Live from NAB: Director Kevin Smith Talks About 'Red State,' Retirement and Butt Babies

Filmmaker Kevin Smith is everywhere these days, talking up (and screening for big dollars) his new film "Red State."

The "Clerks" and "Dogma" director visited the filmmakers and broadcasters congregating at NAB in Vegas this morning, and as usual, he had a lot to say. Yidio was on site for the event, and Smith was laugh-out loud entertaining, offering up clips of the surprisingly action-driven film and a boatload of profanity-laden quotes.

Smith says that when he's done with filmmaking after his next film, he's going to focus on talk radio, and we can see why.

Check out some of his best quotes from the presentation:

On Westboro Baptist Church Pastor Fred Phelps:

“My friend Malcolm Ingram shot a documentary called ‘Small Town Gay Bar’ and he interviewed Fred Phelps. I had heard about Phelps for years, but he was almost more like a fictional character to me. I mean you see these interviews with him and see the Westboro Baptist Church people at these protests, and they are doing these things that are so outrageously over the top, it’s almost caricaturish.”

“When I picture the Phelps family I picture what it would be like if Darth Vader and Voltemord f%^ked and had butt babies.”

On Directing Melissa Leo and John Goodman:

"My direction on 'Red State' was like this: We'd finish the take and I'd go up to the actors and say 'Yo, that was the bomb" and go back to my chair. I mean, how are you going to direct John Goodman? That guy has forgotten more about acting than I will ever know. Or Melissa Leo? She just won an Academy Award. If I told her 'you need to do this my way,' she'd say 'f%^k you - you made 'Cop Out.' Go back to your chair and sit down."

On How the “Red State” Road Show is Making the Film Profitable

“'’Red State’ was on of the easiest films to shoot once we got it up and running, but one of the hardest films to get funded. It’s a bleak, dark f%^&ing picture and we couldn’t promise to investors that they’d get their money back. 'Red State' took $4 million to make, and I’m happy to report that as of next week, we’re already in the black. We’ve made all our money back.”

On Why He’s Leaving Film to Get Into Talk Radio:

“Inside, as an artist, you know when it’s time to go. You know when you can’t express the way you want to express. Luckily, film has opened up a lot of doors to try other things and I’ve found some much better fits. Film wants you to cheat on her sometime and try other art forms and I did and I found other ways of that blended much better with my reality.”

“For years, all the criticism of my films said the same thing – ‘he’s always telling and not showing’ and there’s a reason for that. I’m geared up to tell rather than show. A lot of people think a talking medium is a step back from a visual medium, but to me it’s a lot more interesting right now.”

On Ending His Film Career after One More Film:

“I’m leaving because I don’t think you want to see another 'Cop Out.' I can’t play at the level that I became accustomed to playing at when I got into this business. I don’t have the same level of passion or ability that I once did. After years kind of pawning off movies that weren’t the type of films that I got in this business to make, that were just sort of complacent, at a certain point it started to just feel like a job, not my passion."

“I did that for a few years and I don’t like it. When I’m not passionate about the job, I’m not any good at it. Because if you’re passionate at a job, you don’t have to be any good at it. My career has proven that. If I start putting out movies and I’m not feeling it, I’m going to start putting out inferior work. People say to me ‘well, but you produced Mallrats’ and I’m like ‘thanks, Mom.’”