Clerks (film)

Clerks is a 1994 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith in his feature directorial debut.[2]

Clerks
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Smith
Written byKevin Smith
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDavid Klein
Edited by
  • Scott Mosier
  • Kevin Smith
Production
company
Distributed byMiramax Films
Release date
  • October 19, 1994 (1994-10-19)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget
  • $27,575
  • $230,000 (post)
Box office$4.4 million[1]

Smith also produced and edited the film with Scott Mosier, and it stars Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonhauer, Jason Mewes, Smith, and Mosier. It presents a day in the lives of store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) as well as their acquaintances. It is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob (Mewes and Smith respectively).

Clerks was shot for $27,575 in the convenience and video stores where director Smith worked in real life.[2] Upon its theatrical release, it was well received by critics and grossed over $4 million in theaters, launching Smith's career. In 2006, a sequel was released. Additionally, a third installment was released in 2022.

It is often regarded as a cult classic and a landmark in independent filmmaking. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3]

Plot

Dante Hicks is a young man who works as a retail clerk at Quick Stop Groceries in Leonardo, New Jersey. On his day-off, he receives a phone call from his boss, telling him to cover the morning shift of another employee who is sick. Dante agrees on the condition he leaves at noon so he and his friends can play a hockey game later that day. Arriving at the store, he finds that the locks to the security shutters are jammed closed with gum, so he hangs a sheet over them with "I ASSURE YOU; WE'RE OPEN!" written in shoe polish. Dante prepares for another ordinary day immersed in his tedious customer service job, while repeatedly lamenting the fact that he is "not even supposed to be here today".

The first customer is a man who tries to convince cigarette-buying customers that they should buy chewing gum, Chewlies brand, instead of cigarettes, emphasizing his point by showing what he claims to be a diseased human lung corroded by tar that he carries in a bag. Before long, a crowd gathers at the checkout around Dante and then they turn hostile at the man's impassioned urging, blaming Dante for the ills of smoking because he sells cigarettes. As the crowd starts pelting him with cigarettes, Dante's girlfriend Veronica Loughran enters and acts quickly, spraying the crowd with a fire extinguisher, calming them down. She confronts the agitator, finding out he's a representative of the Chewlies chewing gum brand trying to stir up the smokers in order to drum up gum sales. She orders him out along with the crowd, chiding them for having nothing better to do with their lives.

Shortly after, Dante and Veronica have a conversation behind the counter regarding Dante's current disposition, as he seems to be in a rut but has no motivation to change or to quit his job and go back to college. After the conversation, Veronica gets up to leave and sees an old boyfriend of hers, a customer named Willam Black. She admits to Dante that she engaged in snowballing with him and the conversation quickly escalates into an argument. She tells him that she performed fellatio on 36 other guys before she dated him. This infuriates Dante, who jealously considers her past acts to be more severe than his own, which include having sex with 12 different women before her. Veronica then storms out of the store, furious with Dante's insensitivity.

Dante's best friend, wisecracking slacker Randal Graves, soon arrives late for his own workday at the next door video rental store, RST Video, although Randal mostly neglects his job at the video store to keep Dante company at the Quick Stop. Dante finds out from Randal that his unfaithful ex-girlfriend Caitlin Bree, with whom he still secretly communicates, is engaged, much to Dante's disdain. As they pass time during the day they engage in philosophical discussions on a wide variety of topics, including movies, sex, relationships, and difficult customers. Some of the customers they encounter during the day are angry and demanding, others clueless and impolite, still others prove unexpectedly wise. Veronica stops in again, bringing Dante lasagna for lunch. The two reconcile about their respective sexual pasts (in an earlier conversation with Randal, Dante realizes that his sexual history is no better than Veronica's).

