Director Kevin Smith Talks 'Clerks III'

Moviefone speaks with Kevin Smith about 'Clerks III.' "I think people can watch this movie and not be lost if they didn't see the other ones," he said.

Lionsgate in partnership with Fathom Events will release director Kevin Smith’s ‘Clerks III’ exclusively in theaters from September 13th – September 18th.

The new movie is a direct sequel to ‘Clerks’ and ‘Clerks II,’ and is the ninth film in Smith’s ‘View Askewniverse’ franchise.

‘Clerks III’ focuses on Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), who after having a heart attack decides to make a movie with Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) about their lives at the Quick Stop convenience store.

In addition to Anderson and O’Halloran, the cast also includes Marlyn Ghigliotti, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Amy Sedaris, Fred Armisen, Justin Long, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ben Affleck, as well as Jason Mewes and Smith as Jay and Silent Bob, respectively.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Smith about his work on ‘Clerks III,’ making the sequel, revisiting the characters, the original’s cult status, his overall career, and how his heart attack changed his outlook on life.

'Clerks III' director and writer Kevin Smith.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Smith, Jason Mewes, Brian O’Halloran, and Jeff Anderson.

Moviefone: To begin with, what do you think ‘Clerks’ would look like if you first made it in 2022 rather than 1994?

Kevin Smith: It exists. You can watch it. There's a guy on TikTok, I got to learn his name. He's a comedian. He's very funny. He's got a mustache and he's a younger kid, and he works at Ikea or did work at Ikea. So, his bit on TikTok is like, he'll do an Ikea customer complaining and then he moves the camera dramatically on himself, the music kicks in and he bitches back at the person who's complaining.

That would be the modern day ‘Clerks.’ You wouldn't make 90 minutes of a movie. You would just have somebody be like, “This is what we deal with on my job,” and then move on. I don't think you could do ‘Clerks’ today, or at least I can't. Number one, you got to work in retail. You got to be in the trenches. I haven't been in the trenches for a long time. Now I own the trench.

But that's what I could bring to it. I could bring the movie to it. Somebody online was trying to tag me a couple months ago saying, “Oh, his last three movies have been about movies and making movies.” And I'm like, well, that makes sense. My first movie is about working at a convenience store because guess what? That's what I did. Now I make movies. I'm not that creative. I just crib from my own life and change the names around. So, at the end of the day, whatever's happening in my real-life winds up in the work.

MF: What would you say to someone who is watching ‘Clerks III,’ but hasn’t seen ‘Clerks’ or ‘Clerks II?’

KS: I'd be like, did you see that there's a three in the title? Are you curious about the one and the two by any chance? At one-point Lionsgate said to me, “Do you want to do test screenings?” I was like, why? The movie's got a three in the title. The only people who are coming are people who liked one or two. Their point was, no, I think the movie works. I was like, what do you mean? They were like, “I think it works without one at two.”

I was like, you're out of your mind. They're like, “No, you actually retell ‘Clerks’ and ‘Clerks II’ in ‘Clerks III.’” I was like, you know what? I can't argue with that. So, I think there are people that can watch this movie and not be lost even though they didn't see the other ones. But if they're in a theater with other people, and other people are laughing at literally every reference, they might be like, “I think I'm missing something here.”

Director/Writer Kevin Smith on the set of the comedy, 'Clerks III,' a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of John Bayer/Lionsgate.

MF: ‘Clerks’ has become a cult classic, at what point did you realize that you had created something special that was really resonating with audiences?

KS: I think when at Quick Stop, people started making the pilgrimage. So, you'd get people coming in from out of state, first. New Yorkers would come and take pictures in front of Quick Stop. Then you had people coming from outside of the East Coast, then you had people coming from outside of America, all to stop by this little convenience store and take pictures with Gatorade and stuff like that, and stand behind the counter. So, I realized at that point.

Early on, somebody described it as a cult movie and as a big movie fan, I was like, oh, that's good because that doesn't mean worldwide popularity, but it means a hardcore love by a certain amount of people that'll keep you alive for a while. So, once we got 10 years in and people started floating the term cold classic, I was safe. It felt like no matter what happens for the rest of my career, I got one. I got a movie that they're going to remember, good or bad, I made an Impact. Then years later, if you're still in a career, you get to a place where you're like, let's make a movie about that movie.

MF: In the film, after having a heart attack Randall has a big epiphany that he wants to be a film director. Did you have a big epiphany after you had your heart attack?

KS: There was that aspect of it. Also, the fact that you're painfully aware of living on borrowed time, so you're like, well, act accordingly. So, that means I'm going to get to ‘Clerks III.’ It means make ‘Clerks III’ happen sooner rather than later. Because I've changed my life, I want vegan, and I lost weight. But my heart attack was more about my genetics than anything else. I can't change that.

So, the heart attack could come back around. Best to be on a movie set when that happens. Not dreaming about, well one day I'll do it, actually doing it. Because that's been my whole career, my whole life. Nobody's going to give you permission. Nobody's going to give you help. Help is never coming. Do it yourself. So, that kicked back in a big bad way after the heart attack.

MF: Finally, does it feel like it’s been 28 years since you made the first ‘Clerks?’

KS: Yes, but not in a bad way. Not where I'm like, oh my God, what a life. But I know that we've been around. I know we've done a lot of stuff. I was waiting for this moment in the beginning. I was always fixated on the future because I wanted to get to a place where people considered me seriously because I'd been around for a while. They don't treat you that seriously or consider you that seriously off the first movie. My second movie almost killed me. ‘Mallrats,’ oddly enough, a movie that people love now, but when it came out, it didn't do that well.

So, I dreamed of being in a place in my career where people were like, “Oh, director Kevin Smith.” That people knew my name and that people knew what I did. So, I was always dreaming about getting here, having a decade, two decades, three decades in. What I never dreamed about was that we would continue the story. The first ‘Clerks,’ when we shot it ends with Dante getting killed. So, it's clearly not a guy going like, “Wait till ‘Clerks II.’” That came kind of later on. So yeah, after the heart attack, it just became about ramping things up, and getting there faster.