Paul_Stachniak

Kevin Smith announces "Clerks 2"

from ViewAskew.com:

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Smith is making another convenience store run.

The writer-director of "Dogma," "Chasing Amy" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" told the Associated Press on Friday that he has begun work on a sequel to "Clerks," his homemade indie classic from 1994.

That $27,000 movie, shot at night in a store where Smith worked, chronicled the adventures of Dante and Randal, two guys who talk about life, death, sex and movies while working at neighboring stores.

The sequel picks up 10 years later.

"It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it's time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex," Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office. "It's: What happened to these dudes?"

A new 10th anniversary DVD of "Clerks" debuts Sept. 7, and Smith said working on that three-disc set inspired him to write about what became of those characters.

The sequel - titled "The Passion of the Clerks" - is set to begin shooting in January. Miramax Films, which turned the original into a cult-hit after buying it at the Sundance Film Festival, plans to distribute the follow-up.

"It's funny, it's very raw, insanely foul-mouthed. In many ways it's the antithesis of 'Jersey Girl,'" Smith said, referring to his recent PG-13 comedy with Ben Affleck as the widowed father of a little girl.

Smith is also writing the screenplay for a movie version of "The Green Hornet," but no longer thinks he will direct it. The "Clerks" movie has moved to the top of his to-do list.

He said he called Jeff Anderson, who played the combative video-store worker Randal, and Brian O'Halloran, who was the besieged-by-strangeness convenience store employee Dante, to run the idea by them first.

"Jeff was actually very protective of 'Clerks,'" Smith said. "Jeff was like, 'Are you sure you want to do this? That movie means a lot to people and do you want to go back?' I thought about it honestly, and it would seem chicken to not give it a shot just because I'm afraid of (messing) with the first film."

So far, he said he has gotten only positive responses from the people who have read the script, so he decided to move forward with it. Both O'Halloran and Anderson are signed on, and Jason Mewes, will return as stoner Jay, the "hetero life-mate" of Smith's stoic Silent Bob.

"I'm sure there will be naysayers who say, 'Oh my God, it's an opportunistic grab at a buck,' but it's not. We're doing it for nothing," Smith said. "We're going to do it insanely inexpensively. The budget will be somewhere between 250 grand and $5 million."

The original was shot pre-dawn, and most of the actors worked for free and then went straight to their day-jobs with little or no sleep.

"This time around we'll afford ourselves the luxury of nice 12-hour days," Smith said. "And people can get paid."

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Matt Stone

Wow! I was always half hoping that a Clerks sequel was coming (Hardly Clerkin' ), and now it's announced.

I'm with Kevin, at least give it a shot.

Ricardo C

Man, an hour wasted on this sig! Thanks, Toshiba! :p

Lou Sytsma

Bad move. Having tried to go down a different path with Jersey Girl returning to his previous material will put him back where he started. His fans will be pleased but the for the rest of us he is no longer of any significance. He is like the local bar band that can't make the break out into a bigger market.

Every man is my superior, in that I may learn from him.

Colin Jacobson

Well, I'll be interested to see this. Haven't watched Jersey Girl yet - plan to screen it later today - but I do like his prior material (except the execrable Mallrats). It'll be fun to check out more Clerks but it also does seem like a regression and a disappointment in that regard. It'd be nice to see KS challenge himself more and not just fall back to the easy road...

Colin Jacobson
http://www.DVDMG.com

Kevin Grey

I agree with Lou.

I have no doubt I will enjoy Clerks 2 very much but Kevin Smith seems to be kind of stuck in a rut. Wasn't "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" supposed to be the true end to the the series? I did enjoy Jersey Girl as a nice change though it was a bit more cookie-cutter than I had expected.

It seems like Kevin Smith will go down the Woody Allen path- dependably turning out relatively cheap comedies with very a core group of actors

Richard Travale

Dan Rudolph

It was, but then he told Jason Mewes if he got clean he'd do another Jay and Silent Bob movie.

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Kevin Grey

True, but its not really ambitious either. Allen was hot stuff in the 70's but despite generally favorable reviews its been a long time since a Woody Allen film really got any kind of attention.

If Smith does nothing but continue to continue to revisit his earlier work I'm sure the product will be enjoyable but it really seemed like he was looking to set his sights higher after Chasing Amy and Dogma.

TheLongshot

But I can't say that Kevin Smith is a terribly ambitious filmmaker. He's a guy who has gone on record saying that he only directs films to make the stories he wants to make, usually about stuff he knows about. I mean, if he was truely ambitious, he'd be directing Green Hornet.

This may be a mistake, it may not be. Personally, I think it could be interesting to look at the life of a slacker into their thirties. What do you do when the people around you have careers, spouses, and kids? It could work.

Jason

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Matt Stone