While doing some "quarantine cleaning," writer-director Kevin Smith came across a memento from the day he met Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee.
In a Facebook post, Smith detailed how he found "a cache of golden mementos" from the start of his career as he cleaned his office. "This is a set of sides from Mallrats," he wrote. "The miniature copies of the script pages production uses daily when making a movie. These are the sides from the day we shot the scenes with [Stan Lee], and that was the first time I met Stan."
The scene Smith refers to in his post is from his 1995 indie film Mallrats, where Lee offers Jason Lee's character some sage advice about love and comic books. In the scene, Stan Lee drops a few names like Doctor Doom and the Hulk to make his point in hopes of opening the heart of a short-sighted slacker.
"I know that I met my mentor and future friend on March 15, 1995," Smith revealed. Before Lee arrived, he was pulled aside to meet Smith in front of the fictional comic store Comic Toast. Smith described how much of a superhero Lee was in real life.
"He was sweet, funny, and everything I hoped he'd be," he shared. "I recall [producer] Jim [Jacks] pulling me aside to say 'Remember: He's 70, so be careful with him. He's an old man and could die at any minute.' Stan lived to be 95. Over 20 years after he shot his cameo in Mallrats, Stan filmed one of his many Marvel Studios cameos for the movie Captain Marvel. In that cameo, Stan was preparing for his Mallrats cameo. That's some Marvelous Meta!"
"Meeting Stan Lee enriched my life -- and now I know the exact date that it happened," he concluded.