Clerks III Begins Shooting on Kevin Smith’s 51st Birthday

Last month came the official reveal that Kevin Smith‘s Clerks III is happening and now the writer/director has confirmed production has begun! Smith took to social media yesterday to confirm that today (Monday, August 2nd) filming will begin on the new movie, a date which has multiple meanings for him. “Today is my last day of being 50. Tomorrow I turn 51 and we start shooting Clerks III,” Smith said in the video. “It’s also another anniversary, tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the night I see Slacker and decide to become a filmmaker. It’s been an excellent first half-century. Thank you all.” Check it out below!

Smith will once again write and direct the film, also reprising in the part of “Silent Bob” for the sequel. The cast of Clerks III will also see the return of original stars Jeff Anderson as Randal, Brian O’Halloran as Dante, and Jay Mewes as Jay. Rosario Dawson will return to play Becky, a character that first appeared in Clerks II. Liz Destro and Jordan Monsanto are producing the new film. Lionsgate has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film which was revealed back in July.

The film will be taking a page out of Smith’s personal life story, as it will start with Randal surviving a heart attack, just as Smith did a couple of years ago. Randal will enlist the help of his friends to then make a movie about his life back at the convenience store where they worked all those years ago, echoing the real-life events of the original Clerks to boot.

“There’s a saying from the Tao that goes something like ‘To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return.’ Thanks to Lionsgate, we get to return to where it all started with almost the whole cast that started it all,” Smith said in a statement when the film was announced. “And for the first time since the first time we ever made a movie in 1993, we’re shooting the entire flick on location in New Jersey, as an ode to both the enduring allure of cinema and the resourcefulness and lunacy of its storytellers. Years ago, Dante and Randal made me a filmmaker – so now it’s time I return the favor.”

No release date for Clerks III has been set.