I have been hyped for the Kevin Smith project MOOSE JAWS for years now. Set at a summer camp in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, MOOSE JAWS has always been described as simply being
JAWS with a moose.
It's the final installment in the True North Trilogy that Smith started with TUSK and continued with YOGA HOSERS, and is meant to see characters from those films crossing paths with Jay and Silent Bob from the Askewniverse movies. Modeled closely after JAWS, it is said to have a camp counselor to be played by Harley Morenstein as the Chief Brody type, Genesis Rodriguez reprising her TUSK role as the Hooper type, and Jay and Silent Bob in place of Quint. Johnny Depp's TUSK and YOGA HOSERS character Guy Lapointe is expected to return, as are the YOGA HOSERS played by Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp, and Justin Long as Mr. Tusk.
Problem is, it's been a long time since we heard any sort of update on MOOSE JAWS, and as Smith has gone on to focus on other projects like JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT, CLERKS III, TWILIGHT OF THE MALLRATS, and the Netflix series Masters of the Universe: Revelation, I have grown concerned that MOOSE JAWS might be dead. Thankfully, that is not the case.
During a Q&A Smith streamed live from his home last Friday, someone asked about MOOSE JAWS and the answer was,
MOOSE JAWS is the movie I'm doing that's JAWS but with a moose instead of a shark. It's so weird that you bring it up, we have a phone call about it with some of the folks that we made REBOOT with next week. A conference call. So yeah, it may be bubbling back to life. Wouldn't that be nice? Head up to the Canadian outdoors, spread far apart from everybody, making movies. One day, when we're allowed to do that sort of thing again. So yeah, movement on MOOSE JAWS!"
That was immediately followed by a question about Smith's horror anthology KILLROY WAS HERE. Directed by Smith from a screenplay he wrote with Andy McElfresh, that film was shot before REBOOT with assistance from students at the Ringling College of Art & Design in Florida. Smith showed the trailer during a talk at the school back in February, and during this Q&A he confirmed that the film is cut together and a meeting about it had been scheduled to happen (presumably about distribution), but it will have to wait until the COVID-19 pandemic calms down.
It's fun. It's really, really good. It reminds me of CREEPSHOW. Not nearly as good as CREEPSHOW, but that's kind of what we were doing, anthology like that. Rubber mask horror anthology. So it turned out wonderful."
I'm looking forward to seeing KILLROY WAS HERE, and really hope it won't be much longer before MOOSE JAWS finally goes into production.