Soon after, Dante discovers via a phone call that his boss has skipped out to go to Vermont on vacation, leaving him to run the store for the rest of the day. Dante convinces his friends to have their hockey game on the store roof, and closes down the store, leaving a sign on the door explaining, "TEMPORARILY CLOSED. BE OPEN AFTER FIRST PERIOD." 12 minutes into the game, an irate customer climbs the ladder to the roof, demanding that Dante open the store. When the guy criticizes his playing, Dante angrily invites him to play in their game. The guy then shoots their only ball off the roof and into a storm drain. Reopening the store, Dante finds out one another of his ex-girlfriends, Julie Dwyer, has died and her memorial service is today. He and Randal close the store again in order to go to crash the wake. The visit is disastrous, and the two are seen leaving the funeral home in a hurry and driving away, although the audience does not see what transpires during the memorial service. However, a conversation between the duo when they return to the store reveals that Randal accidentally knocked over the casket.

While talking to two customers, who are actually Rick Derris and Heather Jones, two of his former high school classmates, Dante finds out that everyone in their graduating class (barring him) knew of Caitlin's infidelity and that Rick even had sex with Caitlin at one point. During the conversation, another man enters and questions Dante about where he was earlier in the day, then serves Dante a summons. The man is a health department representative who is there to serve Dante a $500 fine for selling cigarettes to a four-year-old, even though it was Randal who actually sold the cigarettes. After Rick, Heather, and the representative leave, Dante is surprised by a visit from Caitlin, who has called off the engagement. After some banter, Dante becomes torn between her and Veronica. Dante finally decides he will go on a date with Caitlin, driving back to his house to go change his clothes while Randal is left in charge of the store. However, Caitlin is traumatized by an incident in the Quick Stop bathroom; in the dark, she had sex with a person that she thought was Dante, but who was actually an old customer who had died of a heart attack while masturbating to a pornographic magazine Dante provided him earlier. Caitlin leaves catatonic in an ambulance along with the corpse.

Jay and Silent Bob, a pair of drug dealers who spend their time loitering outside the stores, come into the Quick Stop to shoplift. They invite Dante to party with them after hours, but Dante declines, considering the various seedy characters the two usually attract. Aware of Dante's problems, Silent Bob tersely convinces him that he really loves Veronica, but Randal has already confessed the previous events to her, prompting a furious Veronica to dramatically dump Dante. Dante then finally loses his temper and fights Randal, trashing the Quick Stop.

Dante and Randal have a crucial moment of clarity after their fight, which is cut short when Dante repeats his refrain that he's "not even supposed to be here today". Randal, fed up with Dante's self-pitying and whining about how rotten his life is without doing anything to change it, furiously points out that he abandoned his post several times to slack off, and adds that he came to work on his own free will and therefore could have left at any time, preventing the day's events. He concludes that they are not as "advanced" over the customers as they think they are, or else they would not be stuck in such lowly jobs, leaving Dante speechless.

After the two make amends and clean the store, Dante plans to take the day-off the next day in order to visit Caitlin in the hospital, try to reconcile with Veronica, and possibly get some direction in his life. Randal leaves, but not before tossing Dante's shoe-polish sign in his face and declaring, "You're closed!"[4]

Cast

Production

Development

When writing the script, writer and director Kevin Smith based the character of Dante Hicks on himself, Randal Graves on his friend Bryan Johnson[5] who appeared in Smith's subsequent films as Steve-Dave Pulski, and Jay on Jason Mewes, who ended up playing him in the movie.[2]

Casting

Many of Smith's family and friends played roles due to budget constraints. One of them, Walt Flanagan, who, in addition of creating the character of Silent Bob's Russian metal-head cousin Olaf, plays four roles in this film: The "Woolen Cap Smoker" in the beginning, the famous "Egg Man" (both in which he reprises in Clerks III), the "Offended Customer" during the "jizz mopper" scene, and the "Cat Admiring Bitter Customer", as well as the final RST Video customer in a deleted scene. Smith never intended for Flanagan to play this many roles, but had to as the actors he got to play them just did not show up, and would often, in jest, refer to Flanagan as "the Lon Chaney of the '90s". Flanagan would also appear in Smith's subsequent films as Walt "The Fanboy" Grover opposite Johnson's Steve-Dave.

