20 YEARS AGO TODAY: "But I'm Not Even Supposed to BE Here Today!"

The one thing that he hasn't talked about is if Rosario Dawson will be back or not. I'm guessing she will be given how critical she was to II.

 

She's one of the actors I think will be the first to sign on since she loved making #2 so much and had so much raucous fun on the sets. Rebecca Scott Hicks will be back, and with a little kid to boot. Remember, she was pregnant with Dante's baby the last time we saw the gang and I'm sure Kevin is itching to tell the story of Mr. "37 Dicks, Are You Kidding Me" as a father and husband.

 

Actually, I think his issue with doing III has more to do with money issues stemming from II and failure by the studio to pay out back end money. There was a Hollywood Bable On where Kevin went into some detail on how he had to hire a laywer to audit the weinstine company, and they were owed something like ten pulse million in unpaid royalties. Kevin, Jay, Jeff, and Brian all took basically no pay up front, shifting to a backend deal... And the company screwed them. Jeff has said he won't do the third till the company pays him the owed money from clerks II.

 

You could be correct about that. I know more about Anderson's reasons for and hangups about not wanting to participate in #2, but I did hear Smith mention something about money still being owed to at least a couple of the actors in the last film. If this indeed keeps Jeff from signing on for the third installment and sabotages the filming it'd be a real shame.

A whole lot of people are looking forward to seeing the original cast again and it's been almost ten years since the last film was released. It's always something....

 

Kevin said that the audit was one of the issues that they all had to wait for...but yeah Jeff too, wanted to make sure that was all squared away. Those seem to have been dealt with, because I believe that Kevin stated that he wasn't going to start working on III until that was out of the way and dealt with.

 

I certainly hope that's the case. It'd be great to hear an announcement from View Askew that the last major stumbling blocks have been pushed out of the way and the cast can settle into place for filming to begin.

If his March 8 Facebook announcement that the script is now being written means a lot of the behind-the-scenes crap is being worked out then that'd be fantastic news.

 

I suspect he'll have his first draft completed in a month or two. He's a pretty fast writer when he's in the zone, and that's exactly what he seems to be right now regarding III.

 

In his podcast I referenced he joked that he's had the story details for #3 for so long that the actual scriptwriting process would take less than a week. A humorous exaggeration, but Kevin can crank out scripts like sausages compared to many other screenwriters.

I imagine it won't be long at all before he finishes and starts passing it around to the actors and producers for their feedback.

 

"Hit Somebody" didn't take very long either IIRC...but he was so into the zone with that, he ended up with two films!!!

 

It was so big, it's now a miniseries project.

 

Yep. Thanks indirectly to Mewes, which is why we're now getting "Clerks III"

 

I've been a huge Kevin Smith fan since the late '90s. I caught Mallrats on Encore one night and was only able to see half of it, but it was some of the funniest stuff I'd ever seen. Jason Lee as Brodie is one of my favorite comedic performances ever.

Ever since then I've devoured everything Kevin has put out. I was probably one of the few people who actually saw the Clerks cartoon when it originally aired on ABC back in 2000. Today I'd place Clerks II as my favorite of his films, followed closely by Dogma.

As much as he pimped Red State as being his masterpiece, I didn't care for it too much. It was directed really well, but the story didn't really do anything for me. Comedy is where his strengths are. Although I did enjoy seeing Ralph Garman getting blown away.

I was hesitant to listen to "SModcast". It took 100 episodes before I finally started listening. I think it was because I didn't know what podcasts were. I knew it was Kevin talking with Scott Mosier, but I just figured they were just talking about the movies, and having listened to all of his commentaries, how much more was there to say? Once I started listening, though, I quickly realized that this was just another outlet for Kevin to express his storytelling. The conversations that Kevin and Scott have had have been funny, meaningful, informative, touching, etc. The podcasts prove that the man is great at holding your interest. His way of speaking just sucks me in, even if he's talking about something I'm not that interested in.

