Kevin Smith’s “View Askewniverse” has brought us plenty of great characters, but no two have captured the imagination quite like Jay and Silent Bob. 3s663d

The stoner pair are hardly seen without each other, yet are opposites in many ways. Both born in Leonardo in the seventies, they met as kids in front of the famous Quick Stop Groceries. Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) is, as you can guess from his name, the more reserved one, and also prone to coming out with profundities and harsh truths. Jay (Jason Lee) is happier to speak for the sake of it and often bullies others, which can annoy his silent companion. Jay’s also known for swearing like a sailor, to the point that, canonically-speaking, his first word is “f**k.”

Over the years the characters have developed in some ways, and stayed the same in others. Much of this has taken place in animated series, or comics, but a lot of it has also happened over the course of a number of films. If you want to check out their on-screen journey, then the easiest way is to watch all of the Jay and Silent Bob movies in order, which you can find below!

Please note that these are listed in the order of their release, not the order in which they take place in the View Askewniverse.

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The 1994 highly quotable underground hit that turned Kevin Smith into hot property remains a great watch to this day. It follows store clerk Dante as he shoots the breeze with his friends and contemplates his life. Jay and Silent Bob are introduced to us as weed dealers, and they make several appearances throughout the film, including a classic Silent Bob truth bomb to Dante as he agonizes over what to do about his love life.

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Mallrats technically takes place the day before Clerks in the View Askewniverse, but the film was released a year after the black and white indie hit. In it, Jay and Silent Bob are hanging around the mall when they meet their friends Brodie and T.S., who have recently become single. T.S. wants to sabotage a game show that’s taking place at the mall that day as his ex is set to appear on it, and enlists the help of Jay and Silent Bob to cause chaos. However, the pair of stoners end up helping their friends reconcile with their girlfriends, gaining an organutan pal on the way. This is the first film we see Silent Bob’s talent for electronics.

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Although Jay and Silent Bob aren’t the main focus of this film, the latter gives a speech from which the title is drawn, so they’re pretty important.

The movie follows Holden and Banky, comic book artists who created a series called Bluntman and Chronic which is based on Jay and Silent Bob. Holden is in love with Alyssa, a fellow writer, and a lesbian. As their relationship develops, he finds himself obsessing over her sexual past, leading to a fracture. He meets up with Jay and Silent Bob to give them money for using their likeness, at which point Silent Bob compares Holden’s situation to one he had previously with a woman called Amy. And so begins a third act that includes maturity, personal discovery, and another failed relationship.

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Bethany, an abortion clinic worker and lapsed Catholic, is the unaware last living descendant of Jesus. She finds herself thrust into a battle between good and evil, and discovers two unlikely companions in her adventure in the form of Jay and Silent Bob. The three are thrown together after Bethany mishears Jay talking about making a profit and assumes they are a pair of prophets she is looking for, and before we know it they’re battling fallen angels and trying to save the world. And, in the end, they still end up at the Quick Stop.

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The famous stoners got their first solo feature length film in this 2001 cult classic. In it, the pair are banned from hanging around their usual haunts thanks to a restraining order, and in the ensuing exile discover that Miramax is making a film based on Bluntman and Chronic. Determined to either stop the film or get the money they’re owed for their likeness, they head to Hollywood and cause chaos along the way. Eventually, they find themselves on the movie set, and are rewarded financially for their part in the film, but Jay is still angry enough to vow to beat up everyone who said anything negative about them online.

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The sequel to Smith’s black comedy didn’t quite hit the high notes of the original, but Jay and Silent Bob were their usual hilarious selves in their appearances. In this outing, they’ve been born again and become devoutly religious after going to prison on a drug charge. The pair eventually use their Bluntman and Chronic money to help Dante and Randal reopen the Quick Stop, on the condition that they’re allowed to loiter outside as they used to in the good ol’ days.

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Jay and Silent Bob get animated in this film, which is adapted from a real life Bluntman and Chronic comic storyline. In it, they decide to become superheroes, which goes about as you’d expect. The film features some great cameos, including author Neil Gaiman as the pair’s Alfred-like Butler, Jon Lovitz as a mad scientist, and Stan Lee as himself.

