Director Kevin Smith has been discussing his reunion with A-lister and frequent collaborator Ben Affleck, who will make a cameo appearance in Smith’s upcoming sequel, Clerks III. Speaking with Variety, Smith described working with Affleck again as “blissful” and offered several details regarding how Affleck will factor into proceedings.
“He was like, ‘I’m there. It’ll be great.’ It was so blissful. He came in for an hour.”
Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck have teamed up multiple times before for such projects as Chasing Amy, Mallrats, Dogma, Jersey Girl, and both Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, with Affleck clearly eager to do it all over again in Clerks III. Smith went on to reveal details of Affleck’s role, which will largely involve an inside joke between the pair.
“I had written a part for him that was predicated on this old message board that we had at Viewaskew.com. He was always fascinated by how much time I spent on it, and he was like, ‘Who are these people? Why do you talk to them?’ I was like, ‘Because they’re my bosses; they actually buy the tickets. Never mind what a critic says. This is the person that paid to see the movie.’”
The filmmaker continued, revealing that Affleck could not resist engaging with fans himself on the message board — which he did under the name ‘Boston John.’
“Boston John.” “[Boston John] goes, ‘Kev, the board sucks. It ain’t what it used to be. Shut it down.’ And Affleck found that hysterical. He was like, ‘This guy named Boston John is literally telling you what to do with your life!’ So when we were coming out to do the audition scene, I handed him the pages and he looked [at his character’s name] and he was like ‘Boston John, the pimp!’”
Clerks III is Due for Release Next Month
Kevin Smith has been talking about making a third installment in the Clerks saga for years, and finally, Clerks III is now imminent. The sequel will reflect Smith’s real-life, with one of the main pair, Randal Graves, returning to the scene following a massive heart attack. Once recovered, Randal enlists his friends and fellow clerks Dante, Elias, Jay, and Silent Bob to make a movie immortalizing his life at the convenience store that started it all.
Written, produced, directed, and edited by Kevin Smith, Clerks III will act as a sequel to both the first Clerks, released back in 1994, and the follow-up Clerks II from 2006. All three movies center on Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, two guys who begin as store clerks dealing with customers while discussing movies and lazing around, who switch to working at a fast-food joint, Mooby's, in the sequel.
Clerks III brings back several Kevin Smith mainstays alongside Ben Affleck, including Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman, Austin Zajur, Rosario Dawson, Justin Long, Sarah Michelle Gellar, with Jason Mewes and Smith himself reprising their respective roles as beloved duo Jay and Silent Bob.
Clerks III is set to have its world premiere on September 4, 2022, before receiving a wide release on September 13, courtesy of Lionsgate.