Kevin Smith

This fun and photo-filled biography celebrates the life, films, and fans of the director responsible for such indie cult classics as Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Movie-industry veteran David Gati has compiled and edited a humorous and insightful look at Smiths nearly 30-year filmmaking journey. Through Smiths own funny, honest, and uncensored storiestaken from podcasts, Q&As, and documentariesreaders get to know him as a person, the struggles hes been through, and the people hes worked with, as well as his process for writing, directing, casting, shooting, editing, and showing his films to the public. The book is arranged chronologically with each chapter exploring how an aspect of Kevins life is reflected in one of his 14 films. Not to be overlooked is Smiths outsized fan base, who relate to the directors down-to-earth persona and his geeky, sometimes juvenile, often-nostalgic regular-person characters. Gati uses their fan art to add a visual facet to the books colorful narrative gems. Rounding out this scrapbook presentation are on-set stills, candid personal photos, and memorabilia. The result is an exploration of how films affect and reflect the popular culture of their time, with a light-hearted analysis of the phenomenon of fandom. This unusual biography is a must-have collectible dedicated to a member of the 90s independent filmmakerswhich includes Quentin Tarantino, Allison Anders, Robert Rodriguez, Hal Hartley, and Spike Leewhose relevance and popularity will only continue to grow.