'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' opens Friday

Kevin Smith is moving on

"I don't really act, I just have three glances or three looks. We call them look 1, 2, and 3," says "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" director, writer and actor Kevin Smith.

(CNN) -- Director, writer and actor Kevin Smith, patron saint of a generation of slackers, first arrived on the movie scene with 1994's "Clerks." The native of Red Bank, New Jersey, followed that surprise low-budget success with "Mallrats" (1995), "Chasing Amy" (1997) and Dogma" (1999).

Now the wisecracking, comic-book-adoring "Star Wars" freak brings all his characters back in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." The film has the largest budget for any Smith film -- $15 million, still mere pennies by Hollywood standards -- and one of his oddest plots.

As always, Jason Mewes is Jay and Smith is Silent Bob. The duo this time heads for Hollywood, bent on meddling with a production that's based on their comic book alter-egos. Along the way, the two run into assorted characters from previous Smith films.

Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) find out about a new movie based on their comic book alter-egos in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

Among the performers with full-fledged roles, cameos or walk-ons are Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Chris Rock, Shannon Elizabeth, Ali Larter, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and George Carlin.

"Showbiz Today Reports" talked with Smith about the new movie, the Internet, and what film he'd like to re-edit.

CNN: Why are you ending the series?

Kevin Smith: I'm ending the series because I feel it's time. Don't you think it's high time we got out of here before people start throwing [at] us? I gotta to get out of here. I'm getting old. I'm 30, look at these crow's feet.

CNN:Why do you give yourself so few lines as Silent Bob?

Smith: Because I have zero ego. I can't sit there and hog all the screen time with the best lines. I give those to Jay. I'm happy to just sit there and react. I don't really act; I just have three glances or three looks. We call them look 1, 2 and 3.

I'm a really poor actor. ... It's easy to give all the good material to people like Jason Mewes, Affleck and to Matty Damon and Chris Rock because, A: they're much more famous; and B: they're far better performers than me. I'm just content to sit back and ring-lead and take credit for everything.

	CHAT
Thursday, August 23, 12 p.m. EDT: Chat with Kevin Smith

CNN: How did you get this illustrious cast to sign on?

Smith: I just asked nicely. It really comes down to that. You just go, "You wanna do it?" And they go, "OK."

CNN: In the movie your character is obsessed with finding out who is trashing you on the Internet. Do you take a similar view in real life?

Smith: It [surfing the Web] impedes on me being a husband and a father. I have a daughter I haven't seen in a few years -- and she lives in the same house as me.

... When people say negative things about me on the Internet, I kind of lose my cool and basically hire p.i.'s [private investigators] to track these people down, because they always hide behind anonymous names, right?

That's what the nut is all about -- anonymity. I know it's the same two 12-year-old guys who just keep changing names and making fun of me. But I'm tracking them down. If you're watching, I'll find you, little boys.

CNN: There's buzz around town that you worked on the Internet short "The Phantom Edit," the reworking of "The Phantom Menace" movie by "Star Wars" fans. True?

Smith: Do you think that I have that much free time to sit around and re-edit George Lucas' movie? I'm busy editing my movie and doing a poor job at it. Why would I take a shot at his flick? I'd like to think that I have better things to do with my time than sit around and re-edit old movies.

If I was going to re-edit a movie, I don't think I'd choose "The Phantom Menace." I'd probably go for something like "The Wizard of Oz." That's too long and the black-and-white stuff doesn't work. I'd just get to the flying monkeys.

... It would basically be three minutes long with just the flying monkeys, because that's kind of what the movie is really about.