Those hoping to finally see a third chapter in Kevin Smith's cult-favorite slacker movies, Clerks, may have to find their local Barnes & Noble to do it. Smith, who has never taken a traditional pathway to doing anything in his career (well except for Cop Out, I guess), is kicking around a lot of different ideas for how he wants to approach it. Rather than just doing another movie, Smith is planning on releasing it as a book, released chapter-by-chapter.
While on the What's Trending? chat show, Smith discussed early plans of turning Clerks into a six-month Broadway show, until he figured out it wouldn't make any money. He also has toyed with the idea of an online web series, and may still eventually return to that idea since it's in keeping with his desire to work outside the studio system. But to properly explore the lives of Randal and Dante, while also turning a substantial profit, a novelization looks to be the way to go....
Smith: "One of the things I talked about was doing it episodically online which would be kind of fun for me, it would be a way of getting away from doing it with a studio. And then I thought about doing it that way but marrying it with something else… I want to do Clerks III as a book first."
"I want to do episodic chapters so that as I release it people can read the whole thing, see what would it look like. I get to go inside the character’s heads, I get to tell Year One origin stories. The first chapter is Dante and Randall meeting in kindergarten and stuff like that. All the stuff that I can’t do in a movie."
Perhaps most interesting is Smith's desire to have reader input influencing the direction each chapter takes, saying that it's essentially the natural evolution of his prior work.
Smith: "...I’ll be honest with you, the audience is gonna influence it… I know a lot of people will be like “That’s ridiculous, it should be your artistic statement” but my whole thing, my leitmotif, my entire career has been about audience interactivity. Without the audience none of the Clerks stuff that leads to me sitting here with you ever happens."
"I know there’s a lot of people saying “Why would you want to, you’re an artist”, well now I’m a new media artist and a new media artist involves the audience. And that’s something that I’ve built for nearly 20 years at this point anyway."
Doing a movie certainly isn't out of the question, with Smith calling it "the ultimate expression of what Clerks III is meant to be". He also acknowledges that input from the rest of the cast, specifically Brian O'Halloran, Jason Mewes, and Jeff Anderson, would influence greatly what approach he takes. They may be looking for the money a feature film would instantly provide, and not as interested in his other creative pursuits.
You can check out Smith discussing his plans in the below video, starting around the 13 minute mark...
