'Clerks III' filmmaker Smith talks being Devils fan in Q&A with NHL.com

In NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Sitting Down with …" we talk to key figures in the game, gaining insight into their lives on and off the ice. In this special offseason edition, we feature filmmaker Kevin Smith.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Kevin Smith is a busy man these days, but when the New Jersey Devils call, priorities change quickly.
The acclaimed filmmaker had scheduled a week in New York and New Jersey to promote his latest film, "Clerks III," and attend to some of his other businesses. But when his home state hockey team asked if he had some time to tape some promotional videos, it was an instant yes.
"I could be doing anything else today," Smith said during a break in shooting last week on the Devils practice rink adjacent to Prudential Center. "But then when they were like, 'Oh, you're going to go to 'The Rock,' I was like, 'Say no more.' It was just fun."
Hockey has been a go-to element in most of Smith's 15 films, most notably a ball hockey game on the roof of a convenience store in his first film, "Clerks," in 1994, and a return to the rooftop to open "Clerks III."
"When I've made things with no hockey, or no comics (references), people … ask questions," Smith said. "So in the case of 'Clerks III,' there was absolutely no chance there wouldn't be a hockey influence.
"If we're making a (Kevin Smith) movie, something with Jay and Silent Bob, Dante and Randal, such as 'Clerks III,' hockey will be omnipresent."

"Clerks III" returns to the world of convenience store clerks Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson). When Randal survives a heart attack, he vows to make a movie about their lives at the store. Smith and his longtime collaborator, Jason Mewes, reprise their roles as Jay and Silent Bob.
The film opened Sept. 13 in limited theatrical release and Smith is traveling the United States and Canada on
The Convenience Tour
pairing the film with a Q&A session.
Smith discussed how it felt to take his hockey gear back to the rooftop, his passion for the Devils, hanging out with New Jersey Stanley Cup champion Ken Daneyko, writing a hockey television series and more.
The roof of a convenience store might be the most unique place for a ball hockey game. How did that come about?
"The original incarnation of it in the 'Clerks' script was they were going to play on the street in front of the store ... and they created the boards with Doritos and (potato) chip (bags). And we were leaving the store one night, me and Vinny Pereira, my friend who worked there, he was talking about the hockey scene and he said, 'You're going to do it here on the street?' And I was like we'll start here and I was kind of laying out where the game would be. And Vinny was looking at the building and he goes, 'It would look so much cooler up on the roof.' And I looked at the roof and I was like, 'Oh my God, it would. You think? Is it strong enough?'
"So we went up and investigated. We pulled the car around back, climbed up and looked on the roof. The roof, you've seen it in the movies, it's not conducive for a hockey game, there's air conditioning units and stuff. But it was such a foreign notion, the image of it. … But that very beautiful image that has come to define 'Clerks' so well, that I used to open 'Clerks III,' was a casual, throwaway comment from Vinny Pereira, being like, 'I think the game would look great on the roof.' "
What's been the audience reaction to seeing another game on the Quick Stop roof opening "Clerks III"?
"Absolutely glorious. The opening of that movie, it's almost five minutes. And it's set to a local Jersey band, My Chemical Romance's 'Welcome to The Black Parade.' So you're already dealing with an anthem that people love, even if they're not overly familiar with it. It's an ear bug; that tune slaps. So it does most of the heavy lifting for you. Once that's playing, and it's anthemic, it kind of builds the audience hype. Then you're laying these images over it of their old friends. So here's Dante pulling up and opening the steel shutters just like you've seen him do since 'Clerks.' Here's Randal entering the shop for the first time when he leaves his apartment. Here's them putting up the ladder so that they could climb up to the roof. Here's all the people arriving to play. As it unfolds, it's just cascading joy for the audience. If you're into these movies, it is a nonstop series of images that just pumps serotonin through your body. So it grows with applause. I sit backstage every night on the Convenience Tour right behind the screen. Everyone's facing the screen, I'm on the other side of it and I just get everything aimed at me. … By the time you get to the credit at the end where we put up 'Clerks III,' thunderous applause. So the beginning works like crazy."
You're a well-known Devils fan. What did it mean for the team to call you in for a day of shooting?
"You want to go back in time and tell the kid that would scalp tickets before games in 1989, come up here as often as we could, me and (friend) Walter [Flanagan], that one day the organization knows who you are. I've always known the organization, and at a certain point they knew me from the movies and because I'm such a loud, proud fan. So to be welcomed into the arena, to hang out with 'Dano' (Ken Daneyko), to shoot stuff with NJ (Devil, the mascot), as a Jersey native who actually appreciates the team, has been around for all of its history, it's incredibly meaningful."
You got to shoot pucks and exchange stories with Daneyko, and he even gave you some shooting tips. As such a longtime Devils fan how was that experience?
"Kenny, I'm sure, spends a lifetime talking about the moment he won the [Stanley] Cup and whatnot, but graciously he'll sit there and tell the story yet again. I have my own version of the Cup with 'Clerks' and people like that story and stuff. So listening to him tell the story again and again is so ... everyone asks him about it. So the fact that he can talk about it still without being like, 'Yeah, we won,' it's so eloquent. He takes you right to the moment.
"Shooting pucks with him, that was nuts. I was honestly intimidated. I know he's not known for his shooting, but still, he's a professional hockey player. Retired 20 years, but still a professional hockey player. He gave me the best advice. He actually taught me how to hold the stick and choke up and get it in the net. It was crazy, one and done. We had five pucks set up because I was like, 'This is going to be a disaster.' "

