Director possibly heading back to the food court.
By Brandon Wolfe
Kevin Smith’s self-proclaimed “retirement” isn’t proving any more final than showbiz retirements ever do (Hackman and Connery notwithstanding). The polarizing director has a full dance card for the near future, as he plans to follow up his oddball Tusk by shooting the long-delayed Clerks III in May, his even-longer-delayed hockey miniseries Hit Somebody in the fall before going to work on his next two Canadian-themed, weed-fueled horror experiments, Moose Jaws (which is exactly what it sounds like) and Anti-Claus, early next year. But after he’s done with all of that, Smith dropped an intriguing hint on his Facebook page for what lies ahead.
It sounds like Smith is going to make a return trip to the mall for another installment of Mallrats, his critically savaged 1995 sophomoric sophomore effort. That film, which chronicled a day in the lives of Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee in the role that put him on the map) and T.S. Quint (Jeremy London) as they drown the sorrows of their misbegotten lovelives with a trip to their local capitalist stronghold, encountering an onslaught of hijinks, much of it perpetrated by Smith’s signature characters, Jay and Silent Bob.
Mallrats was a huge flop upon its release, and seemed to instantly extinguish Smith’s promising debut on the heels of Clerks, but it has become a bona fide cult classic in the years since. Smith returning to his old haunts doesn’t seem terribly promising overall, but the prospect of Jason Lee’s Brodie returning to his Orange Julius kingdom with some more grey in his hair is weirdly exciting. After all of Smith’s canuckleheaded nonsense, it’s nice that there’s something in his pipeline worth anticipating.
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