Back in July, filmmaker Kevin Smith revealed that The Weinstein Company had passed on financing Clerks III, forcing him to look at alternative sources of funding for Dante and Randall’s latest escapade. While that threw the sequel into doubt, Smith has now revealed that he’s managed to secure financing for the film, thanks in no small part to his latest film Tusk.

“Tusk was the absolute bridge to Clerks III,” says Smith on the latest Hollywood Babble-On. “Because of Tusk I got my financing for Clerks III. And honestly, that wouldn’t have happened [without Tusk]. A year and change ago I was desperately trying to get Clerks III made for the 20th anniversary and that desperation – I must have reeked of it because I couldn’t f*cking find money and shit. But it was Tusk, people going ‘Holy f*ck, what else do you have?’ and I was like ‘Clerks III‘ and they’re like ‘done’. So, everybody that’s like, ‘he failed, he failed’, I’m like ‘thank you, I failed into doing Clerks III. So, never trust anybody when they tell you how your story goes, man. You know your story. You write your own story.”

Are you excited for Clerks III? Let us know your thoughts…