Kevin Smith on Seann William Scott

Posted on February 24, 2010
Filed Under Actors, Directors, News

Filmmaker Kevin Smith had a little chat with NHL.com and revealed that Seann William Scott, who worked with Smith on “Cop Out,” will play Buddy, the title character in “Hit Somebody.” It’s a story of a hockey enforcer who strives to score just one goal in a hockey game.

“Seann, for me, was the key into the character,” Smith told NHL.com. “I had all the elements in place, and the one thing I was missing was the personality. Generally I like to write to a voice, but I didn’t know who that voice was or what that voice could be. And then after spending all the time with Seann on this movie, he’s pitch perfect. He is that guy. Seann Scott is such an ebullient, happy person who’s just happy to be there. And on ‘Cop Out’ you could see it. On our set the guy is just so delighted to be working, to be making people laugh. But he’s always dismissed as Stifler. … This is his chance to shine.”

“When I pegged Seann, I said ‘You’re Minnesota; that might as well be Canada,” said Smith. “You’re from hockey country. He was like, I’m an athlete and I played a lot of baseball and basketball, but I wasn’t good at hockey. I can skate, though. I said that’s all I need. He doesn’t have to be Paul Coffey on skates. He shouldn’t be.”

While nothing is locked in contractually, Smith said having Scott’s voice in his head makes finishing the script a far easier task.  “I look at this as Seann’s opportunity to go to the Tom Hanks level,” Smith said. “Hanks for years and years did this lesser role and then he became that blockbuster movie guy. This is Seann’s chance to do that as well, not just be Stifler. And it’s my chance to not just be the ‘Clerks‘ guy. It’s my chance to do something big, epic in scale. Stories I tell span one day. … This spans 30 years. You’re talking a period. You’re trying to bring people to a time in your life that hasn’t existed in 30 years. The look of it, the feel of it, the sound of it — everything I have is going to be in that movie.”

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