Back in 1994, an aspiring writer-director named Kevin Smith created View Askew Productions with fellow filmmaker Scott Mosier. Now, years later, Smith has at least 10 films to his name whose stories collectively exist in a uniquely fictitious world. Let's call it the View Askewinerse—since that's what all the other Smith diehards call it, too.
The depiction of this universe, which is also featured in comics and television, frequently offers hilarious glimpses into the minds of Jay (played by Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself). Meanwhile, recurring characters from one story often reappear or are referred to in others. One example of this is Jason Lee, who plays the same character in both Mallrats (1995) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). Smith sometimes casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe as well. One example of this is seen in Ben Affleck, who appears in Dogma (1999) and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) playing different roles.
Smith's recurring characters, settings, and motifs first appeared in his debut film Clerks (1994). The View Askewniverse is centered on a few towns in the state of New Jersey, AKA Smith's stomping ground. There are plenty of his films that blatantly belong to the View Asewniverse, such as Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! (2013) and Clerks II (2006), as the household characters played by Smith and Jason Mewes play prominent roles in them. However, there's also a handful of not-so obvious examples. Here's our list to help you out with that trickier batch.
4 Chasing Amy (1997)
A heterosexual man (played by Smith-regular Ben Affleck) falls in love with a lesbian woman (Joey Lauren Adams), causing conflict with his homophobic best friend (Jason Lee, another Smith regular), with whom he has created a comic book called Bluntman and Chronic based on their friends Jay and Silent Bob. The 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film is the third in Smith's View Askewniverse series. The film was originally inspired by a brief scene from an early film by a friend of Smith's. In Guinevere Turner's Go Fish, one of the lesbian characters imagines her friends passing judgment on her for "selling out" by sleeping with a man. Smith was dating Adams at the time he was writing the script, which was also partly inspired by her.
Even though Chasing Amy is a Smith film to the bone, moviegoers may forget that it exists in the View Askewniverse, given the genre, subject matter and marketing campaign whose promotional one-sheets prominently feature a beautiful woman's face — these could also be seen as departures from the nature of Smith's typical work. However, Silent Bob (Smith) finally opens his mouth in the third act to deliver Affleck's character an eloquent speech in an effort to help out a friend in need.
3 Scream 3 (2000)
The Scream franchise is still alive and kicking. As we count down the days until Scream 5's release, let's look back at the third installment that effectively brought the meta horror universe into Smith's Askewniverse. Released at the start of the millenium, Scream 3 brought back legendary director Wes Craven along with stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox (who was Cox-Arquette at the time). The film was originally the concluding chapter of the series until the franchise was revived in 2011 with Scream 4.
Jay and Silent Bob appear in Scream 3 during a scene which shows the pair in-studio. Jay comedically mistakes Cox's character, Gale Weathers, for TV reporter Connie Chung and sarcastically asks Weathers about Maury Povich. Given the self-aware nature of the Scream films, a cameo from Smith's beloved characters seemed fitting.
2 Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
The idea for Zack and Miri Make a Porno had reportedly been in Smith's mind since the '90s. Two porn-centered projects were in development at that time. One was a film called Name, which was intended to be a Chasing Amy follo-wup that would have starred the trio from that movie. But the project was never made. The second attempt was in 1997 as a failed series titled Hiatus about a man leading a double life as a porn star. While the series was rejected, Smith kept the idea in mind and wrote a script following Clerks II that would be porn-bent. The rest is "Zack and Miri" history. Though Smith had stated initally that the film is not set within the Askewniverse, he later added the character of Brandon St. Randy (played by Justin Long) as a part of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and confirmed the news on Twitter in 2020.
1 Drawing Flies (1996)
After they get cut off welfare, Donner (Jason Lee) leads his roommates on a journey to find a cabin in the woods that belongs to his uncle. They get lost and stranded in the woods, without food or water or their bearings when their van breaks down. He eventually reveals to his roommates that the search for the cabin is really a search for Sasquatch. They, of course, think he's crazy. But to make matters worse, they uncover all kinds of bizarre and dangerous activity as they wander through the woods in search of not only Bigfoot himself, but any hope of a future.
Drawing Flies is yet another comedy from Smith's View Askew Productions. It was written, directed, and edited by filmmakers Malcolm Ingram and Matt Gissing, with financial backing from Smith and Scott Mosier. Much of the cast of Mallrats appears in Drawing Flies. A couple of the actors portray the same characters, with Kevin Smith credited as Silent Bob. Smith also wore the same wardrobe within the two films.