Kevin Smith’s passion for ‘Clerks’

What does a filmmaker with a reputation for raunch do when his first family comedy tanks? He goes back to where his bread’s buttered, of course. After the
box-office failure of “Jersey Girl,” director Kevin Smith has announced a sequel to his hit 1994 debut, “Clerks.” Currently titled “The Passion of the
Clerks,” the story will reunite cast members Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson as the lazy Quik Stop and RST Video employees who do nothing but hang
around, outswear each other, and verbally spar with the nominally heterosexual, but mostly closet-dwelling “life partners” Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent
Bob (Smith). Get ready for an onslaught of Smith’s trademark gay-friendly gay jokes, and look for opening-weekend theater seats to be filled with his rabid
cult following, who’ll devour this movie like a box of Twinkies.

Filmmaker appreciates his video afterlife

When director Kevin Smith calls himself “a glorified straight-to-video filmmaker who gets a large theatrical window,” he’s not being totally disingenuous.

Smith knows he has improved as a director in the 10 years between his first release, the rough-edged, cheeky Clerks, and his most recent film, the kinder and gentler romantic comedy Jersey Girl. But he also knows his strengths and likes.

“I’m a better storyteller now in that I don’t solely rely on dialogue anymore,” says Smith from his home in Los Angeles, adding that the look of the film depends primarily on who’s shooting it. “I’m all for pretty-looking pictures, but since Clerks was my first movie … and got favorable critical notices as a movie that looked like hell but still worked, I’m kinda still in that mind-set.”

His home, by the way, happens to be the former residence of pal Ben Affleck, who was in a few of Smith’s movies — Dogma, Chasing Amy, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back — before starring in Jersey Girl.

That was a release “fraught with peril” for Smith, who thought the film would be an easy sell with Affleck, Jennifer Lopez and Liv Tyler on board, but that was before the disaster of Gigli and the tabloid frenzy that was “Bennifer.”

That led Smith to assume his familiar role as the “voice of the movie,” something that began when Miramax opted to send only him on tour to promote Clerks, and he became popular with reporters who liked to listen to the director’s amusing stories. This has made him a personality, rare for most directors, even rarer for low-budget ones like Smith. (He’s even done Panasonic commercials.)

While Jersey Girl didn’t set the world on fire in theaters, Smith credits Miramax with preventing the movie — which is a sweet comedy with a ring of truth — from turning into another Gigli after all the bad press on that film.

Besides, Smith says, his films do well on video. (Jersey Girl and a 10th-anniversary edition of Clerks have just been released on DVD.)

“That’s why I love video, man. Nobody will ever remember the box office for the movie, and it will live its life on video.”

Clerks (10th Anniversary Edition) — Miramax; $34.99. Includes commentary, a making-of documentary and the original movie on three discs.

Jersey Girl — Miramax; $29.99.

The first question he was asked was about the “Star Wars” parodies. Does he have a favorite one?

Hamill replied, “Kevin Smith in Clerks has these offhanded references that kill me. My sons had to show me this…I think they were just speculating on the administrative costs of the janitorial staff of the Death Star. I love that sort of minutia where they take this hard edge reality to something that’s fantasy cause I was sort of that way myself.

…

He can get you into trouble, though, cause Kevin Smith said, ‘Will you do Jay and Silent Bob?’ I said, ‘Will you send me this script?’ And I read this thing and I said, ‘Ho ho! It’s filthy!! They say the f-word 50 times on one page! There’s pot smoking lesbians, dog hard-ons! If you can get the clearance of Lucasfilm legal, sure I’ll do it. Good luck!’ And you know the only complaint they had from Lucasfilm was, ‘Make sure that the green bong-saber….’ They were concerned about the color of the blades of bong-sabers because ‘red is evil and green or blue is good’. I forget what it was. I said, ‘If that’s not the best insight into their thought process…’ I said, ‘I couldn’t explain Lucasfilm better than that.’ But having said that, I was backed into a corner! I said, ‘Oh my god! I’ve gotta do this thing!’

5 p.m.

1) Shrine to Comic Books

The filmmaker Kevin Smith, whose credits include “Dogma” and “Jersey Girl,” helped put the town on the pop culture map by filming much of his
“Chasing Amy” and the cult favorite “Clerks” in the area. He also owns a downtown comic book shop called Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash (35 Broad
Street, 732-758-0508). Join the steady stream of comic book aficionados as they browse through coveted copies of Swamp Thing or Identity Crisis.

Few movies have reached the iconic status of the original Star Wars trilogy. A long-shot science fiction project that was rejected by multiple Hollywood studios, Star Wars (and its creator George Lucas) defied the skeptics and became one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of all time. Now VH1 is working with Lucasfilm to produce the ultimate oral history of the Star Wars years, When Star Wars Ruled the World. Timed to coincide with the DVD release of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, this hour-long documentary will take viewers back to those rapturous moments when the whole world wanted to wield a light saber.

The show begins in the mid-1970s as George Lucas struggles to find a way to make his dream project a reality. Relive the incredible and unlikely impact of the first Star Wars movie, the sudden fame of unknowns like Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, and the way fans around the world fell in love, first with the movie and then with the action figures, pillow cases, C-3PO cereal and everything else they could – and did – line up to buy. Manufacturers could hardly keep up with the demand for anything and everything Star Wars (swamped by clamoring fans, the official Star Wars toymaker, Kenner, at one point had to settle for selling vouchers for yet-to-be-made action figures.)

