Kevin Smith’s New Mantra Will See Him Explore ‘Christzilla’ After Clerks III

Cult-revered writer and director Kevin Smith has told fans that he will only make films that are uniquely his own from here on in, shunning any further opportunities to make deliberately mainstream films.

“From now until I drop dead, I'm only ever gonna make a flick that only I would/could ever make,” Smith said in a lengthy Facebook post on New Year's Eve. “Jersey Girl, Zack & Miri, Cop Out – while I love them all, these are movies anybody could make. Like 'em or hate 'em, nobody else but me could've (or would've) ever made Clerks. Or Chasing Amy. Or Dogma. Or Red State. Or Clerks II. Or Mallrats. Or Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.”

The post saw Smith announcing a new project he would work on after finishing the two films he currently has in the pipeline; the almost-complete horror film Tusk and a third film in the Clerks series, which will commence shooting in May. The new film will be called Helena Handbag which, like Tusk, was conceived on an episode of his popular SModcast podcast.

“This time the plot of the movie concerns mankind teaming up with Hell to save existence from extinction at the hands of a Rapturing giant Jesus - which means the budget has to be LOW, because NOBODY'S gonna wanna make that movie. At all. And I know this going in, so I won't be heartbroken if it never goes beyond the script,” he wrote. “But... if the script is funny enough? Who knows?”

Smith says that he has come to the realisation that he doesn't need film to make a living anymore, which gives him the freedom to focus on projects he considers worthwhile.

“Now that I've spent the last three years clothing/feeding/housing me and my family without a dime of movie money, I know that I don't NEED film to pay my bills anymore,” he wrote. “So I can make a movie when I feel like it, and if I've got nothing to say in a screenplay, I can just fuck off for a while and do other shit until I do have a movie in me. Like I think I do right now.”

Tusk will be released in the US in their Autumn, no word on an Australian release at this stage.

Listen to the SModcast episode that inspired Helena Handbag here, and the one that brought Tusk to life here.

UPDATE: Smith has now decided against making Helena Handbag as a film and is now looking to make a musical from the story.

Wrote 20 pages of #HelenaHandbag. Too cost-prohibitve for a movie. Now reshaping it as #SMusical THEATER! @BookofMormon is my spirit animal!

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) January 2, 2014