Randal and Dante make a movie at Quick Stop in "Clerks III," echoing Kevin Smith's experience directing "Clerks" 29 years ago. “It actually may be the best movie I’ve ever made,” Smith says of the film, in theaters this month. Lionsgate

When tears well up in the eyes of Randal Graves, it’s nothing short of a revelation.

The Randal of 1994 would rather lament the death of a construction guy on the Death Star than an actual person in the real world.

But in “Clerks III,” his cool exterior thaws. Suddenly, the cynic is vulnerable — hopeful, even. He can cry!

“When you’re a middle-aged stoner, everything touches you,” says director Kevin Smith, 52.

It’s become one of his favorite refrains. He’s talking about himself, but the Jersey clerk is his surrogate in the movie. Of course, surviving a nearly fatal heart attack can offer some perspective.

Both Smith and Randal (Jeff Anderson) live to tell the tale in “Clerks III.”

The meta comedy, set at the convenience store that started it all, marks both a return to New Jersey and a return to Kevin Smith.

“What was ‘Clerks’ if not the story of my life at that time?” the director says of his 1994 indie gem.

But “Clerks III,” which has its New Jersey premiere Sept. 4, is not another movie about the everyday interactions between clerks and customers.

“I can’t touch that ever again because what do I f---ing know about the proletariat, man?” Smith says. “Now I’m one of the cursed 1%, for heaven’s sakes.”

Jeff Anderson (Randal) and Brian O'Halloran (Dante) get to spar onscreen after a 16-year hiatus. Lionsgate

“Clerks III” — half biopic, half revival — is a fictionalized retrospective of his experience shooting “Clerks” and the health crisis that helped make the third installment a reality.

After living through a heart attack, Randal is energized to write and direct his own movie with fellow clerk Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) producing. They film at the Quick Stop, simultaneously reenacting their youth and recreating “Clerks,” the little black-and-white movie that launched Smith’s career as a Hollywood director.

Smith and the “Clerks III” cast talked to NJ Advance Media ahead of the film’s premiere in the motherland of his View Askewniverse. The movie, which is going on tour with the director in the United States and Canada, will have Fathom Events screenings at theaters nationwide Sept. 13 through Sept. 18. But first, he’s hosting two fan-packed screenings in Red Bank on Sunday to launch “Clerks III: The Convenience Tour.”

Smith wouldn’t have it any other way. He may be primarily associated with Jersey, but his projects have tended to wind up elsewhere.

Kevin Smith on the set of "Clerks III" at Quick Stop in Leonardo last summer. It was the first time since 1993 that Smith made an entire movie in New Jersey.John Bayer | Lionsgate

“It was the first time since ‘Clerks’ that I’ve made an entire movie in the state of New Jersey,” says Smith, speaking from his home in Los Angeles.

The majority of “Clerks II” (2006) was filmed in California, and “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” (2019) featured a fake Quick Stop storefront in New Orleans. But after Smith suffered a near-fatal “widow-maker” heart attack between two stage shows in 2018, he made a promise. If “Clerks III” was going to happen, it would have to be at the real Quick Stop in Leonardo — the site of his birth as a filmmaker.

Almost 30 years ago, Smith would film all night at the store. Last summer, he returned. Only this time, he didn’t have to wait for his shift to end (and he wasn’t funding the movie with maxed-out credit cards).

“This felt like ‘Clerks’ fantasy camp,” Smith says. “It was like the greatest balm for a middle-aged soul you can imagine ... my version of buying a very fast car and dating somebody young. It was absolute bliss.”

Some things never change. But Kevin Smith doesn't have the same perspective he did in 1993, and he didn't want to pretend otherwise.Lionsgate

Partly due to COVID-19 safety measures, Smith was able to do something he had never done before. The director shut down the store for the whole shoot with the permission of the Thapar family, his old bosses, who still own the business.

“I literally walked in and out of that store and RST Video just like it was the f---ing ‘90s again for two weeks straight,” he says.

“Clerks III” speaks directly to Smith’s identity as a storyteller reliving his origin story. So much so that “Clerks II,” long his favorite View Askewniverse film, has a challenger.

“It actually may be the best movie I’ve ever made,” he says.

The film is a complete nostalgia fest — its references even have references. Randal puts the handwritten “I assure you, we’re open” sign in his movie. In “Clerks,” Dante posts the message because the shutter locks are jammed with gum, which was a cover for the store being closed in real life.

Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson in "Clerks," released in 1994. Anderson and Kevin Smith drifted apart over the years, but reconnected after his heart attack.Miramax

Smith enshrined Quick Stop in movie history with his grainy black-and-white indie. Today “Clerks” is in the National Film Registry.

However, there was a time when the Monmouth County landmark, now a tourist attraction, was an object of dread for the Highlands guy.

“As a kid, all I ever wanted to do was get the f--- away from it,” Smith says. “And as an adult, all I ever do is try to f---ing get back to it.”

Smith’s relationship with the place is a prism through which he defines his role as a filmmaker.

Dante’s line, “I’m not even supposed to be here today,” is among the most quoted. But Smith says it all comes down to one he wrote for Randal:

“This job would be great if it wasn’t for the f---ing customers.”

You know, the people searching for a gallon of milk with a date into the next century or that perfect carton of eggs. In “Clerks III,” Randal titles his film “Inconvenience,” which was the original name of “Clerks.”

Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith at the "Clerks III" premiere in Los Angeles. The duo toured the country with their last movie, "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" (2019). They're taking the show on the road again. Jon Kopaloff | Getty Images

“I hated working at Quick Stop when I had to be there,” Smith says. “But when we closed the store at 10:30, I never left. We’d hang out till 4 in the morning. It was a clubhouse. The only thing wrong with it was when you actually had to do some f---ing work and sh-t like that.”

Now he thanks those customers in the film credits.

“I don’t start the journey to ‘Clerks’ unless people walk into that store and say dumb sh-t that makes me go, ‘God, somebody should put that in a movie,’” Smith says. “Every one of them was gold that paved the way for the rest of my future. Every single customer.”

He applies the sentiment to his audience, too. For some directors, “fan service” is a criticism. For Smith, it’s the goal.

“If there’s anything I’ve ever done correctly, it’s customer service, man,” he says. “I’ve been boots on the ground with people who buy tickets since, like, ’95 when we opened the View Askew website and stuff. I legit care about the audience.”

The real Quick Stop returns to the center of Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse in "Clerks III."Lionsgate

Without that audience, “Clerks III” may have stayed a script, as it was for many years (with a different plot).

Lionsgate, the company that managed home video for “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,” noticed strong DVD and Blu-ray sales for the movie, which had a Fathom Events release and national tour.

Smith knows many of his fans value physical media, partly because they want copies signed. The sales told Lionsgate there would be an audience for another film, so the company boarded “Clerks III.”

When national ticket sales opened for two nights of Fathom Events screenings in September, the response was so good, four more nights were added. Smith says the tour is selling well, too.

Still, “Clerks III” couldn’t happen without Randal.

That posed a problem, since Smith and Anderson had been on the outs for years.

At first, Smith was frustrated by Anderson’s decision to stay away because he didn’t think he was being fairly compensated. But the high school pals reunited at a fan signing in 2019. He told Anderson if he could reconcile with Ben Affleck after his heart attack, they could do the same. And they did.

Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson, Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson at the Aug. 24 premiere of "Clerks III" in Los Angeles.Albert L. Ortega | Getty Images

“Kevin and I, we have a complex relationship — or I should say we had,” Anderson says with a laugh. The actor, a producer of the film alongside O’Halloran, grew up in Atlantic Highlands and moved to Los Angeles in 1995. He now resides in Los Padres National Forest in California.

He never set out to be a star, so he didn’t have much patience for being devalued, as actors often are.

“The things that have always irritated me are definitely the business side of it,” says Anderson, 52. “Sometimes that did interfere with Kevin and I.”

They were cordial, but it was a distant relationship. After the heart attack, Anderson reached out.

“You never know,” he says. “That person that you take for granted in your life every day, they may not be there. That comes across in both the movie and in real life.”

Jason Mewes as Jay and Kevin Smith as Silent Bob. The duo is probably the most consistent through line in Smith's View Askewniverse. Lionsgate

Filming in the Quick Stop was both comforting and surreal, Anderson says.

“There was a million times during filming that Kevin, Brian and I would sort of just look at each other and shake our heads, like, ‘Do you believe that we’re here?’”

For Jason Mewes, it was sensory overload. Smith’s fellow Highlands-to-LA guy, who plays Jay, fan-favorite “hetero lifemate” to his Silent Bob, once worked in the video store. At Quick Stop, he would help Smith with the Sunday papers and stock milk, Yoo-hoos and soda. He hadn’t been in the cooler since the early ’90s.