The show will also chronicle the immense anticipation for the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back and the build-up to the climactic Return of the Jedi that had fans traveling hundreds of miles to visit the gates of the movie’s set. Along the way, we will highlight the cultural impression made on millions of fans by Star Wars icons like Darth Vader, Ewoks, and Yoda, and lines like “I am your father,” “That’s no moon. It’s a space station,” and, “May the force be with you.”

INTERVIEW LIST:

Mark Hamill – Luke Skywalker

Carrie Fisher – Princess Leia

Harrison Ford – Han Solo

Anthony Daniels – C-3P0

Kenny Baker – R2-D2

Peter Mayhew – Chewbacca

Billy Dee Williams – Lando Calrissian

John Williams – Composer

Gary Kurtz – Producer on first two Star Wars movies

Kevin Smith – Director / Superfan

Frank Oz – Yoda

Ming-Na – Superfan

Ken Ralston – Visual Effects

Alan Ladd Jr. – Fmr. President, 20th Century Fox

Irvin Kershner – Director, Empire Strikes Back

Jeremy Bulloch – Boba Fett

Warwick Davis – Wicket the Ewok

Daphne Zuniga – Actress, Spaceballs

Nicole Miyamoto – Superfan

William Miyamoto – Superfan

Mike Schiffbauer – Superfan

Ben Burtt – Sound

Question: After “Episode III,” will you ever revisit “Star Wars”?

Lucas: “Ultimately, I’m going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I’m sort of preserving the feature film part for what has
happened and never go there again, but I can go off into various offshoots and things. You know, I’ve got offshoot novels, I’ve got offshoot comics. So
it’s very easy to say, “Well, OK, that’s that genre, and I’ll find a really talented person to take it and create it.” Just like the comic books and the
novels are somebody else’s way of doing it. I don’t mind that. Some of it might turn out to be pretty good. If I get the right people involved, it could be
interesting”.

“Jersey Girl” is every bit as smart and funny as director Kevin Smith’s debut, “Clerks.” Movie-Gazette-dot-com calls the new D-V-D “surprisingly unannoying” for a romantic comedy — but it is a little sweet for some.

The film stars Ben Affleck as a New York City guy who moves his daughter to the ‘burbs after his wife dies in childbirth — and runs into cute and persistent Jersey girl Liv Tyler.

Smith keeps things from getting too “icky-poo” with his trademark coarse dialogue — which can be very funny, as in a debate over whether singer George Michael is gay.

“Jersey Girl” also features brief appearances by old Affleck pals Matt Damon and Jennifer Lopez.

BEN THERE, DONE THAT: It’s not Bill Clinton, but this’ll do: Ben Affleck has been tapped to host the Oct. 2 season premiere of Saturday Night Live, TV Guide Online has learned. This will mark Affleck’s third stint hosting the show. Nelly will serve as musical guest.

“For diehard Kevin Smith fans, as well as those who enjoy intelligent comedy with a slacker sensibility, “Clerks X” is the only edition of this classic to own.”

“Clerks: 10th Anniversary Edition” (Rated R; list price $34.99)

Release date: Sept. 7

During the DVD documentary, “The Snowball Effect: The Story of ‘Clerks’,” director Kevin Smith confesses that “Slacker” was the movie that made him want to become a filmmaker. It only makes sense, then, to review this 10th anniversary collection in conjunction with the DVD of Linklater’s directorial debut.

Like its Criterion Collection counterpart, Miramax’s “Clerks” packs tons of bonus material into its three-disc set, including multiple commentary tracks, cast auditions, excerpts from Smith’s journals, the original cut of the film and that aforementioned documentary, a compelling 90-minute look at Smith’s life and the making of “Clerks.” The talky black-and-white indie, which launched Smith’s career and introduced the world to goofball duo Jay and Silent Bob, has been released on DVD before in a collector’s edition. But this latest release, packaged nicely with a detailed booklet, is undoubtedly the definitive version of the movie that gave voice to convenience store clerks everywhere. But even this is not the end of “Clerks”: Smith recently announced that the creation of this DVD inspired him to write a sequel, “The Passion of the Clerks,” which is scheduled to begin filming next year.

Most Worthwhile Bonus Point: “The Snowball Effect” is far superior to most DVD documentaries, which usually feature actors and directors collectively patting themselves on the back. “Snowball” includes interviews not only with Smith, but with his friends from high school; cast and crew members; Miramax head honcho Harvey Weinstein; and Smith’s mom, who repeats the question she asked after her first “Clerks” screening: “You spent $27,000 on this piece of garbage?” Even the outtakes from the doc are worth a look, particularly producer Scott Mosier’s remembrance of sitting on a yacht at Cannes with Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon.

Most Helpful Bonus Point: Smith, Mosier and several cast members gathered to record a commentary track for the movie’s original cut, located on disc two. Smartly, the DVD gives viewers the option to hear the track while watching the film, or to watch video of the guys recording the commentary. Hopefully other DVDs will start doing the same.

Most Annoying Bonus Point: Be prepared to hear Smith ramble on during several exceedingly long introductions to some of the DVD’s features. So much for being Silent Bob.

“The “star power” was reserved for the end, as Mark Hamill was the final guest to come up for a question-and-answer session. Hamill came across as an
extremely pleasant, personable, cheerful, and animated guy, with a very keen sense of humor… even (or perhaps especially) regarding his own role in Star
Wars. The first question was which Star Wars parody was his favorite; Hamill replied that he had always found the comments in Clerks to be particularly
funny.”