Kevin Smith’s Moose Jaws: Nic Cage back-up plan, Shudder hopes

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

When Kevin Smith wrote the first draft of MOOSE JAWS, a project he has always described as simply 

JAWS with a moose

he followed the structure of JAWS so closely that he required a Chief Brody type, a Hooper type, and a Captain Quint type for the lead characters. Since the story is set at a summer camp in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, the Brody type was a camp counselor character who is said to be a mixture of Roy Scheider in JAWS and Bill Murray in MEATBALLS, a role written with Harley Morenstein in mind; the Hooper type would be played by Genesis Rodriguez, reprising her role from TUSK; and stepping in for Quint and leading the moose hunt were Smith's most famous characters, Jay and Silent Bob.

But before dropping Jay and Silent Bob into the script, Smith had considered making the Quint stand-in Guy Lapointe, the character Johnny Depp played in TUSK and YOGA HOSERS. He decided against doing that because he felt that he shouldn't ask Depp to devote so much time to such a project – but his thinking on that has changed. Smith recently wrote a new draft of MOOSE JAWS that removes Jay and Silent Bob from the story completely and puts Guy Lapointe in the lead of the moose hunt. Lapointe was always part of MOOSE JAWS to some degree, but now he'll have a bigger role to play.

Smith recently hosted a JAWS watch-along on Twitter, and while watching JAWS with his followers he also dropped a couple new tidbits of MOOSE JAWS information – including the confirmation that Lapointe's role has been expanded, and a mention that he's hoping to make the film with the Shudder streaming service.

One of my next flicks is MOOSE JAWS. It's Jaws with a Moose, instead of a shark. Takes place at a Saskatchewan summer camp, Camp Antlers (seen on a shirt in @YogaHosers). Guy Lapointe (from @tuskthemovie) is our Quint-like character. (Hoping to do it with @Shudder.) #JawsAtHome

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) June 13, 2020

In my MOOSE JAWS script, they sing OH, CANADA to the tune of SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME. An earlier draft of Moose Jaws included Jay & Silent Bob as our Quint, and they gave the Indianapolis speech. See me reading that earlier draft on WAKE & BAKE at https://t.co/c2Xw8c2aGm https://t.co/I5hAPNaGyy

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) June 13, 2020

Smith does understand that there's a chance Depp won't be able to play the character in the film, and he has a back-up plan in case Depp can't return. During a recent livestream a fan asked Smith if Depp might come back to play Guy Lapointe one final time in MOOSE JAWS, and he replied, 

I am banking on it! But here's the other thing I can say: Guy Lapointe has a lot of makeup, so even if Johnny's like 'I'm busy' or 'I don't wanna do that', then I would go to somebody else, and the next person I would go to would be Nic Cage. So either way we're getting a Guy Lapointe."

In addition to Morenstein, Rodriguez, and Depp (or maybe Nicolas Cage), the cast of the film is also expected to include Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp, reprising their TUSK and YOGA HOSERS roles, and a part has been written for Chris Jericho.

The Cage reference comes at about the 86 minute point of the video embedded below. We'll keep you updated on MOOSE JAWS as more information is revealed.