Kevin also introduced the world to Bryan Johnson and Walt Flanagan, and for that I thank him. I enjoy their podcast, "Tell 'Em Steve-Dave" even more than "SModcast." I think it's because they're more off the cuff, while Kevin has more structure to his show. I'm happy that I got to see all of them perform their podcasts live in Columbus, OH.

As for Clerks III? I'll be at the theatre opening weekend, most likely. Dante and Randall are great characters and I'm very interested have one more adventure with them.

 

I got in the Smodcasts last summer and now they're pretty much all I listen to in the car now. I particularly love the Fatman on Batman series interviewing Batman comic book and animated series people.

Which Babble On does he talk about Clerks II in? I haven't started that series yet.

 

I've gotten some flak for saying this, but Mallrats isn't the abhorrent mess that so many critics and audience members thought it was. It's a good movie.

It's not his strongest film by any measure but it does what any good Askewniverse movie should do: thoroughly entertain. Kevin's witty and literate wordplay is in full force in the film and Lee's Brodie is a strong and effective lead character because of the actor's good comic timing, body language and believable frustration and befuddlement at the people who surround him in his life. Ethan Suplee's take on the Willam Black character is just little more than a one-note joke during the film (spending the entire movie trying to see the 3-D sailboat in the picture) but hey, Willam was just a one-note joke in Clerks considering he just bumbled and stumbled inside and around the Quick Stop for the entirety of that story.

I like both edits and versions of Mallrats but the extended cut (30 or so minutes longer) containing all the scenes that Kevin originally intended to be in the film and in most instances better explaining the events of the storyline is my favorite. It might take Brodie and T.S. almost half an hour to even get to the mall in the longer edit but that first 30 minutes of the extended version does a better job fleshing out the characters and provides the explanation as to why Jared Svenning (Michael Rooker) detests T.S. so much during the course of the film.

 

I always liked Mallrats. I saw it before I read any bad reviews on the internets and was quite surprised at the level of dislike in relation to his other movies. I wasn't that impressed with Jeremy London's delivery at times, though. It seems like he had a tough time with Smith's idiosyncratic dialogue.

But still - great movie.

 

I don't know why anyone would hate Mallrats, I love it! Is it deep and meaningful, no, is it hilarious? Hell yeah!

 

My two favorite Smith films are the original Clerks and Chasing Amy, but I love all the Askewniverse movies. All six are either pretty amusing or extremely funny and entertaining and even thought-provoking in that special and sly way that Kevin crafts his films to make people stop and ponder their lives and the world, even if it's right after a poop, weed or jizz joke.

Mallrats has always gotten a lot of crap from the critics and demanding fans who wanted it to be just as good as Clerks and didn't like his foray into college kids and teens running around a mall making wisecracks. It's not going to go down in the annals of comedic cinema with Blazing Saddles or Groundhog Day but for a film about angst-ridden young people hanging out in a mall and discussing the meaning of life it's pretty damn good.

Plus, Jay and Silent Bob use a grappling hook. What else do you want?

 

I'd go as far as saying J&SB are at their funniest in Mallrats.

I'm not sure how I'd rank them, I think Dogma is possibly my least favourite, which doesn't mean I don't like it, just that I don't like it quite as much as the others.

Favourite would either me Mallrats or Chasing Amy. CA is one of those films that no matter how many times I watch it I still get a gut wrenching feeling at the end and I'm still willing Holden not to say what he says even though I know he always will.

 

My first exposure to Kevin was "Mallrats" and I absolutely loved it. It still remains my favourite film of his. In fact I'd probably rate my top five Smith films thusly:

1. "Mallrats"
2. "Clerks 2"
3. "Zack and Miri Make A Porno"
4. "Dogma"
5. "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (first film of Smith's that I saw in a theatre)

 

1. Clerks
2. Dogma
3. Jay Silent Bob Strike Back (just for the sheer insanity!)
4. Clerks II
5. Mallrats
6. Chasing Amy (it's a good film but it's more drama than comedy)