In 1993, actor Scott Schiaffo was 28, living with his mother in Garfield, N.J., earning a living at two or three retail jobs, and on-and-off binge drinking. He was also working with a Hoboken-based acting coach to try to land film and TV gigs. As actors did in the pre-internet days, he looked for audition information in the trade publications and even the classified ads of regular newspapers. One day, he spied an unusual ad in the Star-Ledger, placed by a recent film school dropout named Kevin Smith from Highlands, N.J., who was making a movie near the shore.
Most other auditions were in New York City, so Schiaffo was pleased to see a production in the Garden State. He drove down the Parkway to give it a shot.
Little did he know that the movie, “Clerks,” would become one of the most successful independent films of all time.
The film was being made by another dreamer. Kevin Smith, 23 at the time, had grown up in Monmouth County and liked to write. In 1993, he was working at the Quick Stop convenience store in the Leonardo section of Middletown, and conjuring up a film in his head about his annoying customers.
On audition day, Schiaffo arrived at the theater in Highlands early.
“I was usually super early for stuff,” he explained last week. “The beach was not far from there. I walked out onto a jetty and started rehearsing and getting into my thing. I must have looked like I was a lunatic or possibly inebriated. [Someone] called the authorities. I said, ‘If you’re going to detain me, can you do it after the audition, please?’ I told them where the theater was and they knew the theater.”
The police let Schiaffo go, and he headed to the theater.
“It helped me build what I have built in the last 20 years.” – Scott Schiaffo, on “Clerks”
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Schiaffo got called back to read from Smith’s very dialogue-heavy script.
“People think we were all his friends, but all the hard core cast, none of us knew Kevin at all,” Schiaffo said. “We auditioned for him and that was it.”
Twenty years ago this month that little independent film, shot for a little over $27,000, was released in theaters across America by Miramax.
Shot in a month
Kevin Smith maxed out his credit cards to fund the film, and shot it in a month at the convenience store where he worked. He got permission from the store’s owners to film at night, after the store closed. He kept costs down by shooting in black and white. The plot is a day in the life of hapless twentysomething cashier Dante Hicks, who deals with romantic problems, confusion over whether he should finish college, and yes, the irritating customers.
After Smith submitted the movie to film festivals, critics saw it, liked it, and spread the word. It eventually got picked up and released by Miramax in October of 1994.
Because of its deadpan humor, rapid-fire dialogue, risqué language, and nod to the perennially underemployed “Generation X,” the movie struck a nerve and became a cult hit. Smith went on to direct a “Clerks” sequel and a host of other films, including his most recent, “Tusk.” He is also working on “Clerks 3.”
Schiaffo’s role in the first film was minor but memorable. He played a bearded man who comes into the store to discourage people from smoking. He encourages people to chew gum instead. As he is leaving, Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), the girlfriend of main character Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran), gets him to admit he’s secretly a representative for Chewlies Chewing Gum.
The scene became popular, and Schiaffo still appears at movie and comics conventions alongside the other stars.
Today, Schiaffo has been signed on to act in a documentary being independently produced in Scotland about the making of the original “Clerks.”
On the 20th anniversary of the release of “Clerks,” Schiaffo looked back, and ahead.
“It was an amazing stroke of luck or fate for me,” Schiaffo said last week. “The industry credibility it gave me, you couldn’t put a price on it.”
Even though he hasn’t become a famous actor, he has been successful in the arts. He recently published a book of poetry, has composed numerous tunes for movies, and continued acting. He lives in Saddle Brook.
“I wouldn’t have stayed in the business,” he said, if not for the film. “I wouldn’t have continued to act. My career didn’t explode into the heavens, but I got embraced.”
But after acting in “Clerks,” Schiaffo had a rocky road before he got back on track.
Almost died
“I used to be in Hoboken all the time during the ‘90s,” Schiaffo said last week. “I loved the atmosphere.”
He worked with a coach named “J.B.” who had an office near the waterfront, although he hasn’t spoken to J.R. in years. Right after “Clerks” debuted at the film festival, J.B. contacted the Hoboken Reporter to write a story about his client.
In the story, which was one of the earliest newspaper articles written about the film, Schiaffo said, “Kevin’s dialogue is the most real.”
But even after the film started generating a buzz, Schiaffo kept binge drinking, a longtime habit. Just before the movie’s premiere party, Schiaffo wound up in a binge so bad that he landed in a hospital, and woke up to a priest praying over him.
