“Supergirl Lives” & The Power of Kevin Smith

My “origin story” as a fan of director Kevin Smith began over twenty years ago when I watched the movie Mallrats. I admit now, I mostly watched because I wanted to see the Stan Lee appearance and I knew there were comic book references. I appreciated the movie, but I appreciated it even more once I saw Chasing Amy and Dogma and went back and saw Clerks and saw how all of the pieces of Smith’s “View Askewniverse” came together.

At Comic-Con in 2001, I purposely asked Mr. Smith a question at his panel because I heard a rumor that those who did would get to see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back early, during the week of the Con. It was true. Seeing that film – the ULTIMATE View Askew movie – in a room full of other fans was quite an awesome experience. Jay and Silent Bob became one of my go-to movies to watch when I want fun times, something that I still do to this day. I bought the soundtrack. And, even though the movie was largely out of theaters by the time my birthday came along that year, I dragged a group of friends 50 miles to the University of Maryland to watch the film at a screening there with me that December.

What I appreciated (and appreciate) the most about Kevin Smith’s work is that he gets the mindset of the comic book and sci-fi fan, because he is one. He will debate the independent contractors on the guest star. He will have characters questioning the sexual urges of Archie Andrews, which really has me wanting to see him directing Riverdale someday. He knows Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, yo. He made Daredevil and Green Arrow cool again years before they got their respective TV series. And he put Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher into one of his movies before it was cool to do so.

While I did see Smith again at a 10th anniversary screening of Mallrats, and I did ask a probably stupid question at that panel that I’ve long since forgotten, I’d never really met the guy. Imagine my surprise late last year, during the annual Warner Bros. Television set press tour, when we were invited to watch Smith directing a scene from tonight’s Supergirl episode “Supergirl Lives.”

All the stories you read about the actors praising him as a director? They’re true. He treated us, visiting members of the press, like we were special guest stars in our own right. He invited us to see the process. Crew were applauded. Cast was applauded. Heck, we were applauded. Rather than having an ego as a well-received director helming an episode of Supergirl, you could tell he was having the time of his life. Part of me wished I had a time machine, to tell my younger self that I’d someday be seeing Mr. Smith directing, and that he’d treat myself and others like welcome guests.

“I can’t say enough amazing things about Kevin Smith,” Melissa Benoist told us soon after we watched her, Ian Gomez, and Mehcad Brooks shooting a scene for the episode. “I’ve been a fan for ages. I was really anticipating working with him and so excited about it, and he just exceeded all of my expectations. He’s so supportive and encouraging. The atmosphere on set… We work crazy long hours, and the energy that he brings is only positive. You guys saw how many rounds of applause there were. That’s like a daily occurrence, all day, and I don’t know how you keep that up. He’s wonderful. He’s [unintelligible] about this genre. He knows it so well, so knowledgeable about it. I just truly look up to him,” she said.

Tonight’s episode of Supergirl is Smith’s third venture into Greg Berlanti’s DC Comics world on The CW, with a Supergirl encore coming later this year. Hopefully there are many more to come in the future. But for this longtime fan, the experience of seeing the man directing was a treat, and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

“Supergirl Lives” airs tonight (January 23) at 8PM (ET/PT) on The CW. Come join the discussion of the episode on our Supergirl forum!