Twenty-five years after becoming a box office hit and drumming up a lot of controversy, Kevin Smith's his View Askewniverse, revolves around a woman who, upon learning she is the last scion, is tasked with stopping two fallen angels from attempting to use a loophole in Catholicism to get back into Heaven, which would undo all creation. Dogma had a star-studded ensemble cast including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Jason Lee and Alan Rickman, among others.
While being a hit at the time of its release, Dogma has enjoyed something of an infamous lifecycle in the years since, as it's been out-of-print on home media for nearly two decades, the last print being a Blu-ray released in 2008, and being unavailable on streaming and digital platforms. As Smith has previously explained, Bob and Harvey Weinstein kept the rights close to their vest, even after the filmmaker made multiple offers to reacquire them. Now, with the help of Iconic Events, Smith has Dogma's rights back and is bringing the movie back to theaters.
In honor of the movie's re-release, ScreenRant interviewed Kevin Smith to discuss Dogma. The writer/director/star reflected on his decades-long journey to get the rights to the movie back from Weinstein, including why he was turned down multiple times by the convicted criminal, how Alessandra Williams and Iconic Events helped in his efforts and expanded his plans for its re-release, as well as a progress update on the movie's sequel and new home release.
Smith Was Turned Down By Weinstein Multiple Times
"Wrote Three Letters To A Convicted Rapist..."
While he's always held a desire to reacquire the film, Smith first "made a serious push" to get Dogma back in 2020, when Weinstein was arrested and convicted on three counts of rape. The filmmaker "wrote three letters to a convicted rapist" and made three offers to get the movie's rights back, beginning with $250,000 before increasing to $500,000, while the third required him to collect "some f----ng extra funding from people, because I ain't rich", raising it to $1 million, all three of which Weinstein turned down.
As Smith recalls, it was the third offer in which Weinstein's lawyer finally gave him some proper information about the movie's rights, telling the filmmaker, "You're not close, he wants $5 million". At this point, Smith considered his efforts "dead", recalling saying to someone, "Look, if I had $5 million, I'd make a new-a-- movie, f--k buying an old movie, as much as I love it."
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However, in spite of these rejections, Smith would later find a hero in Alessandra Williams, a fellow filmmaker and actor, who "saw me talking about how I tried to get it back", and got inspired as "she had grown up watching it" and is "from my neck of the woods", with their high schools being "a few miles from one another". As shared by Smith, Williams told him "I thought it was funny, but I didn't understand it, so I kept watching it and watching it", and when she saw Smith discussing his efforts, she felt "people should see that movie".
Along with "luck and timing", Williams subsequently got involved in Smith's campaign to rescue Dogma from Weinstein, raising money and approaching the former producer's lawyer "when he needed money" as he went back into court and "needed more f----ng legal funds". Smith's 1999 comedy wasn't the only one she purchased, either, as he revealed Williams "bought a tranche of movies" from Weinstein, including "some karate movies", Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Larry Clark's infamous cult classic, Kids. "She sold them off, and then kept Dogma, and she was like, 'What would you do with it?'," Smith shared.
She's a magical manifester, this Alessandra, because we're coming out on June 5, on like 1500, 2000 screens across a bunch of different theaters, not just AMC.
Smith humorously its to being "a limited dreamer", explaining to both Williams and us that his dream for Dogma has always been "to take it out on tour", much like he has done with his past few movies. "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was a fantastic 65-city tour for us," Smith explained. "Clerks 3 was a 50-city tour. I was like, 'The model is, basically, I overcharge people to see old movies I made that they like, and it seems to work out.'"
This led to Williams opening Smith's eyes to the possibility of taking the re-release a step further and "put it in regular theaters", to which he didn't think "anybody's interested in that sort of s--t", and itting "I was f----ng wrong" when he saw the outpour of for Dogma to return to theaters. Smith went on to praise Williams as being "a magical manifester", being wowed by getting to put the movie back on "1500, 2000 screens across a bunch of different theaters" nationwide.
Smith Is Working Diligently On Dogma's Sequel Script (But Also Isn't Rushing It)
"I Can't F----ng Afford To Ruin A Dogma Spinoff"
While there was once a time when Smith "never had a sequel in mind", particularly as he had "more ideas than I can f---ng get to in a lifetime", including Clerks 3 and the long-gestating Mallrats 2, the writer/director is now ready for a Dogma follow-up. Having already been intrigued by the prospect of doing so, Smith recalls Williams also giving him some fuel by expressing her desire to see a follow-up.
"So now, in a world where I'm open to sequels and s--t, and she's got the one back that I've never really f----d with, and perhaps a bunch of people in the audience are like, 'Yes, and there's a good reason you shouldn't do that.'," Smith said with a chuckle. "But now I do, and so I do want to assure those cats who love Dogma that are like, 'Oh, he's gonna f----ng ruin it', and, 'I saw Clerks 3, f--k him!' I can't f----ng afford to ruin a Dogma spinoff. Too many people f----ng love this movie, so I can't make that same movie again."
Part of why Smith feels he needs to take a new approach to the Dogma sequel is that "I don't have the same faith" as he did when writing the original, just like the quote in the film, "I don't believe like that anymore". He does, however, assure that he has "some pretty good ideas" and is currently in the process of writing the script, sharing that "what it lacks in the faith that powered that first one, it makes up for in pure cleverness", and that the tour has been "helpful" for him in shaping the script.
When you see the movie, you'll be like, "Of course, that's the Dogma sequel. That makes a lot of sense." So, I'm having a blast right now. The tour has been more helpful than me just sitting in the back and victory lapping it. I've been sitting in the back listening, going like, "All right, there's a joke that could carry over. There are some ties I can make. Oh, there's a thing I could pay off in the next movie."
Dogma Is Getting "A Fat F----ng Steelbook"
Smith Also Used To Get Crafty To Rewatch The Film
As previously confirmed by the filmmaker, Dogma will get a proper new home media release after being out of print for nearly two decades, though as Smith shared with us, it will also be getting "a fat f----ng steelbook". Eagerly explaining that he and his team are working with "a company that believes in physical media still", Smith expressed his excitement that both he and fans "will be able to own a physical copy" and replace the "beautiful" 2008 Blu-ray.
In addition to revealing that was the version he watched "for 10 years", Smith also shared that he'd turned to YouTube for a specific rip of the film, as "somebody copied" Dogma from the Blu-ray and ed it as a "4K version". Now, though, "we'll have a new version" of the film to get to watch, though didn't share a timeline of when to expect that.
Dogma's 25th Anniversary Re-Release is now in theaters!
Source: ScreenRant Plus
Dogma
- Release Date
- November 12, 1999
- Runtime
- 130 minutes
- Director
- Kevin Smith
- Writers
- Kevin Smith
Cast
- Budget
- $10 million
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