Kevin Smith lives out his Degrassi fantasy
CTV.ca News Staff

Kevin Smith will be living out a longtime fantasy tonight as his headline-making appearance on CTV’s “Degrassi: The Next Generation” continues.

Smith is appearing in three episodes of the home-grown classic show, playing himself, an acclaimed indie film director who is in Canada to film a fictitious movie, called Jay And Silent Bob Go Canadian.

In tonight’s episode, the badly-kept secret is that Smith finds himself in a love triangle with characters from the original Degrassi show, Joey and Caitlin, played by Pat Mastroianni and Stacie Mistysyn.

The word is that the two get to enjoy a heated on-screen kiss. Smith says the moment should have been a dream come true but the TV cameras somehow took the passion out of it.

“It’s not like you can really get lost in the moment because you’ve got to keep your head a certain way and stay out of her light,” Smith told CTV’s Canada AM. “It’s all the stuff you would never hear about from actors. It’s very technical.”

“I had never really kissed anyone well, I kissed a monkey in a movie and that’s about it. That was in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. But Stacie is a jump up from a monkey.”

Smith has never hidden his love for Degrassi. He started watching it in his early 20s while living in New Jersey.

“I used to love the show — I love the new show — but I used to love the old show. I’d watch it at the Quick Stop where we shot Clerks.”

He was immediately hooked by the hokey but lovable characters and plotlines. Smith has even inserted references to the show in his movies.

All the while, he harboured a guilty lust for the character of Caitlin. So when he was able to convince the Degrassi producers to let him appear on the show, Smith begged them to work him into a few scenes with Caitlin.

They happily obliged. Now Smith says he can strike one more thing of his list of things to do before he dies.

“Getting to do Degrassi was really, really cool,” he says. “Next, I want to be a fireman, and that would cover all the things I ever dreamed about.”

In tonight’s episode, Smith has Alanis Morissette in his fictitious movie starring as a hoser high school principal. The Canadian superstar musician has appeared before in a Smith movie, in a small but pivotal role in Dogma. Smith says he was sure she would work with him again.

“I mean, she owed me for heaven’s sakes: I did cast her as God. I always hold that over her head. I’ll be like, ‘Can you come out and do something?’ ‘No.’ And I’m like, ‘I cast you as God!'”

“I told her I was going to be doing the Degrassi episodes. She knew what a huge fan I was, so she was like. ‘I gotta be there. If you’re going to geek out, I’ve got to see that.’ It’s not like she was even in town doing something. She flew up exclusively to do that and took off afterwards.”

Smith adds it’s a pleasure to work with Morissette.

“She is just a phenomenal person, very bright, smart, wonderful, gorgeous, sexy, an incredible spirit. Most people don’t know because they just listen to the music, but she’s really funny.”

The final episode starring Smith will air next week, on Valentine’s Day, at 8 p.m. ET.