Coming soon: The Passion Of The Clerks!

Well, I gotta admit, I'm not giddy to see this movie.

Shame, since he'd probably be half-way through Green Hornet right now.

I'll still be looking forward to it, since there isn't a Kevin Smith movie I haven't liked, at least a little.

The only Kevin Smith film I've seen in its entirety is Dogma.

I've seen bits and pieces of others but have no desire to watch them because I am repulsed my the Kevin Smith fanboys that go to my school. Maybe I shouldn't let that bother me but it does. I'm not a fan of his kind of humor anyway.

So this news, while interesting, is just blah to me personally.

At the end credits of Jay and Silent Bob, God shuts the book on the Askew Universe.
I kind of thought that was a symbolic statement that he was going to leave the whole thing and try and like, i dont know, make some films about something other than whats sitting right in front of his face.
I think Kevin Smith sux much ass so im not suprised that he has chickened out of Green Hornett and gone back to something he is more comfortable with.
God forbid he like, challenges himself with something.

Well hell, I'm pumped for this one. If it's anywhere on the normal Askewniverse quality scale, it should be a good movie.

Watch that scene again, and see that the HOLY BOOK has pages LEFT meaning?!?!?

I have met kevin 3 times and when they release Clerks X it'll be the fourth,
he and some cast from Clerks will be signing the DVD at the new Secret Stash in Westwood, I can't wait for "Revenge of The Clerks"

Here's the ad for it. (sorry if it's too big)

He's learned quite a lot from George Lucas I see.

Didnt this guy say that after such a "great" experience making Jersey Girl that he had no intention of going back to the View Askew universe? I don't buy the "doing it for Jason Mewes" argument either. Is Jason Mewes in love with character of Jay so much that the chance to play him again will give him the motivation to kick a serious drug problem?

Anyway, I don't mean to unnecessarily hate on the guy. He can do whatever the hell he wants, and many will still worship him for it. I am not that big of a fan of his work, but the fact that he is going back to make a sequel to his first big movie seems a little lazy to me, but hey like I said he can do whatever the hell he wants.

*sigh*

The Passion of the Clerks?

Clever...

Ha!

How topical, right?

You ain't kidding.

I doubt it'll be the title for long.

CLERKS is still my favourite Smith flick, and one of my favourite flicks in general, so I'm happy to see this.

Would have been interesting to see the man tackle Green Hornet. Shame that he was too fearful of doing the action scenes, since, you know, he could have learned and improved on his continuing circle career and found another niche.

I can't seem to get excited about this at all. I liked Clerks and all, but the prospect of seeing the same movie with a slightly different cast again is bother some. I stopped laughing at Jay and Silent Bob in their last movie.

Well, perhaps Smith will make something outside Askew after this. Hopefully.

Watch that scene again, and see that the HOLY BOOK has pages LEFT meaning?!?!?



...that even then he knew he was probably going to chicken shit out on himself and fall back on the safe stuff. Seriously he could pump that Askewniverse crap out till he needed a bag to piss out of and there would always be a bunch of fans willing to still smoke his rod. I dont like his work that much, i do find it interesting when an artist more or less creates a world using a series of films, books whatever, but after trying and failing to break out of it only once he is going back to Clerks? When Green Hornet is sitting there waiting for him to try and break out of the mould he has cast himself in?
Doesnt that seem a little less than brave?
I dont buy the "Im doing it as a gift for Jason Mewes" line either. "Im too chicken shit to stick my balls out" would probably not read so well.

I'd prefer him to try something new than simply retreading territory that we've been through before.

Quite frankly the only way I would like him to go back to the Quick Stop is if he did it in animated form, as he has so often talked about doing.

The more Smith does stuff like this the more I realize his title of "The Fanboy that Made Good" is uncannily accurate. Like most internet fan boys, he sits around and talks talks TALKS about all this shit that he wants to do and SWEARS will be "so totally fucking cool" and then eventually he gets distracted by "Mythbusters" or a "Doctor Who" rerun on TV and decides that putting together something new would be too much work so he quits and falls back into his same old habits.

Is he going to continue to grow and expand Post-Jersey Girl or are we fated to one day see "Dogma: The Resurrection"?

Not much surprise there. The guy basically showed all he could do with Clerks, he's proved he hasn't got the skills to make anything else but basically fart jokes comedies, and he's already done the cartoon version of Clerks, so of course he's going to milk it for all it's worth.

