Kevin Smith Compares Reactions to Yoga Hosers and The Flash

(Photo: The CW/Warner Bros. TV)

Last May, Kevin Smith directed "The Runaway Dinosaur," the penultimate episode of The Flash's second season, and it was broadly praised as one of the best episodes of the series to date.

That was great news for the Clerks director, whose latest film, Yoga Hosers, had just been savaged by early reviews (full disclosure: this writer actually dug it).

Smith, a '90s indie film golden boy whose reviews have seen manic swings throughout his 20-year career,  told ComicBook.com that his crowd-pleasing turn on The Flash was just what he needed -- not to distance himself from Yoga Hosers, but to help sell Moosejaws, his forthcoming Yoga Hosers follow-up.

"What was great about 'The Runaway Dinosaur' was that it came out in May, but you have to remember that we had been to Sundance [Film Festival] in January with Yoga Hosers, and everyone collectively said 'go f--k your movie,' and a lot of critics didn't like it and were very colorful about the words they chose to explain how terrible I am at my job," Smith told ComicBook.com. "Then five months later, 'The Runaway Dinosaur' airs and then you have -- you know, it's not the same people, it's a different crop of people -- but people saying 'Wow, this was special. He did something good. Apparently he does know what to do if he tries very hard.'"

That reminded Smith of a lesson from his youth, he said -- one that was common knowledge in the '90s.

"When I was a kid in the early days of indie film, they had a one for you, one for them mentality where the really good filmmkaers like a Steven Soderbergh could do one of his movies, and then do one for the studios, and then go back and do another one for him. So I feel like right now, that's kind of where I am with the Berlanti shows on The CW. Being able to go into that world and play nice with others and do a job where people are happy and they like it, that's doing one for them so to speak. It proves that I could color between the lines if I had to. That just gives me more freedom to go off and f--k around in my own world and make these goofy horror movies set in Canada."As with a lot of "cult" art, Smith's work is more appreciated by his audience than it is by the critics -- but keeping the critics and the Hollywood establishment reasonably happy guarantees more paying work, in case his base doesn't turn out for a given project. That can be handy, since Smith self-finances his feature films.

"So it was a nice shield, that episode of The Flash, in the same year where a lot of people were tearing me down for my direction," Smith said. "Going into The Flash, I was always kind of hoping that I could go into this world where they do this every week and make an impact, make an impression where they're like 'Hey, we like the way you do things,' and I did. That dream came true. So when I got to go back for 'Killer Frost,' it was like going back to summer camp with all your closest friends cast and crew wise....The only downside to doing 'Killer Frost' is that it's episode 7, so now I have to wait until season 4 to go back. I got my Flash for this year. So it will be a long wait, but when I go back, I know it will be like old home week."