Playboy.com: In 2000, you said there's no reason to do a sequel to Clerks. So what happened?

Kevin Smith: Yeah, I did say that. I also said I'd never do these characters again. I also said I was gonna lose weight. These are all things that to varying degrees I never accomplished. [Laughs] We knew going into the movie we were going to open ourselves up to the "more money, less funny" review, which we were terrified we were going to get on Mallrats. But on Mallrats, they found far more vicious things to say. I had trepidation about doing Clerks 2 solely based on the fact that I said that I wouldn't. The first time I talked to my producer, Scott Mosier, about it, he said, "Yeah, so. If it's good, why not?" And I was like, "Because I said I wouldn't." And he said, "Well, that ought to teach you to keep your fucking mouth shut. You changed your mind. So what?" And I said, "People on the Net will just shred me." And he said, "Well, you never did a Fletch movie. You're not doing Green Hornet. You told me when you were a kid you wanted to be a Jedi. You never became a Jedi. This is just yet another thing you're not living up to." His point was it's not a good enough reason not to do it.

Playboy.com: To what extent do you feel like you use your films to work out personal issues?

Smith: All the time. This movie's no exception. Dante wanting to leave and Randal wanting to stay, that's kind of my mindset about the stuff I do. Part of me wants to move on and part of me is like, Don't move on. Sometimes you have to find a happy compromise. The thing I always get is, "Man, you need to grow as a filmmaker. You've got to change and challenge yourself." I don't believe in that. I'm like, "Don't you get it? After 12 years, this is what I do." It's not about me wanting to do something bigger or better. This is what I want to do. I make the movies I want to make. If you feel like they're all cut from the same cloth, well, of course they are, because they're all made by the same person. The other charge I get is that I play to my audience too much. Every filmmaker plays to his audience. Steven Spielberg plays to Steven Spielberg's audience. Steven Spielberg's audience happens to be everybody in the world. My audience ain't everybody in the world. It's people who are into ass-to-mouth jokes mixed with a bit of sentimentality.

Playboy.com: Your wife has a big role in Clerks 2 and your daughter has a cameo. What do you say to charges of nepotism?

Smith: I say that it's cheaper than sitting down for a serious portrait photo at JCPenney. I could do that or I could just keep throwing them in the flicks and get to watch them grow as I grow. I've put all my friends in the movies, why wouldn't I put my best friend? It's not like those dudes are professional actors. I dig my wife so it's a no-brainer to throw her in there. With my daughter, it's just nice to throw her in, so as she grows up, we can see what she looked like.

Playboy.com: So at this point, the Weinsteins are basically just funding your home movies?

Smith: [Laughs] Exactly. Very vulgar home movies that the Weinsteins back. And that's been the grand trick of it all. I'm not really making mainstream entertainment or even indie films, I'm just making home movies.