“The sound of the fan in there and the smell of the cold air ... I felt like I got one of those adrenaline shots in your heart, because I got this super big rush throughout my whole body, and my brain, like, started firing its neurons and bringing me back to ’94,” says Mewes, 48. “It was really weird, but so awesome at the same time.”

Now Jay and Silent Bob loiter outside a business they own: RST THC, a legal weed store where the VHS rental used to be.

Randal and Dante with Silent Bob, Blockchain Coltrane (Austin Zajur) and a heavily made up Elias (Trevor Fehrman) in "Clerks III." Lionsgate

In real life, RST Video is no more (Smith’s SModcastle podcast theater is in the same strip), but Quick Stop serves many of the same people Smith did in his teens and 20s.

“The store literally hasn’t changed one ounce,” O’Halloran says, apart from a nearby townhome complex. “What used to be the big wall of adult magazines near the front counter has now changed to the big wall of herbal pipes and rolling papers and vape pens. So that’s pretty much the only change from when we filmed in ’93.”

By the second day of rehearsal, Dante and Randal were back in their familiar rhythm.

“It felt like a really great homecoming kind of family reunion,” says O’Halloran, 52, who grew up in Old Bridge and lives in the northern Pocono Mountains.

A piercing fight between the two clerks forms the emotional core of the film. Randal is so focused on his movie that he disregards Dante, who clearly shares his life and story. Smith says that’s a direct indictment of his own self-absorption — and an apology.

"Clerks" originals Brian O'Halloran and Marilyn Ghigliotti at the Los Angeles premiere of "Clerks III."Kevin Winter | GA | The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

“I work in entertainment, which means my head is stuck straight up my -ss,” he says. “Like, I’m so self-involved, it’s nuts.”

O’Halloran shares scenes with Rosario Dawson, who plays Becky, Dante’s love and former boss from “Clerks II.” Sayreville’s Marilyn Ghigliotti is back as Dante’s ex Veronica Loughran. Both relationships serve up meditations on time and memory.

Smith dedicated the film to Lisa Spoonauer, an anchor of the original “Clerks” cast as Caitlin Bree. The actor was 44 when she died in 2017 — two characters are named Lisa in her honor.

“It was sad and kind of weird to be back there with everybody except her,” Smith says.

Trevor Fehrman, who played Mooby’s employee Elias in “Clerks II,” returns as the annoying little brother to Dante and Randal. Now in his 30s, he’s got a Silent Bob-esque sidekick named Blockchain Coltrane. Austin Zajur, boyfriend to Smith’s 23-year-old daughter Harley Quinn Smith, plays the character, who originally had lines. Smith says he just seemed funnier as the wordless Woodstock to Elias’ Snoopy.

Brian O'Halloran's Dante with Lisa Spoonauer as Caitlin in "Clerks." She died in 2017.View Askew Productions/Miramax

If “Clerks III” had filmed in Los Angeles, Smith wouldn’t have been able to cast local talent from the first movie. The budget couldn’t cover flying them out for two lines of dialogue.

“Because we were in New Jersey, I had access to literally everybody who worked on ‘Clerks,’” he says. “Day players, people that came in for one shot. And because of that, it just makes the sum total of the affair even more magical.”

Frances Cresci, the little girl who buys cigarettes from a distracted Randal, was one of those actors.

“We replicated the shot of grown-up Frances, who’s now a health care worker, popping a cigarette in her mouth,” Smith says.

Smith was having trouble finding roofer Thomas Burke, who once got into quite an engaging “Star Wars” conversation with Randal. Then his son surfaced when they were location-scouting.

“Let me tell you something,” he told Smith. “This will make his life. You made his life once, this will make his life again.”

The director ended up putting both of them in a scene.

“We wouldn’t get to do that if we were shooting anyplace else,” Smith says.

A standout addition to the cast is Michelle Buteau (”Always Be My Maybe”), a Boonton native with a pan-N.J. upbringing (”I’m like the Khaleesi of Jersey, honey,” she told us in 2020).

“What a gift she was,” Smith says. “She’s a female Seth Rogen, man. She did my script, and then she just f---ing rambled out five funnier movies.”

Kevin Smith on the set of "Clerks III." Filming in Jersey again allowed him to welcome back many of the people who helped make the first film happen.John Bayer | Lionsgate

All the familiar Jersey haunts were waiting for their close-up. The First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands, where Smith held auditions for “Clerks,” became the audition space for Randal’s movie. Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Danny Trejo make cameos as actors trying out for the flick.

