Sitting down with Brian O'Halloran (Dante Hicks) and Jeff Anderson (Randal Graves) of Kevin Smith's latest film, "Clerks II," is like sitting down with an old married couple: they both know each other inside out and each has their own stories and takes on many of the same experiences.
Coming back to their roots with a sequel to the movie that made them both part of a cult phenomenon over the past decade isn't so much a reunion as it is just another get-together for the two.
"Over the years of doing the 'Clerks' cartoon and visiting the characters of Jay and [Silent] Bob, it's just become innate for us to know each other that way," O'Halloran off-handedly remarks about his chemistry with Anderson.
On the topic of his and Anderson's strong performances in "Clerks II," O'Halloran jokes, "We had [tons of time for] rehearsing the script, because as soon we were done filming the first one, [Kevin Smith] handed us the next script and said, 'Alright, you think you can get this down in, say, 12 years?' "
While it may seem like an odd choice for Smith to have waited so long to do his sequel, O'Halloran says it was just a natural progression, especially after he, Anderson, Smith and the rest of Smith's production company came together to put out "Clerks X," a tenth anniversary DVD commemorating the first film.
"I was on board from the beginning of us seriously talking about doing 'Clerks II,' " O'Halloran remembers. "It was after doing the voice-work for the animated deleted scene for the funeral that Kevin approached me about doing the sequel."
Anderson had a slightly different opinion about doing a sequel. Recounting his own take on the idea, Anderson explains, "It was a sequel that could've really messed up the first one. I just wanted to make sure that it was being done correctly."
Anderson goes on, "I wanted to make sure Kevin [Smith's] intentions were the right ones for doing it. He was just coming off of 'Jersey Girl' and getting a few lumps for that and I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't just running back to the well."
It took some convincing on Smith's part to get Anderson on board, because he was still reluctant after hearing the initial pitch for the sequel.
"The initial idea was they were going to be carnie operators," O'Halloran recalls.
"Yeah," Anderson says through a smile. "There was going to be 'Shoot the Geek.' "
He explains, holding back his laughter, " 'Shoot the Geek' is where they put a guy in a big padded suit and you shoot at him with a paintball gun. That was going to be Randal's job [after the Quick Stop burns down]. So when we first see Randal, he's in this pure white suit, and he's just got a rainbow of shots at his balls."
After that, the movie's budget ballooned from a meager $500,000 to $5 million, and Smith re-examined his script and moved it to "Mooby's," a recurring fast-food restaurant in his Jersey Chronicles.
Another addition to the script was A-list actress Rosario Dawson. When it had come time to cast Dawson's role, Smith actually wanted to avoid big name celebrities and go with an unknown, maybe because of the unfortunate experiences he'd had working with Linda Fiorentino in "Dogma" and Shannen Doherty in "Mallrats."
"It was all about Shannen Doherty back then," O'Halloran says with a slight shake of the head. "She had four dressing rooms, she had a German Shepard that would travel everywhere with her...That's Hollywood for ya."
But luckily Dawson was the right woman for the role, not only because of her amazing on-screen presence, but because of her great personality on the set as well.
O'Halloran makes it a point to say, "[Dawson] is so great and down to earth. She's just a regular girl. Enjoys comics, enjoys science-fiction, is well read."
He goes on, "Jeff had a great compliment about her. Since we were out at this old converted Burger King shooting, next to it was this old Days Inn hotel that they used instead of bringing in trailers, she could have had a car service come in and take her to-and-from the set everyday, but she chose to stay with everyone every night and play poker and hang out. She's a real cool cat."
Now that the two have made it to the big time, O'Halloran hopes to make it from the local theater scene in New Jersey and get onto the big screen and Anderson has a direct-to-DVD film he wrote, directed and starred in titled "Now You Know."
As for their futures as the clerks Dante and Randal, O'Halloran solemnly says, "The only way we're going to see these characters again is straight-to-DVD, like the animated movie coming out in 2008 or 2009, or the comics."
Of course, we've heard that before.
Reach the reporter at shaun.capehart@asu.edu.
