OK, maybe “cult” is too negative a word to describe the fans of Kevin Smith, the filmmaker and comic book writer who visited Kuss Auditorium Monday night to screen his new movie, “Red State,” and field questions from his flock.
Then again, their minds clearly have been reprogrammed to think differently.
Bryan Hawke, after all, admittedly paid the $67 admission fee to ask one question of Smith.
“I want to ask him why he can’t write comics well anymore,” the 23-year-old Springfield resident explained. “The last Batman series he wrote, he made Batman wet himself.”
Them were the only fightin’ words inside or out, as members of the Westboro Baptist Church failed to make good on a threat to picket as many of Smith’s tour dates as possible.
Smith, the writer and director of the beloved 1994 indie classic “Clerks,” used the infamous Kansas sect as the inspiration for “Red State,” a bloody thriller about a clan of terrifying Christian fundamentalists.
“This movie is bleak. This movie is a horror movie, straight up,” Smith told the crowd of 700 beforehand. “It’s not a comedy like ‘Clerks’ and ‘Mallrats.’ It’s a horror movie like ‘Jersey Girl.’ ”
More than a few of those in attendance were disappointed the Westboro folks didn’t show.
Patrick Beckel, a 40-year-old Springfield native and Smith fan who now lives in Mason, admittedly wanted to confront them.
“I want them to stay home,” Beckel confessed, “but I’d rather them protest something like this than military funerals.”
Most of those in attendance, however, just wanted to worship their hero, a guy who even sat amongst them Monday night to watch his own movie.
“I just think it’s great,” 28-year-old Donald Elliott admired, “that a guy’s made a million dollars using words I got grounded for.”
Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.
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