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When they lose the rights to being Bluntman and Chronic, Jay and Silent Bob embark on an adventure to fan convention Chronic-Con in L.A. to get their rights back. Along the way they run into old friends, old flames, and even the KKK. After a whirlwind adventure they make it to Chronic-Con, where Jay realizes the joy of fatherhood, and Bob thwarts a Russian spy. The pair return to Quick Stop, ready for another day of nothing.

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Jay and Silent Bob finally open a legal marijuana dispensary, but continue to deal outside for old time’s sake. They’re approached to play themselves in a film Randall is making about their lives outside the Quick Stop, which soon spirals into an absolute disaster as Randall and Dante fight about their past. The movie ends up pushing the pair back together, even though Dante dies soon after they reconcile.

Ben Affleck is a man of varied tastes. He’s made Oscar-winning dramas, he’s played two different superheroes, and he recently earned rave reviews for Air, a film about the creation of the Air Jordan. A lesser-known aspect of Affleck, however, is his affinity for video games.

Affleck and his son Samuel attended the VALORANT Champions Tournament on Sunday, and the former decided to shed some light on where his fandom lies. “I’m a Kay/o main right now,” he told reporters. “And Raze too, I think… I’m a little promiscuous with who I main, you know what I mean? I move around a little bit.”

Affleck and his son also met with the actress who voices the character of Jett, Shannon Williams, and discussed the implementation of Jett nerfs, which will bring down the duelist’s output. “He could be a Jett main,” Affleck’s son mentioned, to which the actor replied: “Yeah but then they nerfed Jett.” The comment was co-opted by Williams, who said, “I know!” Williams posted the interaction on Twitter, which you can watch below.

This is not the first time that Affleck has crossed paths with video games. Kevin Smith, a connoisseur of all things pop culture and a filmmaker who’s worked with Affleck eight times, actually gave the actor a game based on his own life in 2004. “When Jersey Girl wrapped, we gave [Jennifer Lopez] and Ben this video game kiosk, tall as a person, just like in an arcade,” Smith revealed during a Zoom interview.

“The game was called Jen Saves Ben,” he added. “The Powerhouse Animation guys had created this whole animation about her fighting ninjas and sh*t like that and trying to rescue Affleck. So I’ve known the Powerhouse kids two decades.” Lopez and Affleck broke up shortly after the release of Jersey Girl, but they reunited in 2021 and married a year later.

Video games also played a role in Affleck’s tenure as Batman. When he signed on to write, direct and star in a Batman film for DC, Affleck decided to pull influence from the popular Arkham series. According to CBR, the film would have had a fight between Batman and Deathstroke that was directly modeled after fight scenes in Arkham Origins. This makes sense, given the comparisons made between Batman’s combat style in the game and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Unfortunately, the film was scrapped and the character was rebooted with The Batman (2022).

While there were some outlets claiming that Warner Bros. was considering making a video game based around Affleck’s version of the character, the actor made it clear that he’s done with the DC Universe for the time being. “I have nothing against James Gunn,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that.”

Affleck will next appear in The Instigators, a heist drama directed by Doug Liman and co-starring his longtime friend Matt Damon. A release date has not yet been announced.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith honored Jason Mewes‘s most recent achievement: the Jay and Silent Bob star is proudly marking 13 years of sobriety.

Smith took to Twitter to uplift his friend and collaborator by retweeting his celebratory post, and heaping praise on the resilient father of two.

Mewes expressed gratitude for the of friends like Smith throughout his recovery journey in a video recorded, while walking down a palm tree-lined street.

“Today is 13 years sober, and I gotta say thank you very much for all of the people like Kevin and Jordan and my family and everyone out there ing me [by] watching Jay and Silent Bob.”

He recalled how the structure of the promotional tour was helpful for his recovery.

“It kept me busy. It kept me able.”

He reflected on how sobriety has transformed his life over the past decade. The Jay and Silent Bob star was especially thankful for his marriage to Jordan Monsanto, with the couple having been married since 2009. They welcomed a daughter, Logan, in 2015 and a son, Lucien, earlier this year.

Mewes established a successful acting career when Smith cast him as the gravel-voiced big-mouth stoner Jay in his directorial debut Clerks. He reprised the role in Mallrats, opposite Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, and Claire Forlani. The character became an iconic figure in the View Askewniverse, which includes Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, and Clerks III.

