A massive heart attack has Randal deciding to make a movie about his life working at the Quick Stop convenience store, as fans got a sneak peek when the official trailer for Kevin Smith’s Clerks 3 dropped Wednesday.
As Lionsgate and Fathom Events get set to bring the sequel to theaters for two nights only, on Sept. 13 and 15, the trailer sees Randal, played by Jeff Anderson, tap fellow clerks Dante, Elias, Jay and Silent Bob, played by Smith, to make a movie immortalizing his life at the convenience store that started it all.
In February 2018, Smith tweeted a selfie from a hospital bed after telling his fans that he had survived a “massive” heart attack. The Clerks director added: “If I hadn’t canceled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would’ve died tonight. But for now, I’m still above ground!”
So it’s no surprise Randal in Clerks 3 also has a near-fatal heart attack, which inspired the sequel script Smith wrote and directed. “Everything in this script is something either me or someone I know said,” Randal says at one point, just before Fred Armisen, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ben Affleck make brief cameos in the trailer.
Fathom Events and Lionsgate will present Clerks III in more than 700 U.S. movie theaters in September, with both nights to feature an exclusive look behind the scenes with director Smith and the cast of the film.
Clerks III will also star Brian O’Halloran as Dante, Trevor Fehrman as Elias, Jason Mewes as Jay. Smith’s breakout film, Clerks, was released in 1994. The sequel, Clerks 2, arrived in theaters in 2006 and grossed $24 million in the U.S.
Finding the financing for Clerks 3 took years, and for the first time the latest sequel was shot entirely on location in New Jersey.
“Clerks III is the definition of event cinema, especially if you are a Kevin Smith fan or a maven of independent cinema. This film rounds out the story that started a revolution in filmmaking. And to bring it to the fans on the big screen, there is no greater partner in the world of event cinema than Fathom Events,” Eda Kowan, Lionsgate’s executive vp acquisitions and co-productions, said in a statement.
Clerks III has Liz Destro and Smodco’s Jordan Monsanto producing.
Watch the trailer below:
