Kevin Smith’s Tusk updates: won’t screen at Sundance, 2 days of filming left

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

"Is man, indeed, a walrus at heart?"

We were hoping to get an answer to that at Sundance next year but now director Kevin Smith has revealed that his upcoming monster movie TUSK won't be premiering at the prestigious film festival as he had originally planned. Smith, the writer/director/podcaster/film geek dropped an update on his upcoming film, heaping tons of praise for the flick which finished principal photograph last month, and revealed that it has only two more days of filming to go once a mystery actor becomes available.

While his original plan was to rush the film for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Smith is so happy with the final product he’s holding it back so he can add in those final scenes and give the film what he calls a “monster movie score!” He’s hired Chris Drake (THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS animated films) to do just that. Smith also shared that instead of showing the movie at Sundance, he’ll debut a trailer in Park City in front of a midnight screening at the fest.

Smith says that the entire film is edited save for two days of Los Angeles filming with character Guy Lapointe. That’ll happen in late December to early January, but we haven't been keyed in to who will be playing that role (although it was offered to Quentin Tarantino…perhaps there's still a chance to see him in that role?).

Smith is ecstatic about TUSK, saying…

TUSK is the best flick with which I’ve ever been involved. Holy shit, did Michael Parks and Justin Long CRUSH it! This flick is like porn if you like to watch actors emote and say fucked up things about shipwrecks and sharks and Ernest Hemmingway and walruses and terror and madness. “

He also revealed that he'll be holding a special screening of the unfinished film for his SMODcast listeners in the coming weeks.

I'm pretty stoked for TUSK, which concerns…

“…a podcaster (Justin Long) who sets out to interview an eccentric, reclusive old seafarer, only to find himself a plaything in the gruesome plot of a deranged killer (Michael Parks)."

Here's hoping that Smith can deliver a truly terrifying 'monster movie'. More on TUSK as we hear it.