Clerks II

[Myxo]

I can see Kevin Smith sitting around a table discussing future projects with producers.

KS: Well, shit. This whole Jersey girl thing didn't go at all as planned..

PDS: Yeah. Hmm. What if you made a Clerks sequel?

KS: I promised I wouldn't make anymore of.. Ah fuck it. I've gotta help support Jason Mewes' drug habit somehow. The poor bastard is sleeping on my couch.

[MacGuffin]

"Clerks" Clocking in for More
Source: E! Online

Snoochie boochies, guess who's coming back?

Clerks, the no-budget 1994 paean to slackerdom that launched Kevin Smith from no-name fanboy to Hollywood player, is getting the sequel treatment.

Smith's View Askew Productions has confirmed that the writer-director is cranking out a script for The Passion of the Clerks, picking up a decade later and again focusing on the non-adventures of trash-talking Quick Stop convenience store employees Dante and Randal, now forced to deal with life as thirtysomethings.

In a press release, Smith says he was inspired to put pen to paper after assembling a new anniversary DVD set titled Clerks X.

"After working on the Clerks 10th anniversary DVD for the better part of the last year, I fell in love with the characters all over again," Smith says. "The whole process reminded me why I got into the film biz in the first place: to make talky, low-budget comedies. So I wrote this script about the older and not-so wiser Dante and Randal, as they try to deal with a decade of further disillusionment, even less sex, and eroding pop culture."

Original stars Brian O'Halloran (Dante) and Jeff Anderson (Randal) are set to reprise their roles for the sequel. Also putting in appearances will be Jason Mewes, who plays the loitering motor-mouth stoner Jay, and Smith, as sidekick Silent Bob.

The Passion of the Clerks is scheduled to start filming in January and be released by Miramax Films.

As film-geek lore has it, Smith made the original Clerks for the paltry sum of $27,000 ($230,000 counting post-production), shooting it in the middle of the night at the New Jersey convenience store where he used to work.

The film was a surprise smash at Sundance, where it was snapped up by Miramax. Despite being slapped with an NC-17 rating for its graphic language (the film had no sex or violence), it became an instant cult hit, generating more than $3 million in domestic box office. Its success established Smith as a smart-alecky purveyor of pop culture references and a hero of sorts to wannabe filmmakers.

But the big question is whether Clerks fans view the The Passion as a noochie-no-no. Smith--who went on to make Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and, what was supposed to be the swan song for the whole "New Jersey Chronicles," Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back--certainly hopes not.

"While we can't pull off the $27,575 budget of the first, we're gonna make it damned cheap," he says. "When all's said and done, God willing, this won't be a Two Jakes, Texasville, or Jaws: The Revenge kinda follow up."

Smith says he was hesitant at first to resurrect the franchise, but after running the screenplay by Anderson and O'Halloran and getting positive feedback, he forged ahead.

"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 told the Associated Press last week. "We're going to do it insanely inexpensively. The budget will be somewhere between 250 grand and $5 million."

Of course, Smith might have reason to return to his roots after his last big-screen effort, Jersey Girl, barely made back its money after being overshadowed by the breakup of stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

This isn't the first time Smith has revisited Clerks. Four years ago, he oversaw a cartoon version of the show, featuring the voices of the original stars, for ABC. But the network canceled the 'toon after just two episodes. The entire series was eventually, and successfully, released on DVD to appease Smith's rabid fans.

Aside from penning new jokes for the Clerks sequel, Smith has been tapped to write a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet and a new Fletch movie called Fletch Won, due out sometime in 2005.

The three-disc Clerks X DVD set is scheduled for release Sept. 7, while The Passion of the Clerks will likely hit theaters sometime in fall 2005.

[Pubrick]

after running the screenplay by Anderson and O'Halloran and getting positive feedback, he forged ahead.

yeah, washed up actors tend to do that when presented with guarranteed work.

[Raikus]

He should stop pretending he's an acclaimed intelligent filmmaker, first and foremost.

Give me evidence he ever was pretending to be any of these things.

Everything I read from Smith is self-depricating. He busts on his talent and films constantly. The only thing he ever praises are the actors.

Chiming in on the whole Clerks 2 thing. I'm a Kevin Smith fan. Not as big a one as I used to be, but I enjoy the films he's made so far. Nothing he does in the future will make me dislike them. I'm sad he's not expanding and is getting gunshy about pushing the envelope on directing new material, but I'll still see what he puts out.

Smith makes fun movies. They're not critical darlings (short of Clerks and Chasing Amy). And they're not quirky Anderson-esque movies that utilize older comedy actors that seem to be all the rage now-a-days. But they provide context in the movie community. They're not films aspiring to be the intellectual, extestential movie of the year. They're just what they are and a lot of people love them.

The title has got to go though.

[clerkguy23]

Smith makes fun movies. They're not critical darlings (short of Clerks and Chasing Amy). And they're not quirky Anderson-esque movies that utilize older comedy actors that seem to be all the rage now-a-days.

what about george carlin?

[cron]

Smith is self-depricating. He busts on his talent and films constantly.

He's rich now, and I'm  sure he'll be richer in a few years, so who cares about what he says? That's his 'selling spot', his supposed honesty about all the filmmaking business.

His humor's horrible too,  at least for me.  I don't want to be reminded  of the activity of the penis of an homophobic white-trash boy every five seconds, which is the living span of a regular Smith joke.

[Ravi]

Jay and Silent Bob should die in a bloody shootout in the convenience store, so that there's no chance of them ever coming back.

[ono]

Tarantino?  Check.  Smith?  Check.  Alright, people, place your bets on the director with at least SOME potential and talent who's the next to sell out and lose your interest.

[coffeebeetle]

My gut tells me Smith's about to cross that finish line.

[Film Student]

Tarantino?  Check.  Smith?  Check.  Alright, people, place your bets on the director with at least SOME potential and talent who's the next to sell out and lose your interest.

I have this gut feeling that Vincent Gallo is going to direct Spider-Man 3...

[Myxo]

Tarantino?  Check.  Smith?  Check.  Alright, people, place your bets on the director with at least SOME potential and talent who's the next to sell out and lose your interest.

I have this gut feeling that Vincent Gallo is going to direct Spider-Man 3...

I'm far more concerned about some lamo doing X-Men 3.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Man, it's so easy to take cheap shots at popular directors.

[ono]

That's part of what makes it so fun.

[The Perineum Falcon]

So, I got this from The Movie Blog who got it from Animated-News who got it second-hand from Smith, or something:

At his View Askew website, Kevin Smith reveals that in addition to the live-action Clerks sequel, an animated Clerks movie is still happening. The director goes on to say that the storyline for the animated film revolves around the characters Dante and Randal shooting a movie about working at the Quick Stop.

Can I get a resounding "UGH"

[ono]

Now he's really scraping the bottom of the barrel.  He's totally run out of any sort of creative spark (which I can't quite say for Tarantino yet, though his films are becoming quite vapid).  Isn't all of this reflexive shit just gonna make the universe implode eventually?  Or at least Kevin Smith's head?