You live in Los Angeles but recently purchased the Atlantic Moviehouse near where you grew up in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Does that mean you'll be spending more time in the area now? And maybe attending more Devils games?
"Absolutely. More time than I had in the last like two decades. The kid (daughter Harley Quinn Smith) is grown up, she has her own house, she lives with her boyfriend. … With the purchase of the movie theater, you're buying a playground. We're going to be able to do live shows there, we're going to do Clerks Open All Night, where we show all three 'Clerks' movies from midnight to 6 in the morning and then eat a Quick Stop-catered breakfast. So in order to do those things and be like, everyone will be there, and that's the easiest way to sell tickets, I'd have to be there. And being that there's an apartment right upstairs ... every time I come into Jersey, I'm usually staying at a hotel. It'd be nice to actually have roots again to put down. And with roots, and with all the activities that we'll be doing at the theater, it gives me plenty of reason to come out here and split time between that coast and this coast now."
The Devils haven't made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2018, but what do you think of the young core they've assembled, with (centers) Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes?
"The Tampa [Bay] guy, (forward) Ondrej Palat, that was big news (signing a five-year contract July 14), because you're talking about somebody who's lifted two Cups himself coming to a team that historically has lifted three. When a move like that happens, you always get the feeling of like, perhaps this is the missing piece. Perhaps somebody with that kind of experience, winning, comes and brings a little bit of leadership that shapes a bunch of kids who dream of the thing into a bunch of kids who can accomplish that. Every new season there's always that fresh hope of like, 'Yeah, this is it.' But it feels like they've loaded the deck a little bit this year where we may see some serious results."
You've talked about making a hockey movie since at least 2010, based around the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)." Has there been any progress there?
"I don't know if it'll be the Kevin Smith hockey movie; it will probably be the Kevin Smith hockey series. Probably won't be called 'Hit Somebody' anymore, it'll be called something else, but roughly the same story."
Will the story remain based around the song?
"No, because it was never really based on the song too much. The story that I'd written spanned 30 years in hockey history. And I used Warren's song as a kind of loose structure. All I had to do was change the character's name and I'm not even close to Warren's song anymore because our story is pretty expansive. I keep changing the name. Right now I call it 'The Plumber's Paean,' but we'll see if it stays. It's an ode to the plumber, he's the guy that comes in and does the dirty work. So at age 52, I feel like there's a stronger chance of it happening in the next few years. Because the older you get, the more people treat you seriously, like you're an elder statesman.
"And 'Hit Somebody' is like nothing I've ever done. It's not like the 'Clerks' stuff. … It's really warm and wonderful. So I'm hoping that the older I get, somebody is going to be like 'Oh, yes, now we can see it. Of course this makes sense. It's in his very sentimental wheelhouse.' The last two movies I've made have kind of indicated the direction I'm going. We still like to be funny but we also like to be very heartwarming and human and stuff.
"To be honest, I've never pushed it all that hard. When I set my mind to a thing, we make it happen. So I feel like when the time is right where I'm like, 'You know what? This is where I need to be with this,' all the effort and focus and concentration will go into it and then we'll wind up being able to set it up somewhere. … There are seven full scripts and they're beautiful and some of the best stuff I've written. I've saved the last script until we get set up, until we have a home. But it's all been mapped out forever. And it's all heart. It's so much heart and it's so much feels and it's such a love letter to the game and to the two countries that fostered this game the best."