Fan-favorite writer/director Kevin Smith is heading back to the well with a threequel to his original indie culture classic masterpiece, Clerks (1994). But will this auteur be able to recapture the lightning in a bottle that his first film found? Or even live up to the previous sequel, Clerks II (2006)? Well, Smith thinks he has a surefire way to ensure it does!
The new film, simply titled Clerks III, is to be filmed in a mixture of both color and classic black & white to get back to the roots of his original 1994 hit according to director Kevin Smith. The writer/director hasn’t been too shy regarding the film’s plot, which will shift the focus from Dante to Randal, who recently suffered a heart attack and is wrangling the rest of the Quick Stop crew together to create a film to preserve his legacy.
In a recent interview with ComicBook, Kevin Smith explained that his goal is to do something new and unique while also shooting for the nostalgia factor of the Clerks brand saying:
It’s both [black and white and color]. The premise of the movie, of course, is that they make a movie, so the movie they make is in black and white. The movie’s in color, but [it’s black and white] when they shoot their version of Clerks — which is called Inconvenience. That was the original title for Clerks.
The black and white movie they’re making is called Inconvenience, that’s their version of Clerks. There’s a lot of us replicating the scenes that you know insanely well from Clerks, and the beautiful thing is they’re replicated with all the same people, and we’re all so f**king old.
It should certainly be interesting for fans to see Smith’s approach to some of the classic Clerks scenes in the modern-day, especially since it sounds like all of the original actors are making their return for them. The decision to bring back the black & white aspects of the original Clerks film should also stir up some well-deserved nostalgia among fans, but even more than that, it sounds like Smith is using his ‘Askewniverse‘ to tell a very personal story; A story that reflects on his making his first film, as well as his recovery and response to having survived a heart attack.
Clerks III recently started filming in Smith’s hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey on the director’s 51st birthday. While this is the third entry in the Clerks franchise, it marks the eighth film in Smith’s long-running ‘Askewniverse‘ series of films that also includes Mallrats (1995), Dogma (1999), Chasing Amy (1997), and the Jay & Silent Bob films (Strike Back (2001) and Reboot (2019)). The original Clerks (1994) was shot on an impossible budget of just $27,000 that Smith hastily scrounged together. It became an indie hit and kickstarted the director’s career, revolutionizing how films could be made.
This new sequel comes a full fifteen years after the previous sequel, Clerks II (2006). While the first sequel was well-received by fans, it didn’t quite strike financial lightning the way the first film did. As that film was shot in color rather than black & white, maybe Smith thinks that meeting in the middle will help this third film reach greater heights?
Clerks III is both written and directed by Kevin Smith and stars Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Donnell Rawlings, and, of course, Kevin Smith himself. We also wouldn’t be too surprised to see any number of his ‘Askewniverse‘ regulars turning up at some point. The film is expected to release sometime in 2022.
Are you excited about Clerks III? Do you think it makes sense to shoot the film in a blend of color and black & white? Or should Smith just stick with one format? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more Kevin Smith updates!