Brian O'Halloran, a stage actor local to Kevin Smith, discovered an audition notice for the film that Smith gave to his community theatre. O'Halloran answered the notice and auditioned, unaware that he would be cast as the film's main character Dante; during auditioning, O'Halloran was informed by a friend of Smith's that all of the main characters were already cast.[6]

Smith originally wrote the part of Randal for himself,[2] dryly admitting in the DVD audio commentary to be the reason why he gave Randal his most-liked lines. However, Smith found that writing, directing, working at the store, and playing a lead role all simultaneously was too difficult, and he constantly forgot his lines in the process, so he gave the role of Randal to his friend, Jeff Anderson, while Smith took on the less-demanding role of Silent Bob.

To acquire the funds for the film, Smith sold off a large portion of his extensive comic book collection in 1993, which he later bought back; borrowed $3,000 from his parents; maxed out eight to ten credit cards with $2,000 limits; and spent a portion of funds he got back from his college education, paychecks from working at Quick Stop and RST, and insurance money awarded for property of his lost and/or damaged in a storm-flood, thus adding up the total budget to $27,575.[7]

Filming

Clerks was shot on an Arriflex SR-2 camera, utilizing black-and-white 16mm Kodak Plus X film stock, and roughly edited due to its small budget.[8][9] The film was shot in 21 days (with two "pick-up" days).[10][2]

The Quick Stop convenience store, located at 58 Leonard Avenue in Leonardo, New Jersey, where Smith worked, was the primary setting for the film.[2] He was only allowed to film in the store at night while it was closed (from 10:30 pm to 5:30 am), hence the plot point of the shutters being closed due to a vandal having jammed gum in the padlocks. Because Smith was working at Quick Stop during the day and shooting the film at night, he frequently slept no more than an hour a day. By the end of the 21-day shoot, Smith was unable to stay awake while Dante and Randal's fight was shot.[11]

Jason Mewes, who plays Jay, is not in any of the photoshoots for Clerks. Miramax, who bought the film's distribution rights following its run at the Sundance Film Festival, believed Jay had no commercial appeal and would scare audiences rather than entice them.[12]

The MPAA originally gave the film an NC-17 rating based purely on the film's explicit dialogue. Despite the rating, the movie contains no violence aside from Dante and Randal's fight near the end, no sex, and no clearly depicted nudity. This had serious financial implications, as very few cinemas in the United States screened NC-17 films. Miramax hired civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz to appeal the decision. The MPAA relented and re-rated the film with the more commercially viable "R" rating, without any alterations.[7]

Lost scene

The events of Julie Dwyer's wake were written by Smith but were not filmed due to the prohibitive cost of producing the scene.[13] In 2004, the scene was produced in colored animation using the same style of Clerks: The Animated Series, featured O'Halloran and Anderson reprising their roles and Joey Lauren Adams in a cameo as her character Alyssa Jones, who'd later appear in further View Askewniverse films, for the tenth anniversary DVD release. The "lost scene" was also presented in comic-book form of the Clerks comic book series, with the title of "The Lost Scene".[14]

Original ending

The original ending for the film was meant to continue from when Randal throws the "I Assure You We're Open" sign to Dante. After Randal leaves, Dante proceeds to count out the register and does not notice another person entering the store. Dante at first thinks it's Randal but looks up and informs the person that the store is no longer open. The man then pulls out a gun and shoots Dante, killing him. Afterward, the man puts all the money from the cash register in a bag and walks out of the store. The sequence ends with Dante's dead face looking off past the camera; after the credits roll – the soundtrack over it being a cash register making noises – a customer (played by Smith with his beard shaved off) wearing glasses and in a ponytail and a baseball jersey comes into the store, sees no one around (as Dante is lying dead behind the counter), steals a pack of cigarettes, and runs off.[15]

The depressing ending was criticized by Bob Hawk and John Pierson after its first screening at the Independent Feature Film Market, and under Pierson's advice, Smith cut the ending short, ending with Randal's departure and deleting Dante's death.[2] Fans have since analyzed the death of Dante as an homage to the ending of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), which is discussed earlier in the film as Dante's favorite Star Wars movie because "it ended on such a down note". The film's extended cut also implied that, because Randal disconnected the security camera earlier in the day during the roof hockey scene, the killer would never be caught.

