Writer, director, and podcaster Kevin Smith has revealed that he will including aspects of the coronavirus pandemic into his script for Mallrats 2: Twilight of the Mallrats.
He broached the subject during a recent episode of his podcast FatMan Beyond, where he divulged his intentions to fold the current worldwide crisis into the plot of the movie. He noted how the decision came after he had read several articles about the inevitable economic impact of COVID-19 across the retail industry – noting that shopping malls in particular, which have long been struggling in competition with online retailers, will suffer.
According to Smith, 2020 was set to be the “death knell” for several retailers with the pandemic escalating the process of going out of business. He stressed how a lot of stores, including “big name stores” most people have known for all their lives, will soon disappear. Smith argued how this will lead to massive vacancies in malls, with industry experts allegedly predicting the “entire implosion” of mall culture across America.
Turning the conversation back to Mallrats 2, Smith then explained how, as the narrative is set within a mall, he considered this research “useful information” for the script and that, with this revelation, he had to start folding a pandemic arc into the story as “this is going to be remembered for all time.”
Mallrats 2 isn’t the only script Smith has been working on whilst in self-isolation. He has also been scribing Clerks 3, which reportedly features an almost autobiographical story.
Smith’s latest movie Jay and Silent Bob Reboot released last year and is available on online platforms for rent or purchase.
Source: IGN
