Miramax
Can you believe it has been 25 years since Clerks was released? The movie that had a budget of $27,575 forced Kevin Smith to max out all of his credit cards and spent his college education money. Clerks became a cult classic and propelled Smith to stardom and made Jay and Silent Bob into the endearing stoners. Now, 25 years later, Jay and Silent Bob are getting their second movie. Noich!
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was released on August 24, 2001, now Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes are back for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Snootchie Bootchies! Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is the latest chapter in the View Askewniverse, which includes Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks 2.
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Last February, Smith announced the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot by sharing a photo of the movie’s script on Instagram.
This is not a drill! This is an actual image from my laptop! Yes, Kids – @jayandsilentbob are coming back! Here’s the story: Sadly, Clerks III can’t happen (one of our four leads opted out of the flick). So I worked on a #Mallrats movie instead… which also didn’t happen because it turned into a #Mallrats series. I’ve pitched said sequel series to 6 different networks only to find no takers thus far. Mind you, I’m not complaining: nobody gets to make EVERYTHING they wanna make in this business (do they?). And I’ve been lucky to make anything at all, there’s so much competition out there, so many much cooler ideas from fresh folks. And besides: I had #comicbookmen and then @tuskthemovie and @yogahosers (which all came together so crazy quickly), and the podcasts and #fatmanonbatman. With all of that, how could I bitch about no Clerks III or Mallrats 2? Then when I started directing @thecw shows, it was such a slice of Heaven on Earth, I happily put my Askewniverse sequels to the side. Since I sold #Clerks and #Mallrats years ago, they’re owned by others, which limits my moves with my own material. I don’t mind: back in the day, all I ever wanted to do was sell my stuff so I could be in the movie biz in the first place. So I don’t own Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy or #Dogma… But I DO own #jayandsilentbob. So while I love playing with someone else’s new toys on @cwtheflash and @Supergirl, I’m getting eager to play with my old toys again in the inter-connected View Askewniverse I spent the first half of my career creating. And so all last month, I had the time of my life laughing while writing “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” – a fun flick in which the Jersey boys have to go back to Hollywood to stop a brand new reboot of the old “Bluntman & Chronic Movie” they hated so much. It’s a tongue-in-cheek, silly-ass satire that pokes fun at the movie business’s recent re-do obsession, featuring an all-star cast of cameos and familiar faces! And I already met with the good folks at Miramax and they’re into it, so I’m hoping we’ll be shooting in the summer! Never give up, kids. You CAN do anything you want in life, so long as you’re patient and malleable. #KevinSmith
Last August, Smith posted this photo of Jay and Silent Bob at the gates of Miramax, which gave Smith the chance to make the sequel and is also where the fictional Bluntman & Chronic reboot movie is being made.
16 years ago, #JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack was released in theaters. And this Fall, we shoot a follow-up flick called #JayAndSilentBobReboot! pic.twitter.com/bULHxzX3aj
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) August 25, 2017
Smith finally shared a behind-the-scenes look at the reboot from the set of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot with a photo of himself, Jason Mewes, and Jason Lee AKA Brodie Bruce.
One year ago today, I almost died. So today, I’m living it up on with @jaymewes and Jason Lee on Day 1 of my new flick @jayandsilentbob Reboot! Thanks to @saban_films and Universal for the loot to make this epic, @jordanmonsanto and @destrofilms for making it happen, @jenschwalbach and @harleyquinnsmith for humoring my goofy bullshit one more time, and #jasonmewes for standing beside me all these years while I do the hardest thing I can personally ever do, either in film or in real life: simply shut the fuck up. I couldn’t think of a better scene with which to start the shoot than the return to the Mall with Brodie Bruce. The three of us gathered for a couple hours last night to run the lines and realized we first rehearsed together waaaaay back in the mid-90’s. It may be 24 years later and we may have 6 kids between us, but Jay, Lee and me partied like it was 1995, giggling while adding jokes and finding inflections. The Oscars were on in the background during our practice and I couldn’t help but feel relief when the “In Memoriam” montage ended and I wasn’t in it. We picked 2/25 as the Reboot start date *intentionally*, to celebrate the fact that I did not become Silent Bob forever 365 days ago. But after a blissful couple hours of making pretend with my friends on the set of my 14th film, I’m starting to think I *did* die in that operating room after all. Because what could be more Heavenly than this? #KevinSmith #jayandsilentbob #jayandsilentbobreboot #jasonlee #jaymewes #neworleans #brodiebruce #wwambassador #movie
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Last week, Smith shared a pic with Mewes and “department heads” who “just finished the production meeting – which is like the final checklist before cameras roll!” Smith said, “It’s really happening.”
The Instagram posts reveal that filming of Jay and Silent Bob takes place in New Orleans. On an episode of Smith’s Fat Man on Batman podcast, Kevin gave details on the plot of the reboot where Jay and Silent Bob travel from New Jersey to Hollywood to once again find those Miramax f*cks who are making a Bluntman and Chronic reboot:
“We’re doing a sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and it’s called Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It’s us, it’s me and Jay so it’s not really strictly a reboot in the way that people think of a reboot. If you remember Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back it was a movie in which Jay and Silent Bob found out Hollywood was making a movie about them so they went cross-country to Hollywood to stop that from happening. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is completely f*cking different. In Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Jay and Silent Bob find out that Hollywood is making a reboot of that old movie that they had made about them, and they have to go cross the country to Hollywood to stop it all over again. it’s literally the same f*cking movie all over again. It’s a movie that makes fun of sequels and remakes and reboots while being all three at the same time.”
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Will the reboot of Bluntman and Chronic be stopped in the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot? Let’s hope that once Jay and Silent Bob get to Hollywood and find those Miramax f*cks who are making the movie, they make them eat their sh*t, then sh*t out their sh*t, and then eat their sh*t that’s made up of their sh*t that they made ’em eat. Will the reboot make “House Party” look like “House Party 2?” So many questions.