See Ben Affleck And Sarah Michelle Gellar Audition For A New Movie
Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and more mega stars auditioned for Kevin Smith's Clerks III in newly released footage.
Lionsgate has released a star-studded clip from Clerks III. It features a scene in which Dante Hicks and Randal Graves endure a series of terrible auditions for the movie-within-a-movie. Set at the local First Avenue Playhouse, the footage sees Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Fred Armisen, Freddie Prinze Jr, Melissa Benoist, Chris Wood, and more reading lines for the protagonists’ film about their lives at the Quick Stop.
The video coincided with Clerks III’s digital debut and mirrors Kevin Smith’s real-life experience making the original movie. The director recently revealed that Ben Affleck’s cameo also includes an inside joke between the pair. Giving fans some insight, the filmmaker said the DCEU alum’s character Boston John is a reference to a real-life commentator who visited a now-defunct message board on his production company website, ViewAskew.com.
Speaking to Variety, Smith said that his friend was always fascinated by how much time he spent on the board. “He was like, ‘Who are these people? Why do you talk to them?’ I was like, ‘Because they’re my bosses; they actually buy the tickets,” he told the publication.
Eventually, Ben Affleck started visiting the board under a pseudonym and was shocked to see the harsh words from a user named Boston John. Over time, Ben Affleck found Boston John’s harsh comments about the director hilarious, which Smith remembered when it was time to name his friend’s character. So when they were about to film the audition scene, Smith handed him the joke-filled pages.
“He looked at his character’s name and was like ‘Boston John, the pimp!’ He got to slide into his accent, use his Cambridge as well,” the director continued. As fans will know, the Clerks III video wasn’t the first Kevin Smith project to feature Ben Affleck.
The actor previously starred as Shannon Hamilton in 1995’s Mallrats. He went on to play Holden McNeil in 1997’s Chasing Amy, and the fallen angel Bartleby in 1999’s Dogma. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back saw the Batman star play a fictional version of himself, and reprise his role as Holden McNeil.
Ben Affleck later made a cameo as an unnamed patron of Mooby’s in 2006’s Clerks II. In 2019, he played Holden McNeil for the second time in the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. With Clerks III, the actor adds to his pantheon of Kevin Smith-created characters as Boston John.
Outside the View Askew Universe, the 50-year-old also starred as Ollie Trinké in Smith’s 2004 film Jersey Girl. And although Clerks III doesn’t feature Ben Affleck in the lead, it’s still a solid movie. Directed, written, and produced, by Kevin Smith, the film serves as a sequel to the 1994 and 2006 installments.
The story begins when Randal Graves survives a heart attack and decides to make a movie, with his best friend Dante Hicks, about their lives at the Quick Stop. Clerks III stars Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jason Mewes, and Kevin Smith. The film was released in theaters on September 13th and digitally on October 14th.
The movie will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 6th. Also, it will probably include Ben Afflecks’ faux audition clip.