Smith has since claimed he concluded Clerks this way for three reasons. The primary reason was irony, the ending would be the payoff for Dante's repeated claims of "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" Smith also stated that the ending was an homage to the ending of Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing (1989), a comedic film with a dark ending. Lee's name can also be seen in the "special thanks" portion of the credits. Smith also stated that he ended Clerks with Dante's death because he "didn't know how to end a film".[15][16] Both versions are available in Clerks X, the 10th-anniversary special edition; the lost ending itself was among the extras on the 1995 LaserDisc and the 1999 DVD release; Smith states in the audio commentary on the 1999 DVD that had he kept the original ending, likely no further View Askewniverse films would have been made. The culprit in question was played by Smith's cousin John Willyung, who went on to appear in Smith's later films (most notably as Cohee Lunden in Chasing Amy and Clerks III and as himself in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot). On their movie review show, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (both of whom had given thumbs-up reviews to the film in 1994) had a special segment on a November 1995 episode that presented and discussed this original ending. Siskel said that having the alternate ending could have worked but it would have to be longer with more build-up to suggest that something like this could happen, while Ebert said he understood Smith's desire to do something memorable/shocking to end the film but concluded "ultimately, I'm glad Smith decided to spare Dante."

Release

Originally playing at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1994, Clerks was picked up by Miramax Films and released in theaters.[2] It also became a surprise hit, grossing over $3 million in the United States despite never playing on more than 100 theater screens in the United States at the same time.[17] It grossed $1.3 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $4.4 million.[1]

Reception

Clerks was well received by critics and developed a cult following.[18] On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has an approval rating of 90% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With its quirky characters and clever, quotable dialogue, Clerks is the ultimate clarion call for slackers everywhere to unite, and, uh, do something, we guess?"[19] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[20]

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of a possible four, praising it for interestingly depicting a full day of "utterly authentic" middle-class life, adding: "Within the limitations of his bare-bones production, Smith shows great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue."[21] Peter Travers gave the film four out of four stars, calling attention to Anderson's "deadpan comic brilliance" and writing that "Smith nails the obsessive verbal wrangling of smart, stalled twentysomethings who can't figure out how to get their ideas into motion."[22]

Year-end lists

Legacy

When released, the film was noted for its realism and memorable characters. Clerks won the "Award of the Youth" and the "Mercedes-Benz Award" at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, tied with Fresh for the "Filmmakers Trophy" at the Sundance Film Festival[32] and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards (Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay and Jeff Anderson for Best Debut Performance).[33] In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Clerks the 16th-greatest comedy film of all time and in 2006, British film magazine Empire listed Clerks as the 4th greatest independent film. The film is also No. 33 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked it 13th on "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83"[34] and 21st on "The Comedy 25: The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years".[35] Also in 2008, Empire named it one of their "500 Greatest Movies of All-Time", placing it 361st on the list.[36] The film was also one of the 500 films nominated for a spot on AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs but failed to make the top 100. The film was also included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

In 2019, Clerks was among 25 films chosen to be added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.[37]

Home media

Clerks was first released on VHS on May 23, 1995. This was followed by a LaserDisc version on August 30, 1995, and a DVD on June 29, 1999. The laserdisc and DVD versions feature the original letterboxed version of the film, audio commentary by Smith and various cast and crew members, seven deleted scenes from the film, a theatrical trailer, and a music video for Soul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell" directed by Smith which features him, Mewes, Anderson, and O'Halloran reprising their roles from the film.

