Kevin Smith Explains Why A Couple of Dicks Became Cop Out
Posted 12.26.09 by Ryan
Two weeks ago, word spread that Kevin Smith's buddy-cop homage A Couple of Dicks, starring Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan, was getting a new title. The new title, Cop Out, is much tamer and less memorable than its predecessor, much to Smith's chagrin. Smith explained to EW the pain he endured in having to change the title.
Look, losing A Couple of Dicks was almost akin to losing my own d**k. It was a perfect buddy-cop movie comedy title. Everyone knew it. You couldn't say that title to somebody without a f**king smile crossing their face. But what I had gone through with Zack and Miri Make a Porno — "porno" had become very problematic, it became tough for us to advertise [the movie], blah blah blah. Warner Bros. decided, "Hey man, we'll call the networks and see if we're going to get any problems [with A Couple of Dicks as a title], months before the movie's ever going to come out." The top 3 networks — CBS, ABC, NBC — said we can't run one of your spots before 9 o'clock.
I'm like, "Well what about Inglourious Basterds?" And I guess, because of the spelling, they got away with it. So we were like, "Can we call it A Couple of D.I.C.s?" Because that's the proper acronym for detectives, Detective In Charge. And [the networks] kicked that back as well. It was the pluralizing of any form of d**k, whether it was d-i-c-k or any derivation.
Smith credits Warner Brothers for fighting "hard" for the title, but says the angriest people were his online supporters.
And I've got a lot of people online, on Twitter especially, going, "Don't lose this fight! Don't let them change it!" And it's like, "Dude, it's not my call." All these people online seem to think I have the almighty juice. I got no juice. I made Jersey Girl.
Still, Smith seems pleased with the new title.
I liked it because it sounds like exactly what we set out to be: An '80s buddy cop movie, without sounding like Loaded Weapon, or some such s**t. But more importantly, to me, the title tells the story of what happened to our other title. I think it's kind of ironic. It's win-win.
Next Showing: Cop Out opens February 26, 2010