Kevin Smith reveals how one movie resurrected his career: 'We were out'

Kevin Smith, who rose to fame with the low-budget comedy buddy movie Clerks, recalled how Chasing Amy rescued his once doomed career.

In a newly launched documentary titled Chasing Chasing Amy, Smith revealed that his 1994 film Clerks “began” his career, but Mallrats killed my career."

Talking about his third film, Chasing Amy, after his first hit Clerks in 1994 and the less successful Mallrats in 1995, the 54-year-old filmmaker said, "So you got me needing to do something to stay in this business, or else we were out."

Remembering his first meeting with Joey Adams on the set of Mallrats, he shared, "That's a big part of where [Chasing Amy] comes from. And then, of course, Joey."

Smith gave the credit of Chasing Amy to Adams and admitted that it “would've been a soulless husk, like an idea" without him.

Notably, Smith's career didn't face setbacks after the success of Chasing Amy, as he made more than a dozen more films, including his latest, The 4:30 Movie.

For those unversed, Clerks had two sequels: one premiered in 2006, while the second was released in 2022.

It is pertinent to mention that Mallrats was not applauded by the audience and did poorly at the box office, but it remained successful in gaining a cult following over the nearly 30 years since it came out.