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Kevin Smith has always been a beacon for aspiring independent filmmakers to look to. His first feature film, “Clerks”, became the little indie darling that couldlaunching his career in impressive fashion. All eyes were on Smith and what he was going to do next. He leaned on his comic book nerd sensibilities and made “Mallrats,” a buddy comedy set in, well, a mall. Although the film was a major disappointment at the time, it has since become a fan favorite. More than that, it also gave Smith the rights to Jay and Silent Bob, which greatly influenced his career from that point on.
An oral history published by The ringtone for the 30th anniversary of “Mallrats” revealed how Smith was able to take the characters of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (whom Smith plays himself) and move them from “Clerks,” distributed by Miramax, to a Universal Pictures production. It was a clever legal maneuver.
“Our lawyer ruled out Jay and Silent Bob,” said producer and longtime Smith collaborator Scott Mosier. “I don’t even think they blinked.” Indeed, while the agreement with Miramax for “Clerks” was being settled, they inserted a clause allowing Smith to retain ownership of these characters. Depending on the story, Smith’s memory differs slightly, but the result is the same. The lawyers determined, according to the title “Clerks,” that it was “the guys inside the store, not the guys outside the store.”
So, Jay and Silent Bob appeared in “Mallrats” and began building what is called View Askewniverse, a shared continuity that runs through many of Smith’s films. He’s made films like “Red State” and “Tusk” that don’t feature these characters; Overall, Smith has built his career on this dynamic duo.
Mallrats were the key to unlocking the View Askewniverse
Smith later included Jay and Silent Bob in “Chasing Amy,” which remains one of his most acclaimed filmsas well as other directorial efforts like “Dogma,” not to mention “Clerks II.” Eventually, Smith even brought Jay and Bob to the forefront in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” This then had a sequel in the form of “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot”.
The duo also made an appearance in “Scream 3.” More recently, they were added as characters in “Call of Duty.” It would be fair to call them not only pillars of the View Askewniverse, but also pop culture icons. As Smith said in the oral history, they can literally do whatever they want with these characters, all thanks to this clever legal maneuver.
“Since then, Jason Mewes and I have owned Jay and Silent Bob. And we can put them in whatever we want and stuff. It’s like owning C-3PO and R2-D2.”
As for “Mallrats”, it bombed at the time of its release, making just $2.1 million at the box office against a budget of 6 million dollars. Center forward nerd culture was just a little bit ahead of its time. Despite this, it allowed Smith to build his own shared cinematic universe, something no one was really doing at the time. The film has also become a true cult classic in its own right. So much so that Smith, for years, was trying to make “Mallrats 2”. Despite its initial reception, it remains an extremely important cornerstone in Smith’s filmography.
