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- What up nerds?

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It's Alyssa Ante Kaku senior editor.

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And today I am with
actor, writer, director

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and nerd royalty Kevin Smith.

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- I'm so old that you go, what up nerds?

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I was like, we're gonna get beat up.

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Like don't, don't do that.
But now I guess it's a, it's

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- It's friendly.

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- Yeah. And it, it's also currency.

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Like when I was coming up,
being a nerd was not currency.

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You kept that hidden or I wore it loud

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and proud, but a lot of
people kept it hidden.

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But now, like, it's the aim.

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It's, it's been crazy to watch
over the course of 30 years,

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the culture shift to a
place where all the things

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that don't really matter Yep.

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Now matter. Yep. But to
be fair, when I was a kid,

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I'm not saying it ain't like this now,

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but sports were everything.

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- Yep.
- And people would treat

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sports like it was a real job.

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Like you could be a professional athlete.

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It's like they just play
a game for a living.

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Once I figured that out,
then I realized, oh,

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like making stuff is just as valid.

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Like we also play a
game for a living. Yeah.

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In my business, we make pretend
literally there's nothing

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real that comes out of it
except what somebody takes from

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that thing when you're done with it.

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- Yeah.
- There was a guy came to this Comic-Con,

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he had a copy of Mall Rats on VHS

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and he was just like, can you sign this?

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And I was like, look at this
well worn piece of Americano.

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What's the story here? And he's just like,

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I'm gonna give that to my son.

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I have a son and I want
to give that to him.

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I said, you're gonna give a
kid Mara? And he said, yeah.

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I said, why? And he
goes, when I was a kid,

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my father get ready for
the, for the gut punch.

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He goes, when I was a
kid my father beat me

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to beat the shit out of
me every day to the point

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of near unconsciousness.

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When he was done, I would
crawl back to my room,

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close the door, and I'd put mall rats in

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and I would escape to the
mall with like Brody and Ts

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and Jay and Silent Bob.

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And that's how I survived.

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He's like, so I'm gonna
give my my son this tape so

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that he knows that you
can survive anything

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in this life and shit like that.

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And it was mall rats. You
know, it's not even like

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- Yeah.

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- And that movie was dogma.

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It was the one that is
like, oh, it was just me

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and my friends bombing
around the mall and stuff.

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So you never know what it is
that you're making that's going

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to become somebody's life preserver

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or somebody's buoy in a
stormy sea or something.

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And watching us enter
a period of of culture

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where that's acceptable.

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Where people can be okay

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with you tearing up at
the death of Tony Stark.

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You know what I'm saying?
Like when I was a kid,

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if you would've cried at the
death of Darth Vader Yeah.

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You would've got beat
up in a movie theater.

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Like what are you doing? Tony Stark gives

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his life for all of us.

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Inarguably the modern day.
Jesus. Nevermind Deadpool.

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And you can cry in a movie.

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They're surrounded by a bunch of people

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and nobody's beating you up.

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Everyone's going like, I feel you. I feel

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- You. Yeah.

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- This is a lovely time to be
- A nerd.

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- To be a nerd.
- Yeah.

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But like, I think with what
you said about mall rats,

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like you've always captured
like a, a part of living,

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especially in America
that is really special

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and like feels like
you're back in a timeframe

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or back in a time period that nostalgia

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that I'm a kid again.

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Remember what it was like
to get kicked outta the mall

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or to sneak into a movie.

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Right. Which is what the
four 30 movie is all about.

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- Very much. So four 30 movie
is definitely the furthest

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back I've ever reached to a
time when life was as as simple

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as like, we're gonna go to the
multiplex pay for one movie

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and then spend the whole
day going to the next movie,

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the next movie for free and try
to not get caught and stuff.

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A simple time that now doesn't
exist. I own a movie theater.

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Smile. Castle Cinemas in
Atlantic. Highlines New Jersey.

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It is. It has five screens.

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It's the movie theater from the movie.

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- Yep.
- If you come

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and pay for one Mo, you
can stay the whole day.

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You could go see any movie you
want, we won't throw you out.

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Just buy some popcorn and
'cause who you ripping off us?

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No, you're ripping off Hollywood.

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And at the end of the day, getting people

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through those doors, man is
like a mean feat these days.

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Yeah. Like now you
competing with a lot money.

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You know, streaming is so wonderful

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and they give you anything
right into your house.

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And TVs home, home television,
entertainment systems are so

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pure and so technological that
you really don't have to go

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to a movie theater to see stuff anymore.

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The culture's shifting. Yeah.

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And as much as how people
are gonna take that stuff in

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and whatnot, you know, since
I started in movies, I, I love