Clerks

Clerks (stylized as Clerks.) is a 1994 American black-and-white comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances. Shot entirely in black and white, Clerks is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob, the latter played by Smith himself. The structure of the movie contains nine scene breaks, signifying the nine rings of hell as in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, from which the main character, Dante, clearly derives his name.

Clerks was shot for $27,575 in the convenience and video stores where director Kevin Smith worked in real life. Upon its theatrical release, the film grossed over $3 million in theaters, launching Smith's career.

Plot

Dante Hicks, a 22-year-old retail clerk at the Quick Stop convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, is called into work on his day off by his boss to cover a few hours for another employee who is sick. Arriving at the store, he finds that the locks to the security shutters are jammed closed with chewing gum, so he hangs a sheet over them with a message written in shoe polish: "I ASSURE YOU; WE'RE OPEN."

Kevin Smith

Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian and public speaker as well as a comic book writer, author, and podcaster.

He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo "Jay & Silent Bob". Jay and Silent Bob have appeared in Smith's follow-up films Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back which were mostly all set in his home state of New Jersey. While not strictly sequential, the films frequently featured crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon described by fans as the "View Askewniverse", named after his production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.

Smith also directed and produced films such as the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out (2010), the horror film Red State (2011), and the horror comedy Tusk (2014), the first film in the True North trilogy.

Jeff Anderson

Jeffrey Allan "Jeff" Anderson (born April 21, 1970) is an American film actor, film director, and screenwriter best known for starring as Randal Graves in Clerks and Clerks II. In between, he has appeared in other Kevin Smith-directed films and has written, directed, and starred in Now You Know.

Early life

Born in Connecticut and raised in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, Anderson attended Henry Hudson Regional High School, with his friend, aspiring writer Kevin Smith, from which they both graduated in 1988.

While Anderson was working at AT&T, Smith was working on his debut movie Clerks. As a joke, Anderson auditioned for the role of "Jay," and based on this audition, Smith later offered Anderson a lead role as video store employee Randal Graves; a foul-mouthed apathetic slacker, who patronized, angered, and mocked his customers whilst avoiding any real work opportunities.

Career

For his role in Clerks, Anderson was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. In every scene in Clerks, he had gum in his mouth; he claims it helped him relax. Anderson often says that when he is recognized as Randal it is always by voice, not appearance.

Brian O'Halloran

Brian Christopher O'Halloran (born December 20, 1969) is an American actor best known for his roles in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse films, notably as Dante Hicks in Smith's debut film Clerks and its 2006 sequel, Clerks II. Aside from this, he has made small appearances in most of Smith's films, either as his Clerks character Dante Hicks or one of Dante's cousins.

O'Halloran appeared as a character in the Kevin Smith biopic Shooting Clerks. He was portrayed by English actor Kit Alexander.

Early life

O'Halloran was born in Manhattan, New York City, and lived in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey since the age of 13. A second-generation Irish-American, both his parents emigrated from Ireland. His father died when O'Halloran was 15 years old.

Career

O'Halloran is the lead actor in Vulgar (2000), an obscure movie about a small town clown who is traumatized after he is attacked during one of his performances.

He has worked on theatre productions since high school. He has said on the subject of doing theatre:

Marilyn Ghigliotti

Marilyn Ghigliotti (born August 10, 1961 in New York City) is an American character actress, best known for playing Veronica Loughran in Clerks.

Clerks director Kevin Smith cast her for her ability to cry while doing a monologue for the audition. She later auditioned for Smith's Mallrats and was offered the role of Kim in Chasing Amy, but was not comfortable with kissing another girl on film.

She moved to Sayreville, New Jersey where she attended middle school and graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School in 1979. After high school, she earned her beautician license to do make-up and hair professionally. She worked at hair salons and later entered acting. Both of her parents are from Puerto Rico.

She performed in community theater in the New Jersey area. Since moving to Los Angeles in 1998, aside from her acting work, Ghigliotti is a respected make-up artist, doing both work in the TV/film industry as well as side work as a wedding stylist.

Filmography