Kevin Smith’s plan all along was to make Clerks 3, but when actor Jeff Anderson said that he wasn’t interested in reprising his role as Randall, he moved onto Mallrats 2. And after that fell apart, due to Universal owning the rights (“We’ve never given a title we own back to somebody”), Smith started writing Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. He never gave up hope on a third Clerks movie, though, and his persistence paid off: Smith revealed on Facebook that Dante, Randal, Jay, and Silent Bob are returning to the “scene of the crime” (the crime presumably being having sex with a dead person).
“[Jeff Anderson], [Jason Mewes], and I spent Saturday signing stuff and catching up, seeing so much movie merch that’s been made over the last 25 years… But even better than that? We talked about making a movie together,” he wrote. “It’ll be a movie that concludes a saga. It’ll be a movie about how you’re never too old to completely change your life. It’ll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It’ll be a movie that brings us back to the beginning – a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of #newjersey. It’ll be a movie that stars Jeff and [Brian O’Halloran], with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it’ll be a movie called CLERKS III!”
It would be funny after all that build, the final sentence was, “And it’ll be a movie called JERSEY GIRL II!” Hey, you never know, Smith and Ben Affleck are on good terms again:
To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return. And we’re all gonna return to the scene of the crime! This won’t be the old script we almost made a few years back: this is a completely new screenplay that I just started writing last night! And so far, it’s like a dream come true! After mending fences with @benaffleck earlier this year, I was hoping for a chance to do the same with Jeff — so huge thanks to Leeloo Multiprops for getting us all in the same room. But the biggest thanks ever go to Jeff, for being receptive to the idea at all. This means I’m gonna get to play with my two favorite inaction figures again: Dante & Randal! (Via)
Smith concluded his note with, “I’m ecstatic to announce our imminent return to Quick Stop,” after Clerks II ended with Dante and Randal re-opening the convenience store from the original film. If only there were new Star Wars movies for them to riff on…
Here’s the entire note.
(Via Facebook)
