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Film

Duo comfortable in counter culture

By STEVE PERSALL
Published July 21, 2006

Twelve years ago, Clerks made an independent cinema hero of writer-director Kevin Smith, turned Jay and Silent Bob into slacker icons and did practically nothing for the film careers of Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson.

That is odd since O'Halloran and Anderson shared the title roles, had more screen time than anyone, plus most of Smith's sauciest lines of dialogue. Or perhaps it could be expected since both were making their screen debuts and neither were smoothly accomplished actors then.

They were simply in the right place when lightning leaped into a bottle, a monochromatic lark Smith created for $28,000 that made $3-million in theaters and a lot of devoted fans on home video. There has never been a less likely movie to spawn a sequel, or two lesser known actors deserving top billing in it.

Clerks II opens today on approximately 1,000 theater screens nationwide. Chances are very good that people will go to check out the new Kevin Smith flick, or see what kind of stoned trouble Jay and Silent Bob can get into. Maybe they'll be attracted by the sequel's lone hedged bet, casting bona fide movie star Rosario Dawson.

Anyone claiming to buy a ticket to see what O'Halloran and Anderson are doing these days is probably lying, or related to them. Such is the life of cult favorites almost famous for single roles. But their characters, Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, the customer disservice experts who held together Smith's profane circus, are underground celebrities for their memorably obscene riffs on sex and pop culture.

Many actors would prefer breaking away from such defining roles. O'Halloran and Anderson embraced them. Their film resumes since 1994 are mostly variations on their debut. O'Halloran played Dante's relatives in cameos in Smith's Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma. Anderson popped into Dogma as a gun salesman. Dante and Randal reunited for a scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and a short film titled The Flying Car produced at Jay Leno's request for The Tonight Show.

They also teamed for Smith's animated version of Clerks that was canceled by ABC almost as soon as it premiered in 2000. Clearly neither actor is worried about typecasting.

"It has never been a burden, not for me," said Anderson from Miami during a Clerks II publicity tour. "Since Clerks came out I very rarely get recognized much so it never gets in the way. I do get nice fan letters every now and then, which are nice."

On a separate telephone line, O'Halloran added:

"It has never been something that hindered me as far as getting a role or auditioning. If anything, it's almost an instant greeting for people who are unfamiliar with you at first. They seem to have a familiarity that enables them to talk to me like a real person, not a movie star.

"People obviously relate to the characters we play, thinking we are them. That isn't bad for the most part. I mean, who wouldn't want to talk to Mark Hamill about being Luke Skywalker?"

Anderson admitted some hesitancy when Smith presented the sequel concept. The filmmaker had long claimed to be leaving the Clerks setting and characters behind. His first foray outside that oddly admirable universe was 2004's Jersey Girl, which suffered the bad timing of co-stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's post-Gigli breakup. Returning to the Quick Stop convenience store where Dante and Randal work sounded to Anderson like a retreat to safer ground.

"I was questioning why he was going back to that kind of Jay and Silent Bob mode when he said before that he wouldn't do it again," Anderson said. "I always felt that Jersey Girl was a movie he wanted to make but it wasn't entirely the movie he wanted to make. He wanted to do something a little more visually acceptable and sort of mainstream.

"But it taught him how to do (Clerks II). He put a little more camera movement in there. We had cranes and Steadicams and all that stuff we couldn't afford or he didn't know how to use before. He didn't get hung up on the 'going mainstream' idea, he just let the dialogue flow wherever it wanted."

O'Halloran suggested Smith finally has the chops to do the Clerks milieu correctly.

"To be honest, his growth throughout all six of his movies has been phenomenal," O'Halloran said. "If he were a musician I think this would be considered his greatest hits album.

"He put in the rawness of the first one, the fun of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and the emotional level of Chasing Amy and Jersey Girl in the relationships, not only between men and women but between the two guys, Dante and Randal. It's actually a nice testament to his growth as a writer and director."

Meanwhile, Dante and Randal haven't matured much.

"I'm happy about that," O'Halloran said. "Dante has fallen in love but he's still put-upon to do what he's told, which he has been doing all of his adult life."

On the other hand, Randal is still acerbic, sex-obsessed Randal.

"Yeah, he's pretty much par for the course," Anderson said. "I wish he could make out with a chick at some point in his life but that won't happen. One of the more surprising things about reading the sequel is that Randal lets down his guard a little and gets kind of emotional. That caught me off-guard. But I didn't really expect to pick up the script and find him making out with multiple girls."

What both actors expect this time around is more acting opportunities, a life beyond the Quick Stop.

"I do hope more things of value come around," O'Halloran said. "The first film was actually a slow hit. It didn't do a lot of business theatrically, although percentage-wise it did killer. It didn't really take off until it hit VHS, which back in that day took nine months to reach after the theatrical release.

"I went out to Los Angeles soon after the release and casting directors didn't have much to go on other than my theater credits, which weren't highly respected when it comes to Los Angeles. This time, they'll know me a little better."

Anderson parlayed his Clerks notoriety into $350,000 in investments for his own movie project, Now You Know, made in 2002 and finally set for home video release in December.

"I never really pursued the acting side of things like Brian, but I do enjoy writing," he said. "That's what I'd like to concentrate on. I'd love for (Clerks II) to open up doors so I don't have to pound on them to raise money for another film. That would be a good thing."

Steve Persall can be reached at (727) 893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 13:02:25]