New Jersey films
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The New Jersey films are five motion pictures, written and directed by Kevin Smith with his "View Askew" production company, and partially or completely set in New Jersey. They were originally known as the "Jersey Trilogy", a nickname used even as the fourth film in the so-called trilogy came out.
The films are characterized by crude, politically incorrect sexual humor; a character in Clerks, for example, inadvertently has sex with a corpse.
There is limited continuity among the films. Clerks and Mallrats occur within a day or so of each other, though with unrelated stories. Chasing Amy takes place several years later. All three movies refer to certain unfortunate anecdotes. Dogma happens shortly after Chasing Amy, with a comic book series, aptly titled Chasing Dogma, following Jay and Silent Bob's trek from New Jersey to Illinois connecting the two. The collective world of the New Jersey films is sometimes referred to as the "Askewniverse."
The Askewniverse has been extended in several Clerks comics and the short feature The Flying Car, which starred Randal and Dante. There was also a short-lived Clerks animated series.
Common characters and actors
The films share actors and characters:
- Jay and Silent Bob are in all of the films. Jay is played by Jason Mewes, who talks incessantly; Silent Bob is played by Kevin Smith, who usually has barely enough lines to qualify as a speaking part.
- Brian O'Halloran who played Dante Hicks in Clerks , and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, appeared in each of the other films as other members of the Hicks family.
- Jeff Anderson, who played Randal Graves in Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, cameoed as a gun store employee in Dogma.
- Jason Lee played Brodie in Mallrats, Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy, and Azreal in Dogma.
- Ben Affleck played the villain Shannon Hamilton in Mallrats, Holden McNeil in Chasing Amy, and Bartleby in Dogma.
- Joey Lauren Adams had a minor part in Mallrats and starred in Chasing Amy.
- Dwight Ewell played an important role in Chasing Amy and a minor one in Dogma.
- Matt Damon had a minor part in Chasing Amy, starred in Dogma and appeared as himself in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
- Most repeat performers had at least a cameo in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, often making ironic observations about the films.
Sixth film planned
Though he originally stated that there would not be a sixth film in the series, Smith has announced that a sequel to Clerks will be filmed and released in 2005. The tentative title is Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks; it will be set ten years after the story of the first film.