When you’re a filmmaker who also happens run your own podcast network, it sort of makes sense that you’d announce casting information yourself instead of waiting for anyone else to do it. And Kevin Smith has never been a man who really needed anyone else to do his press for him, so he’s gone ahead and announced probably the biggest name yet to join the cast of Red State, in the shape of John Goodman.
Speaking last week at the Smodcastle theatre in LA he uses to record many of the shows these days, Smith revealed that he had scored Goodman with the help of casting supremo Bob Gersch. “That is huge for me, because I love John Goodman in everything, but I’m a big, big Roseanne fan. I’ve been quoting John Goodman since Raising Arizona, and probably since even prior to that.” And, in true Smith style, he added that his wife has long since revealed that one of the reasons she married him is because she was obsessed with Goodman’s Dan Connor character on Roseanne. Oh, and he’s also been writing a role for the actor in Hit Somebody, the hockey film he’s planning to make when **Red State, **which kicks off filming today, is complete.
Goodman will join a cast that already includes Stephen Root, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano, Michael Parks, Anna Gunn and Melissa Leo.
**Red State’**s actual plot has, despite all the casting so far, remained largely shrouded in secrecy, though we do know that it’s inspired by the fanatical Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist church, and will find a group of young heroes falling afoul of a religious extremist.
Smith’s series of podcasts is actually well worth a listen – providing a free show for every day of the week. We recommend both original brand Smodcast (Smith and producer/pal Scott Mosier chew over various topics) and Jay & Silent Bob Get Old (a blend of the funny and the tough as Smith and Jason Mewes talk through Mewes’ struggle with drugs and life).