Journal Entry from Kevin Smith Before He Started Shooting CLERKS
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Kevin Smith's indie indie, Clerks, the writer and director posted a little journal entry on Twitter. This is from a pre-production journal for the film that was dated 3/4/93, which was less than 2 weeks before he started shooting the movie that would become a cult classic. Here's what he wrote:
"We start shooting the end of this month, Almost all of the details are in place, and I'm about ready to put this thing to bed. The principals are good, the bit parts are funny, and I've demoted myself from second lead Randal to non-speaking Silent Bob. Yes, I am humble in spite of myself."
The 1990s brought us a surge of incredibly talented filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, and Smith. Clerks was made on a $27,000 budget, it premiered at The Sundance Film Festival in 1994, and people loved it. The movie got a limited release later that that year on October 19th, and it made $31,445 on its opening weekend. It made over $3.1 million in total.
Twenty years later Smith has financing ready to go on Clerks III, which fans are really looking forward to seeing. The director recently revealed that the movie has secured its financing, and he will most likely start shooting it after he's done with his original comic book movie, Yoga Hosers, which will star himself, Johnny Depp, and their daughters.
I wonder if we'll ever see a surge of cool indie filmmakers like this again.