I am looking forward to it myself. One question though, Dante died in one version of Clerks. Technically, Kevin Smith really could not make a sequel, could he?

My thread-naming abilities: way ahead of the curve.

http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66011

Kevin Smith has no ideas. Zero. He is a filmmaker spread thinner than Skippy's. This is depressing news for the artistic community that makes up the indie film world, because what he's doing is totally contradictory to the spirit of independent filmmaking.

Fuck Kevin Smith.

Kevin has this to say about "The Clerks Strikes Back"


Some "Passion"-ate info (aka, Thoughts on "Cl

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- This isn't gonna be a cameo-heavy affair, a'la "Strike Back." The only returning characters are Dante and Randal, and Jay and Silent Bob.

- This isn't gonna be a star-studded affair. The biggest names in the cast are gonna be Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, and Jason Mewes.

- This isn't an "I'm not even supposed to be here today... AGAIN!"-heavy, wink-wink affair. We barely refer to the first flick (though I do love Lynch's proposed tagline of "They Still Don't Like You"; considering the tone of the script, an even more appropriate tagline would be "They Like You Even Less").

- Jay and Silent Bob have about as much screen time as they had in "Clerks." This is Dante and Randal's flick all the way.

- The title makes sense. Sure, there's a bit of cheekiness in there, but it's pretty appropriate, based on the material.

- This is the funniest thing I've ever written. It's also really poignant.

- We'll still be making a "Clerks" cartoon movie, separate of this.

- This is not a grab at the green. Saying so is kinda laughable, if you're privy to what I make per film now, vs. what I'll make for this film. Part of the idea about doing "Passion" is to strip away the trappings of success we've been enjoying for the last few years, in an effort to get to the raw and pure. None of us are making our usual salaries on this flick; we're all doing it favored-nations style, with deferments. If the flick does well, we'll get paid our full-freight on the back-end. If not, we did it for the love. But if I was "all about the green", I'd be gearing up for "Hornet" or "Fletch" instead. This one's about the passion; the passion of the "Clerks."

- Some of the key players from the "Clerks" saga who've already read the 143 page first draft: Mos, Jeff, Brian, John Pierson, Bob Hawk. Jay's reading the new, refined 119 page second draft this week. Once they were all on board, any doubt or hesitation I might've felt about monkeying with the original's legacy disappeared completely.

- This isn't about "Jersey Girl." While disappointed that we didn't do double the theatrical business we crawled to, I understand why what happened to that flick happened (considering how poorly "Gigli" did, I consider us kinda lucky that we got to 25m). If this is a reaction to anything, it's more of a reaction to "Green Hornet", and the trajectory my budgets have been taking lately. Before (and if) I direct "Hornet", I wanted to do something small and more me-like. While working on the "Clerks X" dvd, it became clear to me that "Passion" was the way to go.

- We almost did this flick three years ago, instead of "Strike Back." I'm glad we didn't, because I was able to say much more now than I would've then.

- There are gonna be lots of folks expressing disappointment or downright hostility with the idea of this movie. Let 'em vent. If it's all that bad, Xtian will just sweep it off the board. But the last thing I'm interested in is opinions on what I'm doing this early in the process, if at all. The beauty of making that first flick was being able to do it in a vacuum. Granted, I could've kept my mouth shut about it 'til we were done shooting; but with "Clerks X" coming out, it just felt right to share. Regardless - I don't want folks running here with reports of what's being said about the idea of this film at other boards. Don't waste your/my time with the braying of the jackasses. There's not even a movie to bray about yet. Once there is, if you still still feel the need to tell me what some random, knuckle-headed Talk Backer has to say about the finished product, then God bless. But until then, leave it in the locker room.

- Oh, who am I kidding? This flick makes me so happy, I'm not even bothered by the bitching (could still be even happier without it, though). I'm in love with this flick. If other folks aren't, I can't really say I'm concerned. I've read the script; they haven't. I have the benefit of insight into the flick beyond the title and the notion of it; they don't. The reaction is pretty much what I thought it'd be: a ton of positive, and minimal amount of bitching. Even if the equation was reversed, I'd still feel as good as I do now.

- At this point in my life, this flick makes absolute fucking sense.

- I can't wait to shoot it, and I can't wait 'til you all see it.

Oh, I believe Smith has ideas alright. The problem is that he lack any sort of initiative to implement them. He strikes me as a man who does his best work (Clerks: TAS) with others since he the burden of implementing ideas is relieved from his shoulders somewhat.

Oh yeah. Fart jokes and Star Wars references are only going to you so far.

