More than 15 years after Clerks II, and more than 25 years after Clerks, Kevin Smith has given fans a first look into the characters that will star in Clerks III.
In an unsurprising move, the gang is getting back together. In a Vanity Fair article, the foursome of Elias (Trevor Fehrman), Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Becky (Rosario Dawson), and Randal (Jeff Anderson) are pictured in their gas station work attire. Despite the years rolling by, the group looks relatively unchanged other than the color of their digs.
Although this movie, which began filming earlier in the month New Jersey, will be the third installment in the Clerks films, Smith, the writer and director, says he wishes he would have made many, many more of the movies.
“I wish this was Clerks 19. I wish I’d been doing this the whole fucking time, man,” Smith said. “These characters are so close to my heart, and finally letting them take the journey that they sent me on is a big deal for me. Without Dante and Randal, I’m not where I am.”
Since the release of Clerks II, Smith had a severe heart attack. The director is using that near-death experience as inspiration for the third Clerks movie, which focuses on the reality that although Dante and Randal bought the Quick Stop, not much has changed in their lives. Despite the joy and relief they may have had 15 years ago, they’re still right where they were back then and now they have even less time left to live.
“You can’t slack after a heart attack. It’s that simple,” Smith said. “That being the motivating factor in our story just gives us a way to leap off into the theme of: There is less time ahead of us than there is behind us at this point. When we made Clerks, our whole lives were ahead of us. Now I know for a fact, a medical fact, I ain’t going to live another 51 years.”
Clerks III does not yet have a release date.
