Kevin Smith Says 'Hit Somebody' Will Be Two Parts

When Kevin Smith said Hit Somebody would be his last film before retiring, he was only telling part of the story. Smith is currently in Canada touring Red State and at the post film Q&A in Montreal he told the audience that the hockey film, which he's long said would be his directorial finale, has become too big for one movie. Much as Quentin Tarantino did with Kill Bill, he's making it a two parter. Read more after the jump.

The tip came to us from /Film reader Kevin Laforest over on his site Hour Community. Smith then retweeted the story, more or less confirming it.

According to that story, the split will happen when the main character Buddy – played by Nicholas Braun – makes it to the NHL. The first half of the movie will be about his childhood. Smith flirted with making it a TV show but finally settled on this.

And while this might sound crazy to most, in Smith's brave new world, it makes almost perfect sense. A studio would most likely never give Smith enough money to, basically, make a four hour hockey dramedy but Smith isn't really in the studio game anymore, is he? He's doing his own thing totally outside of the system and is doing quite well with it. If Smith is his own boss, he can make Hit Somebody whatever the hell he wants it to be and his fans will turn out to see it in one part, two parts, or twenty-two parts. Granted, he's said in the past that, unlike Red State, this film is too big to too on his own,  but maybe things have changed. We e-mailed Kevin's camp for comment but have yet to get a response.

Smith has published a few scenes from his Hit Somebody script and the story is pretty well-documented, considering it's told in the Warren Zevon song of the same name. It's about a tough hockey player whose dream is just to score one goal. Smith's almost official cast includes Braun, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano and possibly Colin Hanks, Stephen Root, John Goodman and Melissa Leo.

What do you think? Will you turn out for two parts of Smith's hockey opus? Can he release it the Red State route?