In 2019, Mewes directed and starred in the film Madness in the Method, which also featured Smith among a star studded cast that included Teri Hatcher, Vinnie Jones, Gina Carano, Danny Trejo, and Stan Lee.

His commitment to his sobriety is an inspiration to anyone struggling to overcome self-destructive behavior and a powerful reminder that there is hope.

Finding some positivity in the emotionally and intellectually rotten world of the internet is a rare occurrence, and all the more valuable for that. Chasing Amy and Clerks writer-director Kevin Smith is a common source of joy among the chaos, but in a perfect microcosm of the online experience, he can’t talk about something he liked without someone accusing him of being fake, or worse, selling out.

After coming to the defense of the use of CGI in The Flash to bring back dead actors for quick cameos, Smith was accused of “shilling” for the film by a Twitter . As we’ve come to expect from the filmmaker, his response was swift and grounded as he explained that he doesn’t enjoy speaking on things he isn’t a fan of, and instead prefers to use his time to comment on the movies and shows – or aspects thereof – that resonate with him.

Smith has earned quite a reputation on social media for posting photos of himself crying after watching a particular piece of media, usually involving superheroes or sci-fi. In what might be the biggest achievement of our current cultural climate, he’s even become the star of the “Kevin Smith Crying” meme.

Still, the frequency with which he posts these types of photos doesn’t mean they’re not genuine – some people still allow themselves to be moved by the things they watch, without an unhealthy dose of cynicism and misery clouding their judgment. As Smith himself has explained, it might look like he loves everything all the time, just because he doesn’t usually share negative opinions to balance it out. “If I don’t like a thing, why would I highlight it at all?,” Smith told another disgruntled fan. Oh, how wonderful the world would be if everyone was even a tiny bit more like him.

De-aging is one of the most contentious debates in Hollywood at the moment, but The Flash takes things to entirely different levels by roping in a multitude of long-dead actors for surprise cameos, and even the ones who are still with us are subject to digital trickery.

While you’d imagine the estates of the late stars in question would have signed off on such a move, it’s morally questionable to recreate the visage of somebody who hasn’t been alive for a very long time for the sole purpose of delivering fan service in a major comic book blockbuster.

Noted comic book nerd and appreciator of geek culture Kevin Smith doesn’t seem to have an issue with The Flash utilizing surprise guests from beyond the grave, though, but we can only hope his comments in an interview conducted by Rolling Stone don’t end up becoming literal whenever the filmmaker shuffles off this mortal plane.

“It didn’t bother me all. I thought it was just a really nice homage to the past. It didn’t feel like an insult. That felt like an homage. Some people are like, “Yeah, but they’re not alive to say yes or no.” And you know, I don’t know any actor who would be like, “Don’t use my image when I’m dead.” Like, you don’t go into this business to try to be shy, right? You want to be seen. And, look, I’ll give the world permission right now.

When I’m f*cking dead, you can literally do anything to my image or to Silent Bob in a movie. Anything you want. You could stick me in f*cking porn, dude. I’ll be happy to be relevant even though I’m not around anymore. I worked 30 years to get my name out there and keep my name on some of the public’s mind. If somebody’s gonna do it for me for free after my death? Oh, please do it, by all means.”

That might be Smith’s personal opinion, but it’s not one that everybody agrees with based on some of the more queasy reactions to The Flash‘s third act finale. The strangest thing is that unlike other examples including Rogue One‘s Moff Tarkin and Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘s Egon Spengler, it doesn’t even serve the plot. You could cut the dead folks and it’d still be the exact same film, which is where a lot of the anger has come from.

Warning: this article contains major spoilers for The Flash

Kevin Smith is the biggest fanboy in Hollywood, and that’s not a slight. The filmmaker and podcaster has referred to himself as such for nearly three decades. Different films have reciprocated Smith’s fandom over the years, but nothing compares to the reference that appears during a crucial scene in The Flash.

The scene in question sees the titular character (Ezra Miller) stumble upon the multiverse. He watches as portals open up to show different versions of Superman and Supergirl fighting their enemies. Some have gotten their own films in the past, and others were part of films that never actually saw the light of day. The latter is exemplified by Nicolas Cage’s Superman, who was supposed to be the lead of the abandoned film Superman Lives.