Smith filmed at Gianni’s Pizzeria in Red Bank, which hosted one of his Mooby’s pop-up restaurants; Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel (Middletown Mayor Tony Perry plays a doctor); and Posten-McGinley Funeral Home, an Atlantic Highlands location in “Clerks.”

Jersey treasures abound in the soundtrack. Belleville’s Gerard Way can be heard on songs, including My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade,” which opens the movie. Jersey City’s P.M. Dawn supplied the unreleased track “Tru Believer,” thanks to Christian Cordes, son of group co-founder Attrell “Prince Be” Cordes, who died in 2016. (Christian, who makes a cameo, works for Smith’s SModcastle podcast theater next to the Quick Stop.)

Colonia folk singer John Gorka sounds a poignant note: “I’m from New Jersey, I don’t expect too much / If the world ended today, I would adjust.”

Smith’s wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, reprises her “Clerks II” role as Emma, Dante’s ex. Harley Quinn Smith, who played Jay’s daughter Milly in “Reboot,” turns up as a clerk going through cartons of oat milk.

Post-heart attack, Smith adopted Harley’s vegan diet and dropped 50 pounds. Before the heart attack, he wrote a “Clerks III” script set on the night of Hurricane Sandy. In that story (which he has publicly performed), Quick Stop is destroyed. Randal, estranged from Dante, creates a version of the store while standing in line for a movie. Then there’s a shooting at the theater.

Brian O’Halloran as Dante. Auditions for Randal's movie take place at the First Avenue Playhouse, where Smith once auditioned actors for "Clerks."Lionsgate

“That was a movie written by a guy who didn’t know a thing about death,” Smith says, though he did use part of the script in “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.”

Silent Bob is Smith’s onscreen alter ego, but Dante had always been the Kevin Smith of the clerks. Randal was Smith’s old Quick Stop friend, Bryan Johnson. The director once considered making “Clerks III” a mockumentary starring the two of them.

Smith wrote Randal for himself — it’s why the dismissive character has the best jokes. He just couldn’t pull off the acting job. For “Clerks III,” he figured Dante wouldn’t be the one to make a movie, so he gave the heart attack and director gig to Randal.

“In this weird, small way, I finally got to be Randal,” he says. “So really what I was trying to be my whole f---ing life was Bryan Johnson. I think I may have just gotten there.”

This moment made possible by legal weed.Lionsgate

Smith began assembling “Clerks III” in his head on the “Reboot” roadshow. The pandemic gave him time to write, and the process moved swiftly. He had a draft written in early 2021. O’Halloran and Anderson approved, and they were filming by August.

At a February checkup marking four years since Smith’s heart attack, he showed some of the film to Dr. Marc Ladenheim, the cardiologist who saved his life.

Amy Sedaris plays Randal’s surgeon, Dr. Ladenheim, who clears his artery blockage. Details are lifted nearly verbatim from Smith’s hospital visit, like his fear of stripping down for surgery. (Justin Long plays Randal’s nurse.)

Just before the “Clerks III” trailer came out in July, Smith watched it repeatedly, knowing “the internet” would inevitably steal his joy.

Justin Long plays Randal's nurse after a heart attack sends him to the hospital for emergency surgery.Lionsgate

To his surprise, people were picking up what he was putting down. The characters had staying power.

“You can only pull a magic trick like this off if you’ve put in three decades’ worth of work,” he says.

But on social media, people questioned the movie tour and Fathom Events screenings. “Why can’t you just release this normally?” they asked.

“I’m like, ‘Well, because I’m not Chris Nolan,’” Smith says.

Producers wanted to avoid spending $20 million marketing a film that cost less than $10 million. A larger wide release “would be ego only,” he says. “That’s not good business.”

Smith aims to deliver “Clerks III” to the same fans who turned out for his “Reboot” roadshow. He describes the experience as “going to a church where I was both the priest and Jesus.”

“They’re the only ones interested in this,” he says. “It’s important in this life to know your worth, and I know what my worth isn’t. I don’t feel I undervalue myself. In fact, my wife tells me I overvalue myself constantly.”

“Clerks III: The Convenience Tour” will be at Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center in Red Bank Sept. 4 for screenings and Q&As with director Kevin Smith and the cast at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; visit clerks3.movie or ticketmaster.com. The tour comes to the Beacon Theatre in New York Sept. 9.

“Clerks III” (1 hour, 40 minutes), rated R for pervasive language, crude sexual material and drug content, is playing Tuesday, Sept. 13 through Sunday, Sept. 18 at Fathom Events screenings in theaters nationwide; see fathomevents.com/events/Clerks-III for tickets.

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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter.

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