How A Fargo Couple Ended Up In Kevin Smith’s New Movie

Pair Appear In Cult Director's "Jay & Silent Bob Reboot"

Cult director Kevin Smith is best known for movies like “Clerks” and the iconic stoner characters Jay and Silent Bob.

He’s showing his latest movie this Thursday at the Fargo Theater.

And if you go you’ll see a couple of faces from right here in Fargo in the movie, if you know where to look.

How did Fargo couple Karissa Mehr and Jason Melin, two non-actors, end up in Kevin Smith’s latest flick?

Jason Melin says, “I’ve been a fan of Kevin Smith for a long, long time.”

Their journey started with a Twitter casting call from Kevin Smith for his movie “Jay & Silent Bob Reboot”.

Melin explains, “He was looking for mashups.”

The characters would be at a fictional Jay & Silent Bob convention. Kari immediately had an idea: Sailor Moon.

She explains, “Instead of Jay and Silent Bob, it would be Jay-lor Moon and Sai-lent Bob.”

The costumes needed to be ready for the casting company in just a couple weeks.

They went for broke, hoping to make something memorable.

Melin adds, “I said I want you to make other people uncomfortable with how short the skirt is.”

Mehr went, “And I was like ‘Got it! Got it, bud!'”

The end result certainly came with a short skirt. But did they actually make anyone uncomfortable?

Melin says, “I got a lot of compliments on my legs.”

The designs mash Sailor moon concepts like gems with Jay and Silent Bob themes, like marijuana.

Mehr says they were, “trying to take colors that were really reminiscent of those really iconic costumes”.

They sent the designs to the casting company… and waited. They didn’t hear back, so Jason turned back to Twitter.

He says, “It took me hounding Kevin Smith, and he finally said ‘This guy won’t leave me alone. Would you just put him in the movie please?’”

Smith liked his Tweet. The next day they got the message: They would be in the movie.

Now a new time crunch: They had just a week to get plane tickets and hotel reservations for New Orleans.

Melin adds, “It ended up costing us to be in the movie. The paid us, but not as much as we paid. It was for the experience.”

They were part of more than a hundred extras shooting for two days, 12 and 14 hours each. They say the experience was thrilling and stressful at the same time.

Mehr says, “It was sort of funny because you never really knew when the camera was on you.”

They spent the days milling around in the background of convention scenes pretending to have conversations.

Mehr says, “We’d be in the back like ‘watermelon watermelon watermelon'”.

They had one big brush with Kevin Smith during the shoot.

Mehr explains. She says, “We happened to be walking off camera at the same time and so he accidentally kicked me cane forward and he was like ‘oh sorry’ and I thought he was just some random extra and it had been drilled into me ‘you do not talk. You do not ruin the scene by talking’ so I didn’t even acknowledge him and then I turned around and realized ‘oh my gosh that was Kevin Smith!”

After their shoot they flew home and waited eight long months until the film came out.

When it did, Mehr says, “I was absolutely terrified that they just wouldn’t use those shots.”

Their first chance to see it was at a screening Smith hosted in Minneapolis. And there they were on the big screen.

Mehr says, “It was a huge relief when we saw the movie and we were able to go ‘Oh my gosh, there! Oh, over there too!’”

They guess they’re in about 15 different shots at the convention. Plus, their names forever etched in the credits.

Melin calls it, “Validation of all the work that we put in and the very long days.”

And they even got to re-create their fateful brush with Smith and Kari’s cane after the screening. A fitting end to the story for a director who cares enough about his fans to actually put them in his films.

Melin adds, “Kevin Smith plays a really nice guy on TV but he’s also just a legitimately good guy.”

Karissa and Jason are gonna be there for the screening and a Q & A with Kevin Smith at the Fargo Theater.

We asked them if they’ll be wearing the costumes.

They said everyone’s been asking them, but it’s January in Fargo and they’re not too keen on busting out the short skirts in this weather.