Few films have spent as much time languishing in development limbo as Clerks 3.
This is, after all, the sequel to Clerks 2, Kevin Smith’s bonkers comedy sequel which first released all the way back in 2006. Now, after close to 13 years, Smith is ready to get the gang back together for a story he hopes will conclude the franchise, Star Wars-style.
It’s been a long and trying journey for the Hollywood veteran, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in February of last year, one which prompted Smith to shed 50 pounds and drastically improve his health and overall wellbeing. He’s been doing great (thank the heavens), and in a textbook example of art imitating life, Kevin Smith told IGN about the ways in which Clerks 3‘s core story will draw inspiration from his own heart troubles.
Randal has a heart attack, decides that he came so close to death, and his life has meant nothing, there’s nobody to memorialize him, he has no family or anything like that. And in the recovery, while under fentanyl, he comes to the conclusion at mid-life, having almost died, having worked in a movie store his whole life and watched other people’s movies, he tells Dante, I think we need to make a movie. So Dante and Randal make Clerks. That’s the story of Clerks 3.
Having made amends with Jeff Anderson, Kevin Smith is now full steam ahead on the Clerks 3 script, which has been completely overhauled since its first iteration was turned in almost three years ago. It will, of course, center on Quick Stop clerks Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) and their daily shenanigans, with some added poignancy inspired by Smith’s recent health scare.
It’s official: Clerks 3 is teetering on the brink of production, and while the long-in-development threequel has yet to nail down an official launch window – let alone a specific date – movie fans will be able to see Kevin Smith and Co. very soon thanks to the imminent release of the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
