I’m sort of not sure when Kevin Smith decided he was a shoe-in for Sundance, but he sure as hell talks as if it’s his choice to play his films in the biggest film festival in America. Whatever, let the guy yammer on and on, as long as he delivers a good movie.

Smith took to his SModcast to update the progress on Tusk, his new horror comedy that will need some additional photography.

“We’ve still got two more shooting days here in Los Angeles to wrap the flick with our fifth Beatle – the performer playing the role of investigator Guy Lapointe,” says Smith. “It’s looking like late December/early January for that – which would mean I’d be racing to my self-imposed Sundance finish line. And while I had to rush to make it all happen so as not to risk losing momentum, rushing now might foster a cavity around my creativity.

“The hard part’s over: we got the flick in the can (which sounds vaguely dirty),” he continues. “Now that I’m seeing what we’ve created in madcap haste, I’m slowing down the pace: because, shockingly, this flick turned out WAY the fuck better than I’d dreamed it could be.”

The cool news is that fans of SModcast will get to see a work-in-progress cut near the festival (how cool is that?), and need to listen to his podcast for details.

Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), Genesis Rodriguez, Justin Long (Jeepers Creepers, Live Free or Die Hard, A Case of You) and cult favorite Michael Parks (Red State, Django Unchained) star.

Tusk’s horror story “follows a podcaster (Long) who sets out to interview an eccentric, reclusive old seafarer, only to find himself a plaything in the gruesome plot of a deranged killer (Parks).“