Last week, we heard that Kevin Smith has got the full cast back together for Mallrats 2. That means leads Jeremy London and Jason Lee as T.S. Quint and Brodie, along with Shannen Doherty, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Claire Forlani, Michael Rooker and Jason Mewes. But one member of the cast who most assumed couldn’t return was the dearly departed Stan Lee.
In the 1996 original, Lee appeared as himself, dispensing sage advice to our heroes, answering questions about whether Reed Richards can stretch every single part of his body and talking about how the superheroes he created were all reflections of his own emotions. It’s one of the most memorable scenes in the movie, and Lee puts in a great performance.
Now, Smith has stated that Stan Lee will indeed be back in Mallrats 2, but he’s not revealing how, saying:
“The thing I’m most happy about… the thing I feel most clever about in regard to the movie, obviously one of us can’t come back, right? Stan’s gone. So, there is a Stan Lee scene, and it makes absolute perfect sense. And when you see it, it’ll fucking break your heart and make you cry and while you’re laughing. It is so like, I’m not saying I’m clever, but it’s fucking clever. And I get to pull it off without bringing in somebody that’s not part of the family, so to speak. It’s pretty damn wonderful. So, he’s represented as well. He’s a big figure, obviously, in Brodie’s life.”
Presumably, a relatively low budget View Askewniverse movie has neither the time, money nor technology to digitally recreate the comic book legend, so I’m guessing we’re going to get unused footage that Smith has access to. In any case, since Lee’s death, it’s always touching seeing his cameos in various superhero films, with his Captain Marvel one showing him actually learning his lines for Mallrats.
Smith went on to tease more about the direction of the pic and where Brodie is in it, explaining:
“Brodie’s a character that like, was awarded a second bite of the apple because he was rightLike, you know, one of Banner’s frustrations with her father is that he’s so like, ‘I was right. Like the culture turned in my way comic book culture, I predicted this.’ So, he’s insufferable to her for that reason.”
Kevin Smith’s output is a bit hit and miss, but it’s difficult not to have a soft spot for the guy. Since his early days with Clerks and Mallrats, he’s gone on to carve out a niche for himself as the King of the Geeks and if I have to have someone in that position, I’d rather they be infinitely positive and generally affable.
Mallrats 2Â is scheduled to shoot in early 2021, hopefully hitting theaters later that year.
