Kevin Smith’s latest film, Tusk, has only been completed for a short while, but has been actively looking for a means to get marketing capital and distribution to movie theaters. Ending Smith’s search quickly, fledgling distribution and finance company A24 (Spring Breakers, The Bling Ring) and Demarest Films have teamed up to co-finance and distribute the film, seeing it to completion for a release late next year.
“I’m as happy as the day Miramax bought ‘Clerks!’ said Smith.
The film is based on a SModcast episode about an ad for free lodging, with one caveat being that the lodger would have to dress as and act like a walrus for several hours per day, with that piece of the episode eventually morphing into a full film. There’s not a lot of plot information beyond that, but we do know that a podcaster responding to the ad in the film goes missing, and his friend sets out to find him.
Some promotional materials (pictured aboves) seems to indicate that the villain of the story (to be played by Red State‘s Michael Parks) has an obsession with physically transforming the protagonist into a walrus. Furthermore, the story has been referred to as “a cuddly version of The Human Centipede.”
It’s interesting that Kevin Smith has chosen to direct Tusk as he had previously intended for the hockey comedy Hit Somebody to be his final film, before going on to direct Red State and announcing Clerks III. I’m quite happy that the director is taking the chance to continue with his passion too, particularly after the awful Cop Out (which he did not write) and the relatively dismal Red State.
This film will, ironically, be Smith’s answer to the latter, jettisoning the religious overtones in favor for a zanier horror film. Also interesting to note is Smith’s initial interest in none other than Quentin Tarantino for the role of a strange Les Habitants-esque cop, something that did not pan out.
Everyone involved in Tusk thus far seems to be having a lot of fun on the project, which only makes the film’s third quarter of 2014 release that much longer of a wait.