UPDATE: Smith took to Twitter to let fans know, this film is actually shooting in September! Here’s the tweet, original story follows:

SModcast 259:TheWalrus&TheCarpenter debuts 6/25. Less than 1 month later… IT'S AN ACTUAL MOVIE IN PRE-PRO! Shooting 9/15: TUSK! #WalrusYes — KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) July 23, 2013

In what’s become a Comic-Con tradition, Kevin Smith took the Hall H at Comic-Con Saturday night and arrived bearing gifts. Gifts in the form of news for his fans.

He said the Weinsteins are currently figuring out a budget for Clerks III, which will dictate when and where they shoot the film. But it’s happening. Smith also recently completed a script called Tusk, which is based on an online ad about a man who rents out a room in his house for free, as long as the person dresses as a walrus for two hours per day. He wants Michael Parks the play the lead, Quentin Tarantino as the victim and envisions the story as “the cuddly version of The Human Centipede.”

Smith said all of this at his Comic-Con panel, which was reported on by Screen Invasion.

On the topic of Clerks III, he said several locations are being looked at for the shoot, and it’ll all be dependent on budget. The options are New York, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. It also sounds like all the actors have agreed to come back now that some issues surrounding back end on Clerks II have been ironed out.

While waiting for those things to get figured out (if they don’t, he’ll likely shop the film around), Smith got inspired and began writing a script called Tusk. He first talked about this on his Smodcast back in June (listen here, follow up here). It’s based on an internet ad (via Gumtree) about a man who was reportedly spent three years alone on an island and befriended a walrus. The man came home, missed his walrus and offered free lodging…if you dress and act like a walrus for two hours per day.

Smith read this, imagined the story as a horror movie and has now written a script of just that. He calls it “the most fucked-up, absurd movie ever” and wants Michael Parks in the lead. Also, he’d love Quentin Tarantino to play the lodger, so he sent the 85-page script to him with no information. He has yet to hear back from the director. But, Smith said he has a meeting this week about possible financing.

Seems like the writer/director turned podcaster/author/TV star is not as close to retirement as we originally thought. What do you think about these projects?

Additional sources: The Journalist and /Film readers at our meetup