yet. Like this faux movie artwork upon which our plot turns," Smith captioned a post on Instagram on Tuesday, showing the poster for the rebooted Bluntman and Chronic, which "now features a female Chronic" as Smith explained.

This weekend at @comic_con, we’ll be debuting the @jayandsilentbob Reboot trailer during my Saturday night Hall H panel (right after the @marvelstudios panel)! It’ll go out to the world soon after, so folks are going to see much more of the cast, plot and in-movie artwork. So in anticipation, I’ll be sharing images from #jayandsilentbobreboot that I haven’t made public yet. Like this faux movie artwork upon which our plot turns. In the new adventure, #jayandsilentbob find out the old #bluntmanandchronic movie that was based on them is getting a Reboot - so they go back to Hollywood to stop it all over again! But as with any Reboot, the source material has been modernized - so the rebooted Bluntman movie (the reboot of the movie that starred @biggsjason and @vanderjames) now features a female Chronic! I won’t spoil who plays the new Bluntman and Chronic (it’s in the trailer), so I’ll take some guesses instead: Who’s Behind the Masks? When the trailer drops this weekend, you’ll get to see if you were right. But if you’re at Saturday night’s “Kevin Smith Reboots Hall H” panel, you’ll not only see the Reboot trailer: I’m gonna show you the #Bluntman movie-in-a-movie scene too! I can’t wait to start sharing this epic! It’s my all-time favorite of all my flicks and also a meta scrapbook of my entire career (and life) that sequelizes all the #viewaskew movies in one sprawling story! (NOTE: Reboot comes out in the Fall. The B&C poster says “Summer” because that’s when it comes out in the #viewaskewniverse.) Art by #marianodiaz! #KevinSmith #comiccon #hallh #reboot #jayandsilentbob #viewaskewniverse

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Jul 16, 2019 at 8:22am PDT

"I can’t wait to start sharing this epic!" Smith added of the upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. "It’s my all-time favorite of all my flicks and also a meta scrapbook of my entire career (and life) that sequelizes all the #viewaskew movies in one sprawling story!"

The hotly anticipated meta-comedy is set to hit theaters in the fall. Although the movie does not have an official release date, Fathom Events and Saban Films will show it in 600 US theaters on Oct. 15 with a video introduction from Mewes and Smith.

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