Superman Lives was going to be written by Smith and directed by Tim Burton. The former pitched producer Jon Peters on a story about Superman being killed by Doomsday and having to be resurrected to save planet Earth from total destruction. Things got complicated, though, when Burton hired Wesley Strick to rewrite Smith’s script and requested a budget that Warner Bros. was reluctant to green light. 

The film was officially shelved in 1998, but Smith was more than happy to discuss the production and its various issues during his comedy special An Evening with Kevin Smith (2002). He revealed that producer Jon Peters had several bizarre demands, the most notable being that Superman shouldn’t wear his classic red and blue costume and should fight a giant mechanical spider in the final act. (Peters was able to shoehorn his spider idea into 1999’s Wild Wild West).

The anecdote became the stuff of Hollywood legend, and The Flash screenwriters thought it would be fun to show Cage’s Superman fight a giant mechanical spider. Smith told ComicBook.com that he was delighted to see the reference come to life on the big screen when he attended an advanced screening.

“For the earliest part of my career, I made lots of nods to pop culture,” he explained. “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me at the point in my life whenever pop culture nods back at me. For all the times I ever told that Superman Lives story, it delighted me no end to hear it was echoed in The Flash.”

Smith has always been a champion of the Flash character, so it makes sense that he would adore the new film. He called the trailer “magic” and claimed to have watched it 200 times during his Fatman Beyond podcast. He was also a guest director on CW’s The Flash, with fans considering his episodes to be some of the show’s best.

Superman Lives, meanwhile, is having a renaissance in 2023. At least, as much of a renaissance as an unreleased film can have. Smith is hosting a live script reading of Superman Lives at Smodcastle in July, allowing fans to see (or at least hear) what the film could have been like had Burton and Warner Bros. adapted it faithfully. You can get tickets to the event here.

Superman: Legacy is due in theaters over two years from now, meaning the world will be subject to relentless false leaks, speculation, casting rumors, and everything in between and beyond until the Man of Steel makes his grand return to the big screen in the summer of 2025.

With James Gunn having turned in his first draft of Legacy just days before the writers’ strike, it’s safe to say that whatever’s in store for the inaugural live-action DC Universe film is at least roughly locked in as far as characters and plot beats go, but that’s not going to stop the internet from delivering a list of demands to Gunn every other week.

That being said, there are some folks out there who have the proper experience, and therefore the authority, necessary to maybe steer him in the right direction, and Kevin Smith, the mind behind the Clerks films and once a Daredevil and Batman scribe, is one of those people.

Whilst tweeting his love for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and excitement for Legacy, Smith cheekily suggested to Gunn to not include a giant spider fight in the third act of his film.

This was in reference to the obstacles Smith faced during his own experience trying to make a Superman blockbuster; back in the early 90s, a producer Jon Peters (An American Werewolf in London, Tango & Cash) purchased the rights to Superman from Warner Bros., and Smith was hired to write a script for Superman Lives. Peters’ list of demands included having Superman fight a giant spider in the third act, as well as not allowing him to fly, and also having him wear a black suit instead of his iconic red and blue one. Needless to say, Peters was a few s short of a comic book in the Superman department, so to speak.

It never happened, thankfully, and Smith is now free to advocate for the exclusion of as many giant spiders as he pleases. Of course, Gunn might not be so easily swayed.

In any case, here’s to competent comic book creators and keeping Jon Peters as far away from Superman as possible.

Superman: Legacy will release to theaters on July 11, 2025.

Content advisory: This article contains discussion of sexual abuse, and suicide.

Kevin Smith‘s candid revelation about his mental health struggles and the traumatic experiences from his childhood that led him to seek treatment at Sierra Tucson this year is a testament to his resilience.

In a recent interview with PEOPLE magazine, the 52-year-old shared that he sought treatment in January after he felt out of touch with reality one day. Smith told the publication on April 26 that he called a friend following the incident because of the “weird, dark place” he was in mentally and needed help. The Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back star also mentioned that the event was so bad that he wouldn’t have opposed dying. Smith said,

“It was scary… At that moment, I wouldn’t have been averse to not being around any longer. I called a friend and said, ‘I’m in a weird, dark place. I need to go somewhere and get help.'”

