The surprisingly interesting life of Jason Lee:
Who? Who the fuck is Jason Lee. Exactly. You probably know him best as Earl Hickey.
But little did you know that Jason Lee has one of the coolest filmographies ever. Check out some of the roles he has played:
Filmography
YEAR TITLE ROLE
2010 Cop Out Roy
2007 Alvin and the Chipmunks David Seville
2006 Clerks II Lance Dowds "Pickle Fucker"
2004 The Incredibles Syndrome
2002 Stealing Harvard John
2001 Vanilla Sky Brian Shelby
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Banky Edwards/Brodie Bruce2001
2000 Almost Famous Jeff Bebe
1999 Dogma Azrael
1998 Enemy of the State Zavitz
1997 Chasing Amy Banky Edwards
1995 Mallrats Brodie
Those roles aren't all consecutive, but that is still a fucking epic 15-year run of film sets to be on. Any given person you talk to will likely have at least one of those films in their top 10, if not multiple. And that doesn't even take into account his 96 episodes of 'My Name is Earl' from 05-09 with Louie Lastik and Jamie Pressley.
Louie Lastik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEdV4ZcNJhA
Jamie Pressley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4utH5uWK6c
Jason Lee played a significant part in damn near every one of Kevin Smith's classics. He got to play a real life version of Dave Seville and do his best "AAAALVIN!!!!" impersonation on screen. He played Tom Cruise's best friend in the criminally underrated/weirdest movie ever Vanilla Sky. He played fuckin' Syndrome in The Incredibles. But in my opinion, the most awesome role Jason Lee ever played was as Jeff Bebe, lead singer of the fictional band 'Stillwater', in Almost Famous.
Almost Famous is an all time classic and Stillwater is an all time fictional band. If you haven't seen it, you're a bitch.
Jason Lee was introduced to the world as Brodie Bruce in Mallrats - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guM9Va3LQ_s
In Clerks II he plays Pickle Fucker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX9tVVvLb2I
Jay & Silent Bob as Brodie Bruce again - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8gBmRP5Il4
Dogma as the demon Azrael - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_MTFEPq-9Y
Vanilla Sky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hLgPIRagVU
The movies are incredible. But this is where it really gets interesting. When he wasn't filming movies in the 90s and 00s, Jason Lee enjoyed himself some L. Ron Hubbard. He is (was) a Scientologist and his commitment to Scientology was so strong that he divorced his first wife, Carrie Llywelyn, because she read a book A Piece of Blue Sky which is an anti-scientology book. In fact, after Lee found out she read the book, he divorced her by sending her a one-paragraph "disconnection" letter and Llywelyn was labeled a "Suppressive Person". I use quotes because apparently in Scientology, anyone who is deemed an enemy of the religion becomes "disconnected" which basically means they are shunned for life. And being deemed a "Suppressive Person" (so common it's abbreviated in the religion as SP) means that you have an anti-social personality and your disastrous and suppressive acts are said to impede the progress of Scientologists and the Scientology movement. I don't know shit about Scientology, but everything I do know is weird as fuck. Jason Lee gave up Scientology in 2016 and moved with his family (new wife, 3 kids) to DENTON, TEXAS to live out his days as a normal member of society. Folks I've been to Denton, Texas, and no one in their right mind would move there willingly unless they were a) brainwashed or b) hiding from something/someone. Jason Lee is the man and his contributions to some of the greatest films of the 90s/00s are incredible, but god damnit he must have had some weird off-camera shit going on to be so dedicated to Scientology that he divorced his wife with a one-paragraph letter in 2001, gave it up completely in 2016, and moved to Denton fucking Texas.
Also, Jason Lee was a professional skateboarder in the late 80s and early 90s before pursuing a career in acting. He makes an appearance in Tony Hawk's Project 8, but thats about 5 Tony Hawk's past my prime. Either way, going from pro skateboarder to acting in Kevin Smith's movies is about as peak 90s as it gets. Jason Lee is the 90s. Fuck Scientology* for fucking him up in the 2000s.
Long live Brodie Bruce, Jeff Bebe, Syndrome, Dave Seville, Pickle Fucker, Earl Hickey and Jason Lee.
*I'm assuming Scientology is at fault
PS - If the above wasn't enough Jason Lee for you, here's a cool and short video summarizing the interesting life of Jason Lee (basically where I got all my info): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEl3QRmA-_Y