He had to miss the party.
“I did speak to Kevin and [producer] Scott Mosier [by phone],” Schiaffo said last week. “[Smith] gave me his blessing. He and Scott Mosier were very supportive guys. They said, ‘We love you, and you’re here anyway even if you’re not really here.”
Schiaffo appeared in a small film with O’Halloran, “Vulgar,” in 1999. He used to talk to Smith about once a month, but hasn’t talked to him in a long time. They didn’t have a falling out, but Smith is rather busy these days.
“You direct Bruce Willis in an action cops comedy,” Schiaffo said, “how much bigger can you get?” (Smith directed Willis in “Cop Out.” Smith himself also had a minor acting part in “Live Free or Die Hard.”)
Schiaffo said he doesn’t get recognized from the film these days, because he is usually more clean shaven. He said that if he had to do it again, he wouldn’t have appeared in the film with a full beard.
He said that in the early 1990s, people would occasionally recognize his voice from the film.
“I do guest appearances at conventions,” he said. “I did five this year already, and I’m doing two more. They’re comic, movie, horror…a little bit of everything.”
Schiaffo often appears with O’Halloran and other “Clerks” stars who bring photos and memorabilia to sign. Sometimes they get paid, or sometimes they earn a percentage of money if people pay to get their autographs.
But Schiaffo has many other pursuits. He has been focusing on his health and financial stability after several scary incidents.
“After all those years of the partying, it caught up,” he said. “I was born with arrhythmia. I would be binging, clean up, and fall back. In December of 2005, I just went on this Olympian binge for two weeks straight. I binged myself into congestive heart failure. I almost died. In 2006, 7, 8, and 9, I was a heart patient, in and out of the hospital. I got an implant.”
He straightened out and has been working on a master’s degree in professional counseling, and is now seeking a suitable internship.
He said he hopes others can take inspiration from the fact that he survived alcoholism and congestive heart failure, and is moving forward.
Charity work for animals, music, new movies
Schiaffo has a new spirit. He is excited about the documentary “Shooting Clerks,” in which he plays Smith’s beloved father, Donald (fans can follow the progress on Facebook).
As for other films, he could not speculate about whether the Chewlies representative might make an appearance in “Clerks 3” or a future Smith film, but his fans have been agitating for it via a #chewliesyes hashtag on Twitter.
He has been very involved in the other arts, particularly scoring films. He has put out a CD with more than 20 of his own compositions, some commissioned – and a chunk of the proceeds go to “Angels of Animals” in Clifton, N.J. The CD is available via links on his website, scottschiaffo.com, or http://www.amazon.com/Film-Music-film-Shoestring-Serenade/dp/B00ICZJUTM.
His book of poems, “Vicious Dogs Attack Me in Sleepless Nights of Summer,” contains more than 90 evocative works, touching on everything from addiction to decision-making to relationships to rehabilitation. The relationship poems are perhaps the most riveting, written in a raw yet very sensory style that paints a clear picture. He says that he is working on an audio version with celebrity guest readers, including O’Halloran.
Schiaffo’s writing is spare yet lyrical and visual. Several of the short poems convey frustration about waiting and numbness. And some have notes of regret: “it rained/the day after they put you in the ground/I felt as low as ever/the day after they put you in the ground/this life is not for me/I turned out all wrong.”
Schiaffo said he is most proud of two of the poems, “Low” and “Stitch,” which actually read a bit like short stories. “They really are brutally honest bittersweet recollections of two ‘junkie’ life events,” he said. “I like how the central character never condones the lifestyle nor apologizes for it either; it is a tightrope walk.”
The book is available on Amazon or via a link at scottschiaffo.com.
To check out the charities, go to scottschiaffo.com/angels or angelsofanimals.com.
A ‘blessing’
Shiaffo will appear next at Comic Con in Rhode Island on Nov. 1. Several big names will be there, including William Shatner and Joey Lauren Adams.
At 50, Schiaffo looks back at “Clerks” with gratitude.
“There’s not much I can say other than it really was a blessing,” he said. “Sometimes it was hard to rise above it, but sometimes I was my own worst enemy. But that was my own fault. Had it [“Clerks”] not happened, I may not have stuck it out in the business, which is even hard with a few credits under your belt. It was a blessing, it really was. It helped me build what I have built in the last 20 years. I’ve enjoyed my rogue career.”
Check out Schiaffo’s projects at scottschiaffo.com.