• Clerks II. What more can we say? The exciting moment of the day was wisely saved towards the end. Theater One had it on the program second to last, and theater two is watching it as we type, their final film of the night. For the audience, the film of course played absolutely pitch perfect. Roaring laughter, gasps, sighs, and even some pensive silence in all the right places. Not only that, but for this reporter, the few minutes of cuts between the last screening in Burbank and here weren’t even noticed, yet the film somehow moved just a little more smoothly. I can’t even tell you what exactly was removed, but the film FLIES by and is just packed full of laughs in each and every scene. The major culmination piece towards the film’s end, which many thought would be the NC-17 reason, rocks the house, and yes, every single obscene moment absolutely remains. Not one cut for content was made at the MPAA’s request, just some tightening up by Kevin which, amazingly, isn’t even noticed. Fans: You are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie.

Following the screening, Kevin, Brian, and Jen all took front and center of theater one for a nice Q&A session. This one proved to be the freshest of the evening, as most of the questions surrounded the film and other current events in the Askewniverse. Kevin treated us to anecdotes such as a tale of Mewes’ excitement and daily involvement on set, Harvey’s pivotal role in getting the film to Cannes, music rights, bra shopping with Jen, and much much more. Some related news:

• Jeff Anderson’s “Now You Know” (which also stars Trevor Fuhrman) is due for DVD in August.
• The R rating was a complete shock to Kevin and everyone. He figured that after the previous battles the MPAA just gave them a pass or just truly felt they deserved the R. Kevin also joked that perhaps they just didn’t WATCH the whole film.
• The Clerks cartoon movie will still happen, direct to DVD, but Kevin hasn’t finished the script yet. He’s been focusing on getting Clerks II absolutely perfect and hopes to get back to that project soon. Regardless of the box office for Clerks II, the Animated movie project is a go.
• Jeff Anderson wasn’t quite on board at the start, unsure if the Clerks sequel was the right idea — After a couple days of filming, and viewing Kevin’s cut together footage, he was incredibly enthusiastic and knew that he made the right choice.
• There WILL be a soundtrack for Clerks II! Kevin just found out last week. Pretty much all the music rights for the tunes in the flick have been secured.
• There’s currently debate going on regarding subtitling the film. The subtitle “The Second Coming” may be added, though at this point Kevin is asking the film simply be released as “Clerks II”.
• Clerks II will arrive on 2,000 screens on July 21st. This is double the originally thought of 1,000 screens, which means that the flick will absolutely come to a theater near you in less than TWO MONTHS!
• The 5 million dollar budget has already been covered by advanced foreign sales alone. Anything Clerks II makes theatrically is totally gravy.
• Kevin feels that Clerks II is his finest work to date, and rightfully so. He and everyone involved have a lot to be proud about. It’s a film that stands alone OR serves as a companion piece to the original. Universally appealing. And the stuff they get away with…Wow. Mark your calendars and gather up your friends. It’s going to be a great night out at the movies this July.

Watching the film with this east coast audience was a true highlight of the event. It’s a fast moving, hilarious movie…So good, in fact, we could watch it again right now. We’re excited for you all to see it.