Smith would ultimately check in to Sierra Tucson the day after the incident and stay there for a month, where he received therapy for his unresolved childhood trauma that occurred over 40 years ago. The filmmaker’s trauma included sexual abuse and fat shaming.

Smith revealed that he was sexually abused at six, when an older unidentified boy forced him and his friend, a girl around the same age, to participate in explicit acts. At the time and later in Smith’s life, he always recounted that moment as the pair just “playing doctor in an alleyway.” But in treatment, his therapist shifted his perspective on the matter. Smith stated that his therapist described the act as sexual abuse because a third party instructed them “to do something” against their values.

“When a third party is instructing you to do something against your core values like that, that’s sexual abuse.”

Fast forward to a few years later, when Smith was nine. The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot star, who was in the fourth grade, recalled the embarrassing moment when his teacher made fun of his physical appearance and the size of his stomach in front of the entire class. Smith explained that after being publicly humiliated, he developed a persona of himself known as “the other guy” because he wanted “make people love him” before they noticed his size. 

“I felt disgusting, like I didn’t matter. That’s when ‘the other guy’ started to appear. I decided to be entertaining and make people love me before they noticed I was fat.”

As Smith began to gain recognition in 1994 for his film The Clerks, he disclosed that he would often use “the other guy” persona as a shield to hide his pain, something he did until recently when he went into treatment. Smith shared that his treatment consisted of individual and group therapy with people from different backgrounds, which was intimidating to him at first because he felt his issues weren’t as significant as those that were seeking treatment. He said,

“In the beginning, it was tough to share when somebody’s talking about watching their friend get killed and I’m like, ‘Well, my fourth-grade teacher told me I was fat. But I learned that there’s no differentiation [between levels of trauma] to the human nervous system. Internally, trauma is trauma.’”

In addition to the star getting help for his past trauma, Smith has learned the strength of self-validation through the many exercises he received during treatment, including controlling one’s breath, something he still does today. Since leaving Sierra Tucson, Smith has made positive changes to care for his mental health, like no longer smoking weed, limiting his time on social media, and working less.

Smith wrapped up the interview by revealing that he is sharing his story because he wants people to know the importance of mental health and to provide the tools that have helped him recover to those that are suffering.

Kevin Smith is, and has always been, a nerd’s nerd. The quintessential fanboy filmmaker, Smith has never been shy about his love for all types of fandom. Whether it’s the latest Marvel movie, a new Star Wars story, or classics like The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension — Kevin Smith loves movies, loves making them, and dang if we don’t love him for it.

Know far and wide for his debut feature film Clerks, Smith’s black-and-white story of connivence store clerks chatting movies, fending off customers, and playing hockey, is as much of a cult classic as any movie ever made. Which is why it’s so frikken’ cool when That ’90s Show, the Netflix sequel to That ’70s Show, decides to reference the man himself. Better yet, Smith seems to think it’s pretty darn awesome too.

Referencing Kevin Smith and Clerks in a show all about the 1990s is like having Batman fight crime in the rain; it just makes sense. The best part about this whole ordeal is how sincere Smith is about his mentioning. No matter how famous the guy gets, it seems he is always smitten with the idea that people know his work in the first place. Now that’s our kind of celebrity if we’ve ever seen one, and we’ve sure seen a lot.

Hopefully That ’90s Show can continue to keep the tributes coming, and frankly, we wouldn’t mind a few more mentions of Mr. Kevin Smith. If anyone deserve it, it’s him.

Also, because we wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if we didn’t say something — if you haven’t seen Buckaroo Banzai, do yourself a huge favor and give it a watch. We won’t even bother explaining it to you. It’s just that crazy.

One of the beauties of art is the ability to spark an intense emotion in the eye of the beholder, with even the most bottom-of-the-barrel trash still able to stoke flames of thought. Sometimes though, all you can appreciate is the ideas behind a film you utterly reject.

Kevin Smith’s irreverent and ridiculous body horror comedy Tusk is back up for re-evaluation as audiences still struggle to work out exactly how they feel about the deeply divisive 2014 film. Birthed out of a story told on one of Smith’s many podcasts, it sees Justin Long descent slowly into a maddening metamorphosis.

Always divisive, fans still don’t know what to make of it all.

