This month will see the release ofClerks III, the third installment of the film series that launched Kevin Smith’s movie career. While the film will be bringing back originalClerksstars Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson, key favorites fromClerks IIare also returning, such asRosario Dawsonas Becky. In the second movie, Becky served as the love interest of O’Halloran’s Dante, and she was pregnant with his child when we last saw the character.
In a new interview withTHR, Dawson spoke about her return as Becky inClerks III. She said how eager she was to revisit that character as there were some questions left unanswered by the ending ofClerks II. Dawson reveals that she would have been featured in the version ofClerks IIIthat never got made, and found it “devastating” when the film didn’t materialize. However, she was later able to reunite with Smith and the gang for the 2019 filmJay and Silent Bob Reboot, which she very much enjoyed.
“I’ve been wanting to come back and have Becky explored as a character since we endedClerks IIwith her pregnant. I was like, ‘Where does this story go?’ And Kevin had a version of the [Clerks III] script floating around. He had written it a few years ago, but it ended up not happening, which was devastating. And then he had a widowmaker heart attack; we almost lost him. And then a year later, to the date, he commenced filming onJay and Silent Bob Reboot, which I got to be part of. So just to get back with him and the gang again was so, so special.”
Dawson also touched on how Smith’s real-life heart attack inspired him to start a newClerks IIIscreenplay from scratch. It was this screenplay that finally got the ball rolling on the sequel. Dawson also reflected on how Becky has become “so important” over the years.
“He put that whole experience into this story, and he brought Becky back in a very controversial way, which is not shocking for Kevin, of course. But it was heartbreaking, and it also just felt really special and important and magical. I love that this character became so important over so many years that being brought up to date on the state of things could immediately have such an impact on the storytelling of this film.”
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Rosario Dawson Says Clerks III Combines the Best of Clerks and Clerks II
Clerks IIhad a different vibe to the original, as it was presented in color in an all-new setting. The third film kind of blends the first two movies in a unique way, as teased by Sawson.
“The first film was so different from the second. When we were filming [Clerks II], we talked about how people could either really love or hate it because it’s so different. But this third film is such a perfect amalgamation of the two — going from black and white to color and just really mashing the two together — and it’s done again through the lens of this moment and everything we’ve gone through to get here. So it really resonates. It’s poignant. It’s emotional. I was ugly crying at the premiere, and it’s shocking because it’s still just as funny and irreverent and all of those wonderful things. It also has a lot of humanity to it. So Kevin really delivers, as he has all these years, and it’s why he’s made such an impact on this industry. Only Kevin could make such a self-referential film and get away with it.”
Clerks IIIwill be screening in theaters from Sept. 13-18, courtesy of Fathom Events.
