Kevin Smith Shares Photos of Clerks III Script Reading

Kevin Smith's next film, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, is finally hitting theaters in October, but it's not the only "View Askewniverse" follow-up film he's sharing this year. The director previously wrote a Clerks III script, but the movie never came to be. Over the weekend, Smith and some friends decided to do a script reading to benefit the First Avenue Playhouse, an ailing local theatre where Smith held auditions for the original Clerks in the early '90s. Smith has since shared photos of the event, which featured some of the original Clerks cast members.

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Last weekend in the great state of New Jersey, we held a reading of the old CLERKS III script that I almost made a few years back. The low-key production was a benefit for the #firstavenueplayhouse - the dessert theater in Atlantic Highlands where, in 1993, we held auditions for my first film, CLERKS. The theater needs about 50k in repairs and over the course of Saturday and Sunday performances, with only 80 tickets per show, we raised close to 20k! The intimate presentations went so well, we’ll likely do it 2 more times to raise the rest of the funds too, so watch my Social Media for alerts in a month or so! Once and future Dante @briancohalloran read the part he made famous and I read Randal (a part I nearly played before realizing that Jeff Anderson was perfect for the role)! Clerks alumnus @marilynghigliotti read our female lead and @tellemants lent his performance pipes for various voices. #ernieodonnell organized the event and played both Elias and a new character, and @dianadevlin voiced nearly everyone else, except one new character read by First Avenue icon Donna Jean (who played the renter in Clerks that Randal accuses of a ruse). On the second night, @kimgharbi (Clerks’ own Heather Jones) took over Elias duties, making it the first time since high school that we shared a stage. I was delighted to finally hear folks react to this version of Clerks III, but it’s too dark to pursue. I have a better, more uplifting version of a Clerks III that I intend to write and make instead. Still, this script had lots of laugh and a third act that jerked lots of tears. #KevinSmith #brianohalloran #marilynghigliotti #clerks #clerks3

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Aug 6, 2019 at 7:41pm PDT

"Last weekend in the great state of New Jersey, we held a reading of the old CLERKS III script that I almost made a few years back. The low-key production was a benefit for the #firstavenueplayhouse - the dessert theater in Atlantic Highlands where, in 1993, we held auditions for my first film, CLERKS. The theater needs about 50k in repairs and over the course of Saturday and Sunday performances, with only 80 tickets per show, we raised close to 20k! The intimate presentations went so well, we'll likely do it 2 more times to raise the rest of the funds too, so watch my Social Media for alerts in a month or so!," Smith shared.

"Once and future Dante @briancohalloran read the part he made famous and I read Randal (a part I nearly played before realizing that Jeff Anderson was perfect for the role)! Clerks alumnus @marilynghigliotti read our female lead and @tellemants lent his performance pipes for various voices. #ernieodonnell organized the event and played both Elias and a new character, and @dianadevlin voiced nearly everyone else, except one new character read by First Avenue icon Donna Jean (who played the renter in Clerks that Randal accuses of a ruse)," he added.

"On the second night, @kimgharbi (Clerks' own Heather Jones) took over Elias duties, making it the first time since high school that we shared a stage. I was delighted to finally hear folks react to this version of Clerks III, but it's too dark to pursue. I have a better, more uplifting version of a Clerks III that I intend to write and make instead. Still, this script had lots of laugh and a third act that jerked lots of tears. #KevinSmith #brianohalloran #marilynghigliotti #clerks #clerks3," Smith concluded.

While it's a shame this script will never come to be, it's exciting that Smith still intends to make a third Clerks film. In the meantime, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is hitting theaters on October 15th.