The film was released on UMD (playable on PlayStation Portable) on November 15, 2005. Special features include "Clerks: The Lost Scene", "The Flying Car", and original cast auditions. In the fall of 2006, a new edition of the Clerks DVD appeared in Canada, dubbed the Clerks: Snowball Edition. The new release included a photo of a bikini-clad model on the cover and some of the extra features from the 1999 edition.[38] It appears Smith was not involved in this release, as he indicated on his official message forum in August 2006 that he was not aware of its release.[39]

Outside the US, Clerks was distributed in the UK by Artificial Eye with Fox Video through Fox Guild Home Entertainment handling rental sales, and in Canada by Alliance Atlantis. Since 2020, DVD and Blu-Ray distribution has been handled by Paramount Home Entertainment following Paramount Global's acquisition of 49% of Miramax.

2004 special edition

On September 7, 2004, Clerks X was released to celebrate the film's tenth anniversary. This three-disc set includes, among other things, the features from the initial 1999 DVD, the aforementioned Lost Scene, an unrestored First Cut featuring the deleted scenes and original ending intact, the original cast auditions, a new making-of documentary entitled The Snowball Effect, a The Tonight Show short film starring Dante and Randal entitled The Flying Car, Smith and Mosier's student film Mae Day, 8 MTV spots with Jay and Silent Bob, the original cast auditions, still galleries, and eight articles and reviews. Many of these features feature new video introductions from Smith and Mosier. All these features were carried over to the 15th Anniversary Blu-ray on November 17, 2009, along with a new documentary, Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party, originally made for Smith's 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Unlike the initial 1999 DVD, Clerks X is no longer in print.

Soundtrack
Main article: Clerks: Music from the Motion Picture

The soundtrack was released on October 11, 1994. It was composed of various new and previously released songs by alternative rock, grunge and punk rock artists such as Bad Religion, Love Among Freaks, Alice in Chains, and Soul Asylum. The soundtrack also featured various sound clips from the film. It has been noted that Clerks is one of the very few films in which the cost of obtaining the rights to the music used was a great portion of the production costs for the entire film.[40]

The Soul Asylum song "Can't Even Tell", which was played over the film's end credits and featured on the soundtrack, peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1994. The music video for the song was directed by Smith and was filmed in the same locations as the film.[41] The video featured Smith, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran reprising their roles from Clerks.

Another song which appeared on the soundtrack was "Got Me Wrong" by Alice in Chains, which had previously been released on the band's extended play Sap (1992). The song was issued as a single in late 1994, due to renewed radio interest from the song's appearance in Clerks. The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and #22 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in early 1995.

Sequels

Although not direct sequels in terms of addressing the original film's storyline, characters from the original Clerks – primarily Jay and Silent Bob – appeared in the films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), all of which take place in the same continuity as Clerks. Dante and Randal also reprised their roles in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which was originally promoted as the finale to the series, but an official sequel to Clerks was announced a few years later.

Clerks II
Main article: Clerks II

The live-action, feature film sequel to Clerks was released on July 21, 2006. The working title was The Passion of the Clerks, though the film was released under the title Clerks II. The credits for Dogma stated "Jay and Silent Bob will return in Clerks 2: Hardly Clerkin' "; however, that project "evolved" into Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The sequel features O'Halloran, Anderson, Mewes, and Smith (in addition to returning as writer, director, and editor) reprising their roles as Dante, Randal, Jay, and Silent Bob. The former two now work at a Mooby's restaurant after Randal accidentally destroys the Quick Stop and RST Video while the latter two, having sobered up after 6 months in rehab, continue their drug selling antics in the parking lot of the restaurant.

