Kevin Smith Biopic Shooting Clerks Makes Theatrical Debut This Weekend

Shooting Clerks, a Kevin Smith biopic from Scottish writer-director Christopher Downie, Auld Reekie Media and Pink Plaid Productions, will on Sunday afternoon at Kevin SMith’s recently-acquired Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. The movie centers on the creation of Clerks, Smith’s debut feature, which he funded with $27,000 by maxing out his credit cards, selling his comic book collection, and casing out an insurance settlement for a totalled car. It’s often told as a solo endeavor, since Smith wrote, directed, and financed the movie, but Shooting Clerks will go into the story of the people who helped him make the movie a reality.

With an early rough cut shown during its initial festival run of test screenings, Shooting Clerks managed to rack up a number of accolades, including the Audience Awards at the Monmouth Film Festival in New Jersey and the Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival, where it also to k home the Independent Film Inspiration Award, the Indie Spirit Award at Orlando Film Festival, Best Picture at the Super Geek FilFestival, and the Director’s Choice award at the Melbourne Independent Filmmaker’s Festival.
Smith also featured the film along with its makers on an episode of his AMC show Comic Book Men.

Downie was a key part of the campaign to get Clerks inducted in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, a noteworthy collection of films selected for preservation based on historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions. Clerks earned the accolade in December of 2019.

The main cast is comprised of both American, British and Scottish up-and-coming talent including Downie’s long-time collaborators Mark Frost, who has previously portrayed indie a teur Kevin Smith in Auld Reekie Media’s previous biopic short films Emo Kev, Babble-On Begins, and Get Greedo. Said shorts also introduced the fanbase to actor Chris Bain (Cops and Monsters, Redcon-1) in the electrifying role of Smith’s longtime friend nd collaborator, Jason Mewes. The short films fir t caught the attention of Smith who jumped on as executive producer and hosted the digital release on his YouTube channel. Joining them are such names as TROMA’s Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger), James Rolfe (The Angry Video Game Nerd), Sanjeev Kohli (Still G me, Filth), Matthew Postlethwaite (Peaky Blinders, The Great Artist). Principle photography took place in Fife, Scotland while second unitas carried out in the United States by Producer Ryan James (Chasing Chasing Amy, Cannibal Comedian) of Pink Plaid Productions in New Jersey, New York, Florida and Los Angeles.

Immediately following the screening, the cast and crew, including Kevin Smith himself, the film’s director Christopher Downie and
producer Ryan James will take to the stage for an all access Q & A. 

This event marks the start of a US theatrical tour with further dates to be announced via the film’s official website. Tickets for all events can be purchased online at https://www.shootingclerks.com.