Kevin Smith’s Red State finally set to shoot

Kevin Smith’s long-mooted entry into the horror franchise, Red State, looks to be finally going ahead after a couple of false starts. It was at the end of last year that Smith told us face-to-face that the funding was in place for the film, but that appeared to fall apart shortly after. And off the back of the solid success of Smith’s maiden studio picture, Cop Out, he was expected to move on to his ice hockey movie Hit Somebody.

However, all of a sudden, Red State appears to be back on. Earlier this year, Smith had investigated fan funding for the film, but nixed the idea seemingly due to tax issues (amongst others). But yesterday, he revealed via the magical world of Twitter that things are pressing ahead.

“I talk about lots of stuff I wanna do that either happens years later or never happens at all. Happy to report RED STATE is not the latter,” he posted, before adding, “Looks like we start shooting this July. Took nearly three years, but we’re finally gonna roll on RED.”

It’s unclear where the funding has come from, but somebody has clearly stumped up the cash.

Red State, as Smith admits, is a marked departure for him, and not a conventional horror movie at all. That’s one of the reasons why the film has struggled to attract financing, but with it set to go before the cameras now in the summer, we might just get to see it early next year.

We’ll keep you posted.

See also:

• Kevin Smith interview