I think the SW Prequels are driving that point home.

Looking forward to this. I thought Jersey Girl WAS him trying to be different...

I remember when Kevin Smith was the talk of the town. Now he's rehashing his old glory. Poor guy. It's like if Tarantino had kept making movies about Mr. Pink.

I think Kev has realised a man's got to know his limitations. If he really looks at thirtysomethings flailing around in dead-end jobs and trying to find direction in their lives, there's no reason why 'The Passion of the Clerks' (change that fucking title ASAP) can't be the real step into maturity he thought Jersey Girl could be. For all the hype about that movie indicating that little Kevin's all grown up, it was simply him putting a vaguely personal spin on a played-out Hollywood plot.

I don't see why he can't keep the lo-fi style that's worked so well for him in the past, while endeavouring to explore deeper issues. You don't necessarily have to have a whole new bag of tricks to develop as a filmmaker.

How does a man know his limitations if he doesn't test the boundaries? Manifest destiny, man.

Damn you and your logic, Dave Davis!

I guess what I was trying to say in a half-assed and incoherent kinda way was that Jersey Girl saw Smith trying to become Cameron Crowe (albeit with a dash of his old Clerks/Chasing Amy style). There wasn't much Smith there. Hopefully, the poor reception that Jersey Girl received will show him that if stays faithful to his own style, his own voice will naturally evolve.

You're right about pushing boundaries to learn limitations, though. I guess Kev doesn't strike me as brave enough to expand his boundaries too much.

Did that make any sense at all? Feeling kinda stupid here.

I'm looking forward to this, mainly cause Randal is one of my favourite movie characters.

As for Smith, I think he should learn to develop and build off his own style, evolve as it were, instead of simply trying to adopt someone elses style (Jersey Girl). But that's just me.

Well... hopefully it's entertaining.

At least it's not called CLERKS 2: THE CLERKENING.

I look forward to this, if only because I think that down-to-earth, raunchy comedy with a touch of pathos is what he does best (Clerks, Chasing Amy and bits of Mallrats). When he veered into slapsticky, broad comedy, he was on shakier ground.

And if he honestly feels like he has something to say about the thirtysomething Gen-X experience, more power to him. It's a fertile subject. I think that using two of the most emblematic movie characters of the twenty-something Gen X experience could work very well.

I think we should wait at least until a plot summary or a script leaks out before we lash Smith to the stake for burning. As PodBayDoor said above, maybe he has something genuine to say about these two characters. Out of all his Jersey characters, Dante and Randal have always been my favorites so I think I'll look forward to this. Afterall, if Kevin Smith has one talent as a writer it's his ability to mix a kind of simple poignancy with humor, that combined with the obvious desire to see two cinematic friends on screen again makes it an interesting project.

The title HAS to go though. It might make perfect sense to the story, but it seems like a "Scary Movie" grade wink-nudge at the Mel Gibson movie. He can do better.

This title wont last long I dont think. But, either way, i'm still looking forward to it because it's a Kevin Smith movie. I pretty much really like all his movies. And it should be fun to go back to the Clerks fun.

Ive pretty much done a complete 180 on Mr.Smith of late - and this is coming from a decade long die-hard Smith fan.

Kev promised to extend himself and get past his Jersey films world - promising to never make a J&SB film again..

So, Jersey Girl tanks hardcore and Kev pussies out on Green Hornet saying he doesn't think he could pull off directing decent action sequences (WTF? Thats just the biggest lame-o excuse Ive ever heard).

The guy can write a great script but Im sorry - as a director hes a hack.

And a gutless turd for refusing to extend himself and trading on the good will and brownie points gained from his past successes.

I've been a Smith fan since the day Clerks came out at the cinema here but ten years on, all I see is a guy who trades on geek goodwill as being "one of us" to make films that don't extend his range or challenge him in any way.

And thats weak.

Expect Jay and Silent Bob to be returning over and over for some time yet.

Im not saying that Smith sucks- just he's proven himself not to be all he seemed to have the potential to be many years back.

And as a director he makes a great writer.

Sad really.

Smith's Best work is Dogma and Clerks. So on the one hand im glad we get to see what happens to Dante and Randall but like others have said its a shame he doesn't want to branch out a bit.

Kevin- please just go away. I saw this assclown on Dinner for Five and he's more annoying than characters in his movies. All they do is sit around and bitch. Jesus Dante- shut the fuck up already. His characters are more annoying than those wannabes from Suburbia(which is hard).