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

[cooleddie74]

Twenty years ago today - on March 8, 1993 - Kevin Smith began the very first day of filming on his first theatrical film (and arguably his opus) Clerks, launching what has come to be known to his fans over the last two decades as the View Askewniverse. The first day of shooting on Clerks saw the filming of the RST Video counter scene where Randal Graves and Veronica discuss Dante's refusal to tell her that his former girlfriend Caitlin Bree has broken off her engagement to the Asian design major and returned to New Jersey to see him. This scene has also become notorious for the amount of eye shadow and makeup that Randal (Jeff Anderson) is wearing in the scene, which doesn't appear anywhere else in the film and was the result of Kevin Smith's makeup girl getting a little too overzealous with her craft on the set.

So....it's been 20 years since cameras rolled and the first chapter in the Jersey Saga and View Askewniverse began. How many of you guys here are fans and still follow Kevin's film work and other projects like his SModcast podcasts and Comic Book Men on AMC? I never stopped being a fan, and while he's made a couple of supreme duds I don't like I have to say his heart and passion have always been in his work even when the results have been kind of sketchy and questionable. What are your opinions of his films over the years and which ones would you say are his best and worst?

[*SPOILER WARNING*]

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To mark the 20th anniversary of the first day of filming on Clerks, Kevin made a major announcement first thing this morning and posted it on Facebook.

He's begun writing Clerks III.

Snoogans.

 

[ITL]

20 years. Blimey. Seems like yesterday when I first saw Clerks....

In tribute, I'll resurrect an old 'shop:

 

[cooleddie74]

I missed seeing that.

Thanks.

 

[ITL]

"Logic Box" was your idea, after all.

 

[cooleddie74]

It was? Damn. My memory is Swiss cheese more often than not these days.

 

[Kibbin]

Really? Where is else is there to take the characters? It seemed to me we got a pretty decent end at the end of Clerks 2. Not that I'm opposed to a new Askewniverse movie, but Clerks 3?

 

[cooleddie74]

Smith has said that if he did make a Clerks III he would wait until he hit his forties (he's about to turn 43) and see if there was some sort of meaningful and entertaining story he could tell about Dante and Randal being in their forties and where they would probably be in their lives and careers by that point. Dante married Becky in the last film and she was pregnant with his baby, so there would definitely be plenty of fodder for a "Dante Being a Parent and Husband" story with Randal, Jay and Silent Bob each adding their two cents' worth to interfere and cause chaos.

I think 3 was always an inevitability but Kevin just didn't want to commit to and say anything too soon and while we was working on other films and projects.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I got to see Clerks in Red Bank, New Jersey when it was first released. Being from New Jersey, my friends and myself we're following the movie intently. So we took the sojourn down to see the movie, still one of the funniest nights of my life.

 

[FreezeC77]

I've always had mixed feelings because as I've grown older I find it hard to tell whether my enjoyment of Clerks and some of Smith's other films is for his writing and the content of the film or just recognizing characters and actions of people from when I was growing up as well having spent a lot of time in Jersey although not as far north as where Kevin Smith was. When they get kicked out of the 'good mall' in Mallrats and end up in that kind of rundown place. Been to plenty of those in Jersey.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Snootch to the mo fu in Noonch!

Been a fan since the beginning.

Dont forget also coming: Jay and Silent Bobs Super Groovy Cartoon Movie!

 

[Starkers]

Well played, Clerks, well played...

 

[cooleddie74]

As with the pre-production buildup to Clerks 2 it seems a lot is going to depend on whether or not Jeff Anderson (Randal) signs on to the project to reprise his role one more time. If you're familiar with the background to the last Askewniverse film you know that Anderson was a longtime holdout to making #2 because he didn't think it would be well received, would be a pale shadow of the original film and might even cause typecasting damage to his own career if he was seen as being "that Clerks guy who does the funny walk and always shows up in Kevin's movies." Jeff held out for a good while and was the last major actor to agree to appear, and while he ended up loving #2 and thinking that the story was brilliant and funny he seems to have retreated back into his bubble of "meh, is this really a good idea?"

In a recent SModcast podcast related to Clerks 3 Smith said Anderson's involvement was going to be important if not crucial, but in the meantime he's going to stick to plans to make the movie and see what happens.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm extremely excited for "Clerks III". I thought "Clerks II" was exceptional, and if anyone has been listening to the Smodcasts with regards to the process and the story that Smith has teased, it seems like he is extremely excited too for this. It's basically up to Jeff Anderson though, as "Clerks II" was as far as if this gets green lit. If Jeff is blown away with the script though, Dante and Randal are back baby!!

Edit: Ninja'd by cooleddie!!

 

[Venardhi]

Jeff apparently lives in a retirement village up in the mountains. I don't think typecasting is a concern for him anymore.

 

[Starkers]

Yeah I wasn't really sure what else Anderson's been doing of late...

 

[cooleddie74]

He used to complain about people always calling him "Randal" and asking him to do his "funny little walk" from the original film and he seemed to be pretty bothered by it, but what else has he done aside from a couple of low-budget indie film projects outside the View Askewniverse? Now You Know is about the only thing I've ever seen him act in outside of Kevin's films, and Kevin actually helped make that movie possible.

Just do the new movie and be glad you've made millions of people happy over the last twenty years with your goofy, wiseass character. A lot of actors who are much, much more talented than him would cut their arms off with a hacksaw to get even half the public exposure and fame that Anderson has by talking about jizz moppers, the Death Star and Pillow Pants.

 

[Mr Light]

Clerks without Randall? Sounds extremely disappointing.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I hope he goes back to Black and White for Clerks 3.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Did I spell it with one "L" again? DOH!

Jeff's main concern has always about the integrity of the story and characters, not anything to do with himself or being a diva, and Kevin out of respect for Jeff knows this. He loves these characters just as much as we do, if not more, and doesn't want Kevin just doing something for the sake of doing it, which Kevin has talked about in the past as a concern. That's why Jeff is the potential end all or be all of this project. I really don't see it happening without him.

Those who have heard the pitch (and it's only really like four or five people now) have said it's the best thing that Kevin's ever come up with (outside of "Hit Somebody" which he himself has said is his best work writing wise).

 

[cooleddie74]

He actually joked about that in his recent podcast, saying that all he'd have to do is film the movie in color and then digitally alter the picture to black-and-white in postproduction. But he doesn't want to do the entire film that way because too many people will accuse him of making a direct ripoff of the first film instead of a wider-scope tribute that uses some of the same successful elements as we saw with Clerks 2.

My guess is we won't get a B & W movie but he might toy around a little with the color in the film the way he did at the very end of the last chapter in the story.