Brian O’Halloran spoke with Solzy at the Movies about both Clerks and Clerks III while attending Fan Expo Chicago 2022.
I’m not even supposed to be here today! The actor, best known for playing Dante Hicks in many Kevin Smith movies, is in town this weekend for the first Chicago edition of Fan Expo. He’s here along with several other Clerks stars through Sunday. The cast also did a Q&A panel at 2 PM on Friday afternoon.
It’s so nice to meet you.
Brian O’Halloran: Nice to meet you.
How are you enjoying your short stay in Chicago?
Brian O’Halloran: Oh, I love Chicago. I’m here every year on business every March anyway so it’s good to be back. The first time up here in the Rosemont area so it’s a nice quieter space than downtown, let’s say. I always love the great city of City.
What do you look for in a character when you’re reading a script?
Brian O’Halloran: What do I look for a character in a script is I look for the arc of the journey that that character is going to go on. In this, if it’s a film script, the hour and a half or whatever. If it’s a stage play, the two hours, three hours, whatever it is. I try to look for an interesting arc that these characters—what makes this character unique than a traditional archetype of whatever their character is.
When you signed on for Clerks so many years ago, did you think you’d still be playing the same character today?
Brian O’Halloran: No, not at all. I mean, if you came back in a time machine and say you’re going to be doing that exact same character here in 30 years, I would be like, really, this is my greatest achievement? Oh my G-d, kill me now. Joking. But it’s fun. It’s fun—the fact that I’ve been blessed to work with such a prolific and funny writer like Kevin Smith, who really knows how to put forth this great kind of comedy in a voice that people can relate to.
What’s the shorthand like with Kevin these days?
Brian O’Halloran: The shorthand with Kevin now is like, do Cartoon Dante, which means get more animated in my responses, or do do the whining more kind of thing. That’s about it. Otherwise, we have a pretty good simpatico with each other—a good chemistry now that I give him what I think I know he wants and he’s like, genius. Perfect. Love it. That kind of thing.
Brian O’Halloran: Yeah, looking forward to it. As a matter of fact, at our Q&A today at 2 PM, we’re going to be screening the trailer yet again so people can see it on a big screen in the hall there and we’ll see how they love it.
Thank you so much.
Brian O’Halloran: You’re welcome, Danielle.
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