You will find minor spoilers in the following. Clerks III.
Kevin Smith’s new film is only just out in the world and already the writer/director has a problem with it. Smith has been taking Clerks III around the country with his Convenience Tour, screening it for fans, which means he’s watched the movie himself several times, and he’s found one scene he’s already wishing he’d done differently.
This weekend, the Convenience TourCinemaBlend attended the meeting in Sacramento, CA. During the post movie Q&A Smith talked about the scene, where a slew of celebrities appear in a casting montage, trying out for parts for the film being shot within the movie. One of the actors who appears is Smith’s longtime friend Ben Affleck, and the director now wishes he’d asked Affleck to do his scene differently. Smith explained…
It is something I regret. I was so quick to have him. I should have gone the other direction. So, Affleck shows up…and then Affleck does the De Niro impression, which is ok. He should have done a Matt Damon impression.
In Clerks III Jeff Anderson’s Randal has a heart attack and, feeling like he never accomplished anything in life, makes the decision to make a movie. Based on his own experiences, the film he creates is almost identical to the original Clerks,Original creation by Kevin Smith.
Initial plans were to hire actors to portray the fictional roles of Randal or Dante. So a casting call was made. The film’s second scene is one of its most entertaining scenes, where stars such as Sarah Michelle Geller, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Danny Trejo read out memorable lines from the original. Clerks. Ben Affleck plays one of these characters, calling himself Ben Affleck “Boston John.” John is a massive De Niro fan, but Smith wishes he made Affleck do an impression of a mutual friend in Matt Damon, saying…
He speaks about his dream of being an actor. “Boston John,” he’s like ‘ah, De Niro’s my fuckin’ loadstone. Which should have? ‘Matty Damon’s my fuckin loadstone’ and he could have done a few lines from Good Will Hunting. Every night I go to it. ‘why didn’t I do one more draft?’
It’s hard to argue that such a scene would have been pretty funny. Matt Damon also appears in a few Kevin Smith movies, which Smith actually co-produced. Good Will HuntingIt would have been a joke on many different meta levels. It’s still a great scene with Affleck, but it could have been even better.
If you’re a fan of Kevin Smith’s View Askewnaverse, there is plenty to love in Clerks III, and a lot of fun to be had in the Convenience Tour if it hasn’t made its way to your city yet.