Clerks III
Main article: Clerks III

During interviews for Clerks II, Smith briefly discussed the possibility of a Clerks III. Stating that "if there's ever gonna be a Clerks III, it would be somewhere down the road in my 40s or 50s, when it might be interesting to check back in on Dante and Randal. But I don't know about Jay and Bob so much, 'cause at 45, leaning on a wall in front of a convenience store might be a little sad."[42] Smith repeated this sentiment on one of the audio commentary tracks on the Clerks II DVD, to which Anderson jokingly replied, "Oh, don't get me started", referring to Anderson's well known doubts about making Clerks II when first approached by Smith.

On March 29, 2012, Smith expressed his interest in producing Clerks III as a Broadway play after seeing the Theresa Rebeck comedy Seminar starring Alan Rickman, with whom Smith had previously worked on Dogma.[43]

On December 10, 2012, Smith released a special Hollywood Babble-On episode, Hollywood Babble-On #000: GIANT SIZED ANNUAL # 1: CLERKS III, AUDIENCE 0, in which he revealed greater details on his plans for Clerks III. Smith stated that an ongoing audit over residuals from Clerks II with The Weinstein Company was causing a delay in several key Clerks III cast and crew members, including Anderson and Mosier, from coming on board until the audit was resolved. Smith also revealed that he would like to crowdsource Clerks III, either through Kickstarter or Indiegogo, with contributors receiving anything from DVDs, posters, and even roles as extras in the film.[44] On June 5, 2013, he changed his mind on crowdsourcing, stating "I've got access to money. And worst-case scenario, I can put up my house."[45]

Smith worked on a script for Clerks III from March[46] to May 2013, stating when he completed it that it was "The Empire Strikes Back" of the series.[47] In July 2013, Mewes stated that they were now just waiting to hear back from The Weinstein Company about funding.[48]

On September 26, 2014, Smith stated on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast,[49] that he was glad that he made Tusk, stating, "Everything in my life would suck right now if I hadn't made that movie. I'm back in movies now. I've got three lined up, and this is the fucking grand news. Tusk was the absolute bridge to Clerks III. Because of Tusk, I got my financing for Clerks III". Smith continued: "A year and change ago, I was trying to fucking desperately get Clerks III made for the 20th anniversary. And that desperation, I must have reeked of it, because I couldn't fucking find money and shit. But it was Tusk, it was people going 'Holy fuck! What else do you have?' And I was like, Clerks III, done. So everybody that's like, 'He failed, he failed', thank you – I failed into Clerks III. So, never trust anybody when they tell you how your story goes, man. You know your story. You write your own story.”[50]

There were plans to start shooting Clerks III in May 2015, but these were put on hold to film another sequel, Mallrats 2.[51] However, by June 2016 the plans for a Mallrats sequel had been turned into plans for a Mallrats TV series.[52]

In July 2019, Smith announced that he would do a live reading of Clerks III at the First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. The reading was held on August 3, 2019.[53][54] That same month, Smith revealed at San Diego Comic Con that he was writing a new script for Clerks III and promises to make the film.[55]

On October 1, 2019, Smith confirmed on Instagram that Clerks III was happening and that Jeff Anderson agreed to reprise his role as Randal. "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 @briancohalloran, with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it'll be a movie called CLERKS III!"[56] The new script will follow Randal, after surviving a heart attack, and Dante making a movie about their lives at the store,[57] a plot initially conceived as a film adaptation of Clerks: The Animated Series titled Clerks: Sell Out.

Principal photography began on August 2, 2021, in Red Bank, New Jersey.[58][59] Filming wrapped on August 31, 2021.[60]

Clerks III had its world premiere on September 4, 2022, at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey and was released on September 13, 2022, by Lionsgate and Fathom Events.[61][62]

Following Clerks, Smith set several more films in the same "world", which he calls the View Askewniverse of overlapping characters and stories. Of all of Smith's films, however, Clerks is the one with the most direct spin-off products.