Tusk revels in its ridiculousness and particularly in how nauseating it can make audiences feel. It’s significantly different to other horror films in that it doesn’t go for blood and gore, but rather is solely focused on making you feel uncomfortable through more cerebral methods. Cronenberg would be proud of some of the imagery.

Perhaps the most poignant analysis of Tusk as a movie is it could be a reaction to the intentionally offensive-to-the-senses Human Centipede series, which stoked cultural flames for its overt eroticism and body horror. Testament to Smith, he’s always had an eye for parodying cultural movements.

Tusk sees some similarities with other body horror films in that the best way to enjoy it is to go in completely blind. Brian Yuzna’s Society features the very similar gambit of recommendation, how much do you tell someone about a film which completely goes off the tracks to shock?

Tusk is currently available to stream on HBO Max.

One of the most expensive director’s cuts of all time will now be making its way into cinemas as Zack Snyder’s Justice League is confirmed for a cinematic berth.

After two years of exclusivity on HBO Max and a general belief the film would never be seen in cinemas, Kevin Smith will be behind the film’s first-ever time outside of a streaming service. Speaking on Fatman Beyond, Smith confirmed his plans to bring Justice League to New Jersey.

The director and comic writer will host the screening at his recently purchased Smodcastle Cinema as part of a Q&A screening series. Smith will bring Joe and Anthony Russo, Jason Reitman, and Zack Snyder to various screenings of their films, with Snyder all but confirmed to appear. Smith has earmarked the screening for some time in 2023.

“Zack Snyder is coming in the new year, and he was like, ‘I’ve never shown Justice League in a theater’, and I said ‘brother, bring it!'”

Although it’ll be a likely one-off screening, it gives renewed hope to fans of Snyder’s vision of bigger things coming. Given the release of The Flash in July 2023, it’s interesting this screening is happening. The Flash is set to be one of the few DC projects to reference Snyder’s plans for the series and will see Ben Affleck return as Batman.

The DC Universe’s future hinges heavily on the success of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Black Adam. After nearly a decade in development hell, the film is finally set to release on Oct. 21, with it not showing many greater links to the films which came before it.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is currently available to stream on HBO Max.

Allison Pearce has been in costume design for almost 10 years, cutting her teeth on Saturday Night Live, before transitioning into films with Chadwick Boseman thriller 21 Bridges. She followed that up with Adam Sandler’s Hustle, prior to handling the costume design for the critically acclaimed Aubrey Plaza film Black Bear.

Tasked with realizing Kevin Smith’s vision in Clerks III, Pearce was soon faced with an entirely new set of challenges, as Randall and Dante were brought back to life by Jeff Anderson and Brian O’Halloran. Allison recently took time out to talk to We Got This Covered about what made this project so appealing, as well as the responsibility which came with honoring these characters.

How and when did you first get approached to work on Clerks III?

I was approached to do Clerks III through one of the producers – Amy Jarvela, who I knew from a previous Owen Wilson film we worked on together. Coincidentally, her next project was Clerks III and she approached me, sent me the script, and asked whether I was interested in meeting Kevin. We clicked immediately and from there hit the ground running.

As a costume designer at the start of any project, where is your jumping-off point creatively?

Well I think this one is different from almost every other project I’ve done, because it was so research heavy. I read the script and knew right away that those aspects of the movie inside the convenience store, were all callbacks to the original Clerks. So I had to pour over the original and basically find film stills from the VHS footage.

Doing research on this level, involved deciphering grainy black and white footage to determine all kinds of detail, including what kind of sneakers Jason Mewes wore in the original film. I knew they happened to be an Asics Gel Saga and having worked on Saturday Night Live, treated this process more like research for a forthcoming sketch.

When I worked on SNL and we did parody, part of the art of parody is getting it exactly right, so it feels seamless for the audience. I think that was my main job on Clerks III, figuring out how to make those scenes in store perfect, so that no-one would question them.

Kevin Smith has obviously lived with these characters a long time. On a collaborative level, how much did his input influence your choices?

I think that Kevin is such a great collaborator and he really encouraged me to go for it specifically with Elias (Trevor Fehrman). He reminded me recently that the script said “Elias now wears a metal t-shirt” and that was the only thing scripted as far as his visual transformation goes. That was sort of like this tiny little jumping off point for me.

