Kevin Smith on weed, Twitter, Zack and Miri

Kevin Smith nearly lost his directing mojo after shooting "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" in Pittsburgh more than a year ago. It wasn't the experience or the movie but how audiences didn't flock to it. He sits down with Newsweek for a classic, expletive-filled (but deleted) chat. He says, in part:

Smith realized he needed to grow up after "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" underperformed last year. "I was like, 'I can't show my face on the Internet ever again'," Smith says. "I'm done." He got by with a little help from his friend Seth Rogen. "Seth is a pretty big stoner," Smith says. "Suddenly I had a vice. It takes me places, magical journeys. I swear I've never done more writing than when I've been smoking weed for the last six months."

If you're surprised that anyone would be so open about his life, you've never met Kevin Smith. Frankly, that's your own fault. He thinks nothing of inviting his fans over to his house for poker games. He's attended a few of their weddings, too. "I met so many kids named Dante or Randal [after Clerks]," Smith says, "because people connect to those movies." Smith now has almost 700,000 followers on Twitter, making him one of the top 100 Tweeters in the world.

You can find the interview, conducted by Ramin Setoodeh, at newsweek.com.