Clerks: The TV Show

A pilot for a live-action TV series was produced in 1995.[63] It was produced by Touchstone Television and was to be developed by Richard Day. The pilot only referenced the character names and starred none of the cast from the original film, contained no foul language (except words suitable enough for a TV-PG rating), and did not feature Silent Bob. The character of Jay was featured, prompting Smith to point out that he owned the character rights to both Jay and Silent Bob (for the purposes of featuring them in separate films). The producers' solution was to change the character's name to Ray. Smith was unaware of the production of the series until casting was underway. Smith, as well as Mosier and Mewes, had been knee-deep with the production of Mallrats at the time and attempted to become involved in the series but became disheartened quickly as an episode he had written for the series was shot down to be used as a potential B-plot. He would later use the script for an episode of Clerks: The Animated Series.[64]

O'Halloran and Anderson both auditioned to reprise their roles of Dante and Randal from the film but were replaced by Andrew Lowery and future Saturday Night Live performer Jim Breuer. After seeing the result, Smith, Mosier, Mewes, O'Halloran, and Anderson all said that it was terrible, and O'Halloran and Anderson further stating they were both glad they weren't involved.[64]

Clerks: The Animated Series
Main article: Clerks: The Animated Series

Touchstone Television (with Miramax Films) also produced Clerks: The Animated Series a short-lived six-episode animated television series featuring the same characters and cast of the original film. Two episodes aired on ABC in late May/early June 2000 before being pulled from the lineup. The full six episodes were released on DVD in 2001 before being run on Comedy Central in 2004 and Adult Swim from 2008 to 2010. In a trailer for (but not in) Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Randal, referencing the series, says to Dante: "If you were funnier than that, ABC would've never cancelled us."

Clerks: The Comics

Clerks. is a series of comics written by Smith featuring characters from the film. In the series are Clerks: The Comic Book, Clerks: Holiday Special, and Clerks: The Lost Scene. Smith has discussed plans for Clerks 1.5, a comic that would bridge the gap between the original film and its sequel, to be included in a reprint of the Clerks. trade paperback.[65] The story ultimately was printed in the 2006 Tales from the Clerks collection, which also included the other Clerks comics with additional View Askewniverse material. Smith received the Harvey Award for Best New Talent in 1999.

Shooting Clerks
Main article: Shooting Clerks

Shooting Clerks is a 2021 biographical comedy-drama film about the making of Clerks. The film stars many of the original film's stars, including O'Halloran, Ghigliotti, Mewes, and Smith himself.[66] The film had a special fine cut screening at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2019, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original film's release.[67]

References
  1. "Selected Sundance alumni domestic vs international". Screen International. February 17, 1997. p. 18.
  2. Hoad, Phil (May 7, 2019). "Kevin Smith: how we made Clerks". The Guardian. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  3. "'Purple Rain,' 'Amadeus,' 'Boys Don't Cry,' 'Clerks' Enter National Film Registry". The Hollywood Reporter. December 11, 2019. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  4. Smith, Kevin (1997). Clerks and Chasing Amy: Two Screenplays. Miramax Books. ISBN 0-7868-8263-8.
  5. "Ming in Charge". Comic Book Men. Season 2. Episode 4. November 4, 2012. AMC.
  6. "Exclusive: 'Clerks' Star Brian O'Halloran Talks About Saratoga, His Place in Indie Movie History". April 7, 2018.
  7. "Clerks: Movie Info". Viewaskew.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  8. Savlov, Marc (November 11, 1984). "Clerks". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  9. "Clerks: Movie Info". www.viewaskew.com. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  10. "The Ultimate Clerks Quiz". ShortList. November 8, 2012. Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  11. Broderick, Peter (January 21, 2017). "Learning From Low-Budgets". Filmmaker Magazine. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
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Bibliography
  • Muir, John Kenneth (2002). An Askew View : The Films of Kevin Smith. Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-586-1
  • Smith, Kevin (1997). Clerks and Chasing Amy : Two Screenplays. Miramax Books. ISBN 0-7868-8263-8
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