It's been four years since Kevin Smith told the world that Clerks 3 was a go, and that he'd already gotten financing for the movie. While Kevin Smith has directed Yoga Hosers along with a slew of episodes of superhero shows for the CW in the time since the announcement was made, Clerks 3 has never come together, and this weekend at a Q&A for the Fatman on Batman podcast, Kevin Smith explained more about why it hasn't ever happened. According to the director, one of the cast members simply didn't want to do it. He said:
There was going to be, I wrote it and I wanted to do it, but one of the cast didn't want to do it and without that person we can't make it, so no. So I might publish it as a comic book script instead.
Kevin Smith had previously revealed that Jeff Anderson, who played Randal Graves in both Clerks and Clerks 2, was the holdout in regards to making Clerks 3, but this time he elaborated a bit more, explaining it wouldn't be the same movie without Randal. It's also interesting that Kevin Smith is now talking about turning the premise of the movie into a comic book script. Doubtless, fans of Smith would prefer the big screen endeavor, but a comic book script release is better than nothing, especially since a script for the project has already been written and should be shared with the universe.
Jeff Anderson hasn't done a ton of acting work of late. The last big project he was in was Zack and Miri Make A Porno, which hit theaters back in 2008. Reportedly he's filming something called NASA Seals, so he's still acting at least a little, but he reportedly backed out of Clerks 3 after the movie already had an $8 million budget and was set to move forward. Kevin Smith has also that once Randal was no longer a part of the movie, but that "it's Randal's flick" and it would be impossible to make the movie without the character.
Meanwhile, Kevin Smith has said that the Mallrats sequel, Mallbrats, is also having problems coming together, in this case, in terms of finding a place to house and create the concept. What was originally a movie concept got rewritten as a TV series, and Smith recently said that various networks and streaming services didn't bite. The next Jay and Silent Bob movie still seems to be moving forward, and during the same Q&A event in Prince George, British Columbia (via Comic Book), Kevin Smith definitively stated the project is supposed to move into production starting this coming August. Kevin Smith also filmed Hollyweed quietly in 2016. He also said of that project:
We're doing a sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and it's called Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It's us, it's me and Jay so it's not really strictly a reboot in the way that people think of a reboot. If you remember Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back it was a movie in which Jay and Silent Bob found out Hollywood was making a movie about them so they went cross country to Hollywood to stop that from happening.
The news comes a few months after Kevin Smith had a heart attack, a widowmaker attack that could have killed him, but didn't. Smith has previously said that smoking pot helped to save his life, and he's spent the last few months losing weight and working on his blood pressure. it's nice to see him moving forward and thinking about future projects again, even if Clerks 3 isn't getting off the ground. We'll keep you updated as soon as one of the aforementioned projects gets a release date. In the meantime, you can check out what flicks are officially coming out with our full schedule.
