Movies - TV
Clerks III Has A Deep Cut Visual Gag Inspired By An Original Clerks Misstep
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In Kevin Smith’s “Clerks III,” the character Randal (Jeff Anderson) decides to make a movie about his own life as it appeared 28 years before, set at the same convenience store where he currently works. Essentially, Randal makes the first “Clerks,” and the set-up allows Smith to re-stage exact scenes from his original 1994 movie.
Anderson revealed that one particular scene in “Clerks III” had even recreated a bad makeup job that he wore in “Clerks.” Like most of the cast and crew on the first film, the cosmetology student serving as their makeup artist was inexperienced, leading to one moment where Randal appears to be wearing very heavy eyeliner.
“None of us knew about black and white film,” said Anderson. “I don’t know if it was this girl’s idea, but it was this girl who was like, ‘Well, you have to put a lot of makeup on because it’s black and white.’ [...] So in 'Clerks,' if you go back and look at it, I look like Robert Smith from The Cure, I had so much eyeliner on.”
The makeup for “Clerks III” is far more exaggerated than in the original, with Anderson admitting “that was definitely an on-purpose thing that we did just to give each other a good laugh when we recreated the scene.” That seems like the kind of detail that Smith included to amuse himself and maybe ... maybe ... one or two super-fans.