Silent Bob gets invite to city

Would Kevin Smith ever venture north to Thunder Bay?

The famed director, who brought the world movies like Clerks, Mall Rats and Dogma, says possibly, but with conditions.

“Not ‘til they switch it back to Fort William and Port Arthur. Or til i’m invited,” he wrote Monday on his official Twitter feed. Smith was responding to a question posed by a Twitter user with the name hazeleyes4470, asking him if he’d ever consider coming to the city.

The tongue-in-cheek response led 26-year-old Ryan Mackett to up the ante, forming a Facebook group entitled Let’s Get Kevin Smith to Thunder Bay!

“If Smith knows that Thunder Bay was once Fort William and Port Arthur, he either really quickly Googled us before he responded or he actually knows we exist. So the obvious thing to do is get him here,” Mackett writes in the group description.

By early Thursday morning the group had 154 members.

“I would love for this to take off,” Mackett writes. “I’m hoping anyone who has contacts/know-how in regards to setting something like this up will let me know ... Hopefully this group is enough of an invitation.”

Smith, best known for playing the character Silent Bob, has made it a habit to interact with fans online, made easier with the explosion of social networking sites.

“It would be deadly if he came here,” writes Julia Manfedi-Hobbs on the Facebook page.

Fans have also started a discussion listing things Kevin Smith could do in Thunder Bay. Suggestions include eating Persians and Hoito pancakes, strolling along the waterfront and filming an impromptu movie about his stay.