Once Clerks III arrives in theatres next month, it'll be a case of art imitating life.
The new Clerks will centre on Randal, one of the previous films' main characters,
who has survived a heart attack, just as Kevin Smith did not long ago.
While Smith's family does not approve of him using his heart attack as artistic inspiration,
the director appears to be significantly happier with this strategy for Clerks III than with where the project began.
Smith's plans for a third Clerks movie long predates his brush with death,
so the initial idea for Clerks III was quite different, although this did draw inspiration from other real-life events.
Actually the original, Clerks III was destined to be a direct sequel to Jay as well as Silent Bob Reboo
beginning with both the occurrences in that film's opening scene, in which everyone at the Quick Stop is arrested.