Kevin Smith on Clerks 3, Tusk, and a new rapture-themed movie

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

For those looking for their Kevin Smith fix, the filmmaker/smodcaster dropped a ton of info on his current and future projects, detailing the various stages of each, including TUSK, CLERKS III, and a new rapture-themed flick. Smith has been shooting his latest film, TUSK, which was derived from an actual personal ad that led to a discussion his podcast, ultimately inspiring him to write the film. Here's some highlights from Smith's lengthy Facebook update:

On his rapture-themed flick, HELENA HANDBAG:

The idea is to, once again, take an episode of SModcast and turn it into a movie. It's worked out quite nicely with TUSK (thanks largely to the cast, the crew and the good folks at Demarest and at a24, who'll be releasing the flick this fall), so I wanna see if I can do it again. Granted, this time the plot of the movie concerns mankind teaming up with Hell to save existence from extinction at the hands of a Rapturing giant Jesus – which means the budget has to be LOW, because NOBODY'S gonna wanna make that movie. At all. And I know this going in, so I won't be heartbroken if it never goes beyond the script. But… if the script is funny enough? Who knows? That walrus movie seemed pretty daffy and far-fetched until we were standing on the TUSK set bringing that shit to life four months and change after first making it up in episode 259 of SModcast.

On the status of CLERKS III:

And right now, the aim is to shoot CLERKS III this May – so this HELENA HANDBAG picture would still be a ways off anyway.

Smith went on to say that he "burned [his] film career to the ground" but feels that after a three-year hiatus "wound up making the best flick [he's] ever made with TUSK." That's a pretty bold statement. Most folks feel that CLERKS or CHASING AMY is his best work, so the idea that he has topped his earlier work will likely fuel debate. On the other hand, maybe TUSK will be genius. Hard to say until we get our eyes on it, but stranger things have happened.

So, there you have it. Seems like Smith has made peace with his mid-life career crisis and is plowing ahead with his own instincts, which I can respect. He's a divisive guy these days, as we'll see in the red-bar comments below, but he's got about as much support as well. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how this TUSK experiment pans out and regardless of any shame, I'll be there for a CLERKS III. HELENA HANDBAG will be a much harder sell.

TUSK will see release fall 2014 and CLERKS III is planned for a May 2014 start.