"37?!" "In a row?"

Interview with Brian O'Halloran from "Clerks"
(That's me up there with Brian!)

You know a conversation is going to be good when it starts with talk of stalking and luring people into smart cars with candy at conventions. Luckily for me that is how my interview with Brian O’Halloran, who played Dante Hicks in the hilarious movie "Clerks," started at GameX. Brian was so approachable it was disgusting. Even though they were charging $20 for an autograph, I got one for my friend for free earlier in the day while he was watching a Rock Band tournament.

After getting through the pleasantries, which for us was laced with some severe sarcasm, we got down to the meat and potatoes of what I really wanted to know. After seeing almost every Kevin Smith movie made, "Clerks" was his first, I had to know if Brian thought that "Clerks" should have been first to come out. Brian brought up the good point that "Clerks" opened doors for Kevin Smith that his other movies wouldn’t be able to. It gave the movie world something to base his work off of. It also gave Kevin something to base his other movies off of. If you have never seen any Kevin Smith movies then let me tell you that pretty much all of them are based in some small town in New Jersey and if they went anywhere else, it always started there. They typically have reoccurring characters, such as Jay and Silent Bob (played by Smith), and others that move freely in and out like neighbors you occasionally chat with while getting the morning paper.

I asked Brian if he felt waiting 12 years between the release of "Clerks" and "Clerks II" was a smart move on the part of Kevin Smith. The movies after "Clerks" for Kevin Smith showed more growth, Brian said. Everyone involved learned what worked with the audience and capitalized on it by producing more movies that had the same brand of sarcastic humor and smart characters. Brian felt that they needed the time to develop, grow, and acquire more people. Brian said that many people had never seen the first movie before seeing "Clerks II" and that sent them back looking for "Clerks." They had tried to bring "Clerks" back in 2000 in cartoon form. Brian said that it ran for only one or two episodes before the network trashed it, but six had been made. You can now catch them playing on Adult Swim. Brian mentioned that maybe if enough people wrote to Adult Swim requesting it to come back they could pull a Family Guy and have it come back. That is contingent on Kevin agreeing though.

If you don’t think that you have seen enough of Brian lately then you will be happy to know that he just filmed a small spot as a waiter in a movie with Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd that was shooting in Philly. It is slated to come out next summer. In case you missed him he had a small part in "The Happening," where oddly enough, as Brian pointed out, he played a jeep driver who was heading back to NJ. He was also in the horror movie comedy "Brutal Massacre: A Comedy" which was documentary style about making a horror movie with gory side effects.

If I could have stayed with him for the rest of day and bullshitted with him I certainly would have. I think we would be good friends if given the opportunity. (Brian, if you’re reading this, email me.) Unfortunately people started coming over and asking for his autograph and trying to make small talk. The nerve of them. My experience with him ended with my camera asking if anyone blinked. How fitting since the whole experience was so surreal I felt like I was dreaming.

I give this interview 10 frames! Yeah, I cheated and doubled it up.




I also recommend checking out "Clerks" and "Clerks II." Both get 5 out of 5 frames.



Here is the movie's trailer from back in 1994. Enjoy!


Well head on over to the forum at j1studios and discuss the awesomeness that is "Clerks," the awesomeness that is Brian O'Halloran, or just the general awesomeness that are Kevin Smith movies (except "Jersey Girl." That just wasn't good sweetie.)

Until next time kids, this has been Hava!