“Clerks 2 At Cannes 2006”

• The famous Clerks 2 video blog series “Train Wreck” begins a run from Cannes, France with today’s edition — Take a peek at what the world famous festival looks like as Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier introduce this series. Clerks 2 is mere hours away from screening tonight at the festival, so we’re obviously looking forward to hearing stories of the audience’s reaction (audiences at the festival are known for their quite vocal responses to flicks that screen there on many occasions). Stay tuned, and, for now, check out Clerks 2 At Cannes 2006 exclusively at the official Clerks 2 website! And of course keep it here at News Askew this weekend, and we’ll let you know how that Cannes screening went tonight.

• Kevin’s interviewed by Canadian channel CBC’s “The Hour” and they’ve been kind enough to post both clips of his appearances in streaming formats on the web, so they can be viewed by the world. The clippage appears in two segments, both in streaming Windows Media and Quicktime formats. Both clips kick off with a nicely summarized biography of the man, then move to some brand new interview footage filmed on the steps of the west coast production offices, focusing on Clerks II, but covering Mewes, living in your 30’s, and more. Clip 2 concludes the rest of the conversation with Kevin with topics such as working in Hollywood, Jersey Girl, and more. Direct links straight ahead:

The clips run around 6 minutes each. Enjoy!

• As many of you know, “Snakes On A Plane” is fast becoming a crazy breakout hit on the internet, with folks already anticipating its cheeze factor when it hits theaters later this summer. And thus, it was inevitable that Clerks II would somehow get worked into a “Snakes” spoof, especially considering we once shared a release date with this Sam Jackson-starrer. So, without further delay, YouTube brings you the first of what we guess could be many more…“Clerks II On A Plane”.
• SCREENING CHANCE! Mallrats will be playing at Midnight on Friday and Sat night (26th and 27th) at the Drexel Gateway Theatre in Columbus OH. Tickets are $5. This is certain to be a blast of a show — If you’re in the area, stop in and watch one of the true View Askew classics with a crowd on the big screen.
• Watch Bravo Canada for a profile on Malcolm Ingram and his film “Small Town, Gay Bar” (screening at Vulgarthon next week). The story will air on “Arts&Minds” across Canada on Bravo! on Saturday June 3rd at 6:00pm and Sunday June 4th at 7:00pm. If anyone’s kind enough to vidcap this for us, we’ll be happy to run it here at the site for your viewing pleasure, as well.
• And finally today, here’s a photo of some graphitti that must have been inspired by a true View Askew fan. See ya next time!

New Clerks II Teaser!

• Brilliant is the best word to describe this hilarious new Clerks II teaser, created exclusively for this purpose — No film clips, just Dante and Randal in character, doing what they do best — Making pop culture references. Except this time, it’s to THEMSELVES. You’re gonna absolutely love this one, folks, so watch it over (again and again) via the YouTube service , and be sure to spread this one around to all your friends. Especially the Clerks fans! Enjoy.

Kevin’s Video Mailbag: Part TWO!

• IGN hasn’t kept us waiting long, as today they’ve posted PART TWO of Kevin’s video mailbag, where he takes on more fan-submitted queries, up close and personal (from what it looks like, the west coast production office). As always, Kevin takes on all questions with his witty, self-effacing humor, including a “Jaws” topic, “Moves”, his next book, going shirtless, and much more in this entertaining 9+ minute segment. IGN and the internet world again thank Kevin for taking the time to talk to the readers.

• Jersey girl will become one of the first ever movies to be broadcast in High Definition in the UK when it’s aired at 7pm on Sky movies 9 HD. Sky is the first broadcaster in the UK to start a HD service and launched on Monday 22nd May. This means that anyone lucky enough to recieve a coverted decoder on launch will get to watch the first View Askew film on the service!
• Dogma gets a mention in this article from Newhouse News Service on religion in film. Here’s the relevant snippet:

• Joss Whedon fan site “Whedonesque” reports that Brian Lynch will enter the Buffyverse, writing a new “Spike” comic called “Spike:Asylum”. Look back to the May 18th news for the story. More info also can be found in Brian’s blog. As always, we thank you for stopping by the site, and we’ll see you back tomorrow!

