Before his roles as the Chimpmunks' David Seville, and Earl Hickey from My Name is Earl, actor Jason Lee was known for the cool, quick-tongued iconoclasts he played in many Kevin Smith movies. His Brodie Bruce character from Smith's 1995 Mallrats would provide the template for Ryan Reynolds' career.
Prior to being one of the coolest guys of the late 90's, he was an even cooler guy in the early 90's. Still in his prime as a professional skateboarder, he upped his cool cred with appearances in a couple of music videos for alternative bands: Redd Kross' 1993 hit "Jimmy's Fantasy,"
and the Spike Jonze produced "100%", Sonic Youth's lead single from 1992's Dirty.
The previous year it was a different Jonze production that would be the genesis of both his and Jason Lee's careers. The relatively unknown though groundbreaking skate video, Video Days, heralded as setting the standard for the genre, introduced Jonze as a creative mastermind behind the camera and Lee a magnetic presence in front of it. It was Lee's performance at the end of the video that caught the attention of Kevin Smith.
The song in the video, "The Knife Song," was early 90's tune by Milk, a short lived band fronted by Jeff Tremaine, who along with Jonze and Johnny Knoxville would later create the Jackass franchise.
