Now that Kevin Smith’s new hockey movie, Hit Somebody, is being converted into a miniseries, he’s decided to do one last Clerks movie before calling it quits.
“So with the HIT SOMEBODY shift, the minute Jeff Anderson signs on, my last cinematic effort as a writer/director will be CLERKS III. #TaDa” Smith revealed on Twitter.
The Clerks trilogy is a statement on Smith’s 20s, 30s, and now 40s with the characters Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) representing Smith and his longtime friend Bryon Johnson, respectively. However, Smith says Randal is the person he wanted to be growing up and the third film will focus on him. “There’s no point in doing it without Randal because Clerks III is very much Randal’s story,” Smith explained on his podcast.
Anderson was also reluctant to do Clerks II. He’s still waiting to get paid by the studio, along with the rest of the cast. Smith plans to bypass Hollywood this time by using the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter to raise funds for the project. Rewards for pledging will include non-speaking roles as extras. The hope is to have Clerks III released in time for the 20th anniversary in 2014.
For more backstory, check out Smith’s podcast: Hollywood Babble-On #000: GIANT SIZED ANNUAL # 1: CLERKS III