• As promised, Kev’s got the hookup on the latest Cannes observations for us today — Clerks II makes its debut at the festival in just a few days (this Friday), but in the meantime, Kevin’s enjoying some celeb-spotting and premiere-attending. Here’s his report from earlier today:

I’ve been here for two days now, and I’ve worn a tuxedo twice. I do NOT look good in a tux…

WireImage.com pics of me in a tux.

Landed at two in the afternoon on Sunday, got to the hotel, showered, got dressed, and hit the “Southland Tales” premiere at the Palais. Screening went great. Some of the reviews haven’t been kind, but the word is the NY Times and the Village Voice love the flick. If you dug “Donnie Darko”, chances are you’ll dig Richard Kelly’s latest. I am almost completely unrecognizable in my makeup and with my fat-ass calves digitally removed. Fingers crossed that Richard (whose flick is in the official competition) wins something at fest’s end.

Also, got back into a tux (you have to wear one in order to be admitted into the screenings at the Palais) to hit the “X-Men: The Last Stand” premiere last night. The entire cast was in attendance, and the flick was insanely well-received by the packed-house audience. Anyone who was sweating Brett Ratner as a director can relax: the flick’s a fun watch.

This morning, downstairs in the lobby of my hotel, I was checking email when I saw Ian McKellen, wearing a bathrobe, at the front desk. Apparently, he was locked out of his room.

And that, my friends, is Cannes in a nutshell: the place where you have to squeeze into a tux to see a flick, but can spot Gandalf in the nearly-altogether.

“Clerks II” has its world debut here on Friday at midnight. I’ll let you know how it goes.

More news later today — And hey, we think Kev rocks the tux just fine.

• Richard Kelly’s secretive “Southland Tales” finally let the cat out of the bag in its Cannes premiere yesterday. Quite a few plot details, stuff we’d never seen anywhere before, have leaked. Here’s a few highlights:

“Southland Tales” is a 2 1/2-hour mishmash of genres: black comedy, action film, sci-fi, political commentary.

The film starts with a nuclear attack in Texas on July 4, 2005, before it flashes forward to Los Angeles in 2008.

Kelly says he wanted to look at “how we would respond, how our country would survive and go on (after a nuclear attack), and to construct a great black comedy out of all this.”

The plot is not easy to describe, to put it mildly. There are dozens of subplots, and everyone is double-crossing someone else. To sum it up, someone in the ensemble cast has to save the world from the apocalypse.

“Southland Tales” imagines a Los Angeles on the brink of apocalypse in 2008, when the Internet is under government control, gasoline is replaced by something called “fluid karma” and the Democratic Party has splintered into neo-Marxist cells.

The full AP press release has full details on what went down. No details in the piece on Kevin’s involvement, though we have heard his part in the film is relatively small.

• Diamond’s got solicitation notices out for the Clerks II script book as well as the Clerks II logo shirt, both from Graphitti Designs. This means shops can start to order the stuff in for sale, and that we should have it ready for you at the Stash in the next 1-2 months. The Clerks shirt runs from $17.95 to $20.95 (XXL only), and the 152-page script book will run $12.95 retail. The book will also include 16 B&W photos from the flick. We’ll let you know when Kev-signed copies are available for order & shipping, of course.
• A local theater in Pittsburgh, PA (The Oaks) is having a midnight movie festival this summer and they are running Clerks. This is your chance to see the classic that started it all with a great Pennsylvania audience, projected up on the big screen. One lucky ticket holder to the event will get passes to Clerks II and a dozen perfect eggs! Whoo! Be there on August 12th and 13th at midnight. The entire festival sounds like a blast — Definitely something to look into attending if you’re in the area.

• Kevin’s checked in from overseas with a quick post today — He’s on the road to Cannes where “Southland Tales” (in which he plays a small role) will debut, and, of course, where “Clerks II” will make its official worldwide debut in out-of-competition presentation. Here’s the man himself with some humorous observations on the ride in:

We’ll of course be right here with any news or reports from Cannes on both of these films — If any of our readers are lucky enough to be attending Cannes, do drop us a line with anything that you might see or hear!