 I after the first fitting with Trevor, Kevin called and gave me licence to really show some creativity and range with this character. At that moment I felt free to try lots of different things and to really explore what might work. Elias has over 20 costume changes in this movie, which is a lot for a Kevin Smith film. Randall and Dante mostly stick to t-shirts and Quick Stop smocks and hockey jerseys, which is a formula that Kevin wanted to follow. But Elias was different, that was a very different character.

With Jeff Anderson and the character Randall I think you hit double digits when it came to the changes across this movie. Did any of those have significance for the character or feed into the choices of the project itself?

So all the t-shirts, they’re all callbacks and Easter eggs from the View Askewniverse, which Kevin had specifically started working on at least a year before I came on board. He has two graphic designers that he works with, Nate Gonzalez and John Spreckelmeyer, and they had all these graphics ready to go. When I ed the project it was my job to find homes for them, including specific creations like Ranger Danger.

There were a whole bunch of comics that were translated into t-shirts and figuring out what colors made sense for Randall, what fit, what brand, you know there’s millions of options of t-shirts out there. Do we use heat presses or screen printing, there were all those different options and I think it was our goal to get every single t-shirt in the film – which I think we did, there were so many.

What is the significance of the constant costume changes for Elias and Blockchain Coltrane?

With those looks specifically, I needed a jumping off point for each of the costumes in each of those beats where we see Elias and Blockchain Coltrane together. I started to pull from musical pop culture, some references that would inspire me, the makeup artist and the hair stylist. They needed to be visual images which would allow the three of us to put our heads together, in order to create a look which would feel cohesive.

The Mad Max look and the aviator goth look with the goggles on his head, came from Blade Runner I think. That’s how we were referring to them – we would be like, well this is a Frank-N-Furter look, or this is a Crimson Peak look. There was also a kind of goth murder baby doll that he wears with this big Victorian bonnet. All of these looks really allowed us to visually riff.

His looks are kind of the joke in the scene, they’re very quick beats and they needed to read very fast, so there needed to be, in each look, a strong element that kind of made it iconic for audiences. I think that they were great influences for me, but amongst the strongest was The Addams Family.

I think also with those two characters Elias and Blockchain, it needed to feel like Elias was leading the pack in of his style that we see in each scene. Then Blockchain was kind of one step behind him throughout the whole character arc. So maybe he’s picking up Elias’ clothes from the day before off the ground and he’s wearing them the next day, or he’s like copying him in some way because he’s a sidekick.

To what extent do you think costume designers influence a film’s identity, above and beyond character?

As a costume designer I know I’ve done my job if the costume choices the character and they make sense for them. I don’t know that I intended to steal the show with Elias but I think Trevor (Fehrman) really went for it with his acting and he loved all the accessories and the pieces that we gave him – he was really bringing it.

There’s even a scene I , where we had given him these long kind of chain-mail rings, which allowed him to rock out and do devil horns with his fingers. These accessories turned into essential props which helped bring his character to life on camera – it wasn’t just something he was wearing, it was part of his process in creating that person.

Having been in the industry over a decade working across film and television, what are the key things you weigh up before g up?

I think that story is very important to me. When I read a script the story needs to make sense and also I need to be inspired by the it. I don’t want to read something that I’ve seen done 20 times before, that’s a little limiting for costumes because then there’s all these creative walls to breakdown, meaning you have to figure out how to re-tell that story. I think also environment is very important for me in the design process.

One of the things that drew me to Black Bear specifically was the environment and where that story takes place. You can draw on elements of, in that case, nature and the lake and the cabin where we shot the film.

In Clerks III the setting is the Quick Stop and there’s so many textures and colors and interesting things in the background, which made that whole space make sense with the costumes. I also think my job as a costume designer is often to be a problem solver, where I will read a script and it will ask me to try something completely new that has never been done anywhere else. Which leads me to wonder how I would do it, which in turn might inspire some ideas that I could try – that’s a really fun part of my job. It often involves coming up with ways to do new things and create solutions.

Can you describe for me your perfect Sunday afternoon?

Oh, probably going hiking with my partner Ian and my dog Sydney, then probably jumping in a creek afterwards and then going out to dinner – pretty chilled out really.

Clerks III is now playing in theaters, before coming to digital on October 14, and you can check out our review of the movie here.