Kevin Smith Confirms Evil Dead Star Bruce Campbell for Twilight of the Mallrats

Just three months after Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell lobbied Kevin Smith for a role in the [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Just three months after Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell lobbied Kevin Smith for a role in the filmmaker's upcoming Mallrats sequel, Smith has confirmed that the character of Bruce Campbell -- played by himself -- will appear in the film, dispensing some advice and filling the role in the story originally served by Stan Lee's extended cameo appearance in the 1995 original. That's the pitch Smith delivered more or less immediately upon learning that Campbell was interested in the film, and while it wasn't a done deal at the time (since everything they were saying was on Twitter), it now appears that it is.

Smith revealed as much in response to a post noting that this week marked the 25th anniversary of the days that Mallrats and Clerks took place. Today is apparently the official anniversary of the date that part of Jay & Silent Bob Reboot happened, too, so Easter is a busy time for Smith's characters.

Smith, quote-tweeting the prior tweet about Mallrats, said that he was "using all of those names again," and that he was on page 75, just about to enter the third act, with memorable beats for Campbell and Guardians of the Galaxy actor Michael Rooker.

You can check it out below.

While Campbell is new to the View Askewniverse, Rooker previously appeared in Mallrats as Jared Svenning, the father of Claire Forlani's Brandi and host of an uninspired game show that filmed a demo episode in the mall during Easter weekend 1995. Devious and cruel, Svenning conspired with security guards to remove Brandi's boyfriend TS (Jeremy London) from the mall in an attempt to break up their relationship,but was foiled by a bout of food poisoning he contracted after TS's best friend Brodie (Jason Lee) "stink-palmed" Svenning, then offered the man some melty chocolate-covered pretzels that Svenning proceeded to lick off of his fingertips.

Brodie appeared in last year's Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, having moved his comic shop into an abandoned mall. It seems likely that the sequel will deal with the death spiral that many suburban malls are in, and the marital strife hinted at during Brodie's scenes in Reboot. Like Jay (Jason Mewes), Brodie apparently has a daughter -- Banner Bruce, named for the Incredible Hulk -- who may also make an appearance.

It is difficult to know whether Jeremy London, Claire Forlani, or Shannen Doherty might appear in the film. While they all had significant roles in the first movie, hey have not reappeared in Smith's work as regularly since. Forlani and London have never shown up again, and Doherty's last View Askew appearance was in 2001's Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, in which she briefly played herself in a cameo role.

Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, meanwhile, is available on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital platforms now. Smith recently recorded a commentary track for the film on one of his podcasts.

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