PORN IN THE USA

ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO STAR JASON MEWES TALKS TO BAZ McALISTER ABOUT SEXING UP PORN STARS, GETTING HIS LITTLE FELLOW OUT ON SET… AND HOW HE DEALS WITH THE LEGACY OF THE CATCHPHRASE “SNOOCHY BOOCHIES”.

It doesn’t seem like 15 years ago that Jason Mewes hit the screen as crazy motherfuckin’ Jay, the lippy weed dealer who hung out with Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob in front of the Quick-Stop in Clerks. Back then, he was just a kid from Kevin Smith’s working class New Jersey neighbourhood whom the director found funny and wanted to put in his movie.
Since then, Mewes has made half a dozen films with Smith, and well over a dozen with other directors. All that, and he’s been through a downward spiral to the bottom of a drug-addled hell and back up again. The man on the end of the phone today is the new Jason Mewes – he’s still that relentless ball of energy who makes fans chuckle the moment he bounces onscreen – even if he’s a tad jetlagged, having just flown home to LA from Canada – but these days he’s clean-living, recently married to longtime girlfriend Jordan Monsanto, and has swapped his copious locks for a smart, short haircut. That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s lost his propensity for fellating everything vaguely phallic and flopping his cock out on cue.
In Kevin Smith’s controversial latest flick Zack & MIri Make A Porno, Mewes plays Lester The Molester, a horny devil drafted in by best friends Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) to help them beat the global economic crisis by shooting a home-grown porn film. Mewes, as the star of the show, spends the bulk of the film in various states of undress. And indeed if you’ve ever wondered what lurked beneath Jay’s long coat and tracky-dacks – well, Mewes leaves nothing to the imagination.
“It was fun,” Mewes recounts of disrobing on set. “I mean, I didn’t have a big problem with it. It wasn’t a big deal. One of the things I love about working with Kevin is that him and I are close friends and I love spending time with him in general, but it’s not just him; a lot of the people who worked on Zack & Miri worked on our other films, you know… [producer] Scott Mosier, [DP] David Klein… I’ve known them for ten years now, and half of them have already seen my business. Definitely, way comfortable,” he grins.
Early on in the casting process, Smith hit upon the master stroke of casting some bona fide porn actresses in his film – hence, Mewes had to do a couple of sex scenes with 28-year-old porn starlet Katie Morgan.
“Doing that scene with Katie was really comfortable, because she of course was not nervous at all, because that’s, like, tame compared to her normal thing that she’s done,” Mewes laughs.
Despite all the graphic shenanigans on show, Mewes describes Zack & Miri as Kevin Smith’s most mainstream movie. “You could mistake it, I think – it’s not as Kevin as the other ones,” he says. This could have been a worry. The last time Kevin Smith left his ‘View Askewniverse’ – the alternate universe where his stories play out, named after his production company – behind, it was to shoot Jersey Girl. Which no-one liked. At all. Zack & Miri, however, has some familiar faces like Mewes and Smith staple Jeff Anderson, but they’re also joined by some fresh comic talent from the new A-list of comedy – the chubby and lovable Rogen and the adorable and kooky Banks, who get the movie well over the line.
“It was definitely a good time, and it was nice working with Seth who’s really funny,” Mewes says. In multiple interviews, Rogen says it was Mewes who cracked him up on set. “I paid him to say that,” Mewes deadpans.
With Mewes being semi-naked for most of the shoot, his copious amounts of tattoos are on display for much of the time. They’re a mixed bag, ranging from representations of Justice League characters to Road Runner. Having Mewes talk through his ink is like getting a potted life story.
“The oldest piece that I have,” he explains, “I did a movie with Danny Trejo called Jack’s Law, and there was a tattoo artist who was working on the movie drawing fake tattoos on everyone who was in the movie. He drew one on my shoulder and I was like ‘Wow, man, I like this one’. And he said ‘If you want, come by and I’ll hook you up for free’. So he did one on my shoulder, and I really liked it but I felt that there wasn’t enough around it. So then I was in Santa Cruz and I had some woman draw something around it, and I liked what she did, so then later on I was working again on something and I met this guy who owns a tattoo shop and he did something on my other shoulder. Then I have one on my lower back I got in Denver, for my mom – my mom passed away – and I got her piece on there. And I have Kevin’s daughter [Harley Quinn] – she’s like my niece pretty much, slash little sister – I got her name on my spine. And this girl that’s a friend of mine, when my mom passed away she helped me get through some stuff, I have her name; and I have my wife’s name on me, and I have some comic-book stuff.”
Aside from revealing his wicked ink, Mewes’ nudity in the film has caused fans to see him with new eyes. Internet forums – the chosen haunt of not only Kevin Smith’s fans, but Smith himself – are awash with posts along the lines of ‘Fuck, when did Jay get hot?’. Indeed, Mewes is looking cut and healthier than ever before since he kicked heroin. But while he has a long history as an exhibitionist, since he got famous he was never that comfortable with attention, he says.
“I wouldn’t say fame is hard to deal with, because my hair is short now and people honestly don’t really recognize me that often – just odd. I do these signings where people wait in line for hours to get a signature and be all nervous – and I can know they’re nervous because they’re trying to take a picture and they’re shaking – and it’s still odd. Flattering, for sure, but I’m not that way, and not because I’m involved in the movies or anything, but even when I was younger, and into movies, there wasn’t really anyone I’d wait in line for or want to talk to. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable because I don’t know what to say when someone’s like ‘Dude, you’re awesome man, you fuckin’ rock! Say ‘Snooch’!’ and you’re like ‘Okay… snooch’. And they’re like ‘Awesome’ and then they’ll stand there like they want you to say something else, or perform, or something, and I don’t know what to say or how to act.”
It’s not like the motormouthed Jay to be lost for words. 15 years ago, Mewes would probably have followed that up by bellowing ‘Snoogans!’ and whipping out his dick. It’s strange how age mellows a man.

WHAT: Zack & Miri Make A Porno
WHEN: Screening from Thursday Feb 19