Dogma (film)

Dogma is a 1999 comedy film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, who stars in the film along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo, and Alanis Morissette.

Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, the stars of Smith's debut film Clerks., have cameo roles, as do Smith regulars Scott Mosier, Dwight Ewell, Walt Flanagan and Brian Johnson.

The comic portrayal of the Catholic Church throughout the film caused organized protests and much controversy in many countries, which resulted in long delays in releasing it and also at least three serious death threats against Smith.

Aside from some scenes filmed on the New Jersey coast, most of the film was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay as well as a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America honor for Best Screenplay.

This film was rated R by the MPAA "for strong language including sex-related dialogue, violence, crude humor and some drug content".

Plot

Two fallen angels – Bartleby (Affleck), who is a Grigori, and Loki (Damon), who was the Angel of Death – were banished by God to spend all eternity in a place worse than Hell -- namely Wisconsin -- as punishment after Loki, (who was having a crisis of conscience after killing all the firstborn sons in Egypt), got drunk, was talked by Bartleby into resigning as the Angel of Death, and Loki did so and insulted God in the process. Azrael (Lee), a demon (and fallen muse) with a hidden agenda, secretly sends the duo a newspaper article about a church in New Jersey, where a Cardinal (Carlin) has declared a blanket amnesty (in the form of a plenary indulgence (a perennial misunderstanding of the term) and initiated a contemporary Catholic image campaign in celebration of the centennial anniversary of his church. This would allow them to return to heaven, but since amnesty for these fallen angels would necessarily constitute overruling the word of God (Morissette, in a cameo role), the result would be not just the end of the world, but the annihilation of all creation.

The angel Metatron (Rickman), the Voice of God, appears to abortion clinic worker Bethany (Fiorentino) and tells her she is the Last Scion, the only living descendant of Mary and Joseph, and thus the only living relative of Jesus Christ, and gives her the job of stopping them. She is aided by Rufus (Rock), the thirteenth apostle who was left out of the Bible because he was black; Serendipity (Hayek), a muse turned stripper; and the "prophets" Jay and Silent Bob (Mewes and Smith).

The major theme of the film is about modern people regaining their faith in God, and the danger in faith (an idea) being confused with dogma (a belief). The film also is critical of the usage of faith to justify greed, war, racism, and homophobia. It also states that heaven is for everyone, not just one religion, and that as long as you are a good person, race, religion, sexuality, and upbringing will not condemn a person to eternal damnation.

Alanis Morissette plays God in Dogma, she also wrote and recorded the song Still for the movie.

Cast

Actor	Role
Ben Affleck	Bartleby
Matt Damon	Loki
Linda Fiorentino	Bethany Sloane
Chris Rock	Rufus
Jason Mewes	Jay
Kevin Smith	Silent Bob
Alan Rickman	Metatron
Jason Lee	Azrael
Salma Hayek	Serendipity
George Carlin	Cardinal Ignatius Glick
Barret Hackney	Stygian Triplet
Jared Pfennigwerth	Stygian Triplet
Kitao Sakurai	Stygian Triplet
Alanis Morissette	God
Bud Cort	John Doe Jersey
Janeane Garofalo	Liz
Brian O'Halloran	Grant Hicks
Jeff Anderson	Gun Salesman
Dwight Ewell	Kane, Gang Leader
Ethan Suplee	Noman The Golgothan (Voice)

Controversy

Although there was no opposition to the film while the actual filming and pre-production was taking place, the following months of post-production and publicity were plagued with controversy over a perceived anti-Christian message read into the film. Over time, the filmmakers received over 300,000 pieces of hate mail including two-and-a-half death threats. Smith posted the hate mail on his web site. Smith explained this in his movie An Evening with Kevin Smith: One of the letters was threatening to start with, then became more friendly further on. The Catholic League (U.S.) in particular attacked Disney and Miramax, the original distributors, for being anti-Catholic. The film's distribution rights, however, were eventually sold to Lions Gate.

When the film actually came out, Kevin Smith and Bryan Johnson participated in a protest at the Sony Multiplex in Eatontown, New Jersey, carrying a sign which read "Dogma is Dogshit." A news crew captured the incident and broadcast an interview with a disguised Smith on the evening Channel 12 news.

DVD

In 2001 a two-disc special edition DVD of the film was released with numerous extra features including:

Commentary by director Kevin Smith, actors Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes and Jason Lee, producer Scott Moiser and View Askew Historian Vincent Pereria
Commentary by director Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier and View Askew Historian Vincent Pereira
Complete Set of Storyboards from Three Major Scenes
100 Minutes of Deleted Scenes with View Askew Crew Intros
Cast and Crew Outtakes
Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash Spot
Saints and Sinners Talent Files

The deleted scenes include one where Loki explains to Silent Bob his take on Star Wars and how it is actually about religious conflicts.

In a 2005 radio interview, Smith announced the possibility of a new edition of the DVD in 2006, to coincide with the release of his new film Clerks 2. No other announcement has been made since that interview.

Sequel?

In late November 2005, Smith was asked about a possible Dogma sequel on the ViewAskew.com message boards. His response:

So weird you should ask this, because ever since 9/11, I have been thinking about a sequel of sorts. I mean, the worst terrorist attack on American soil was religiously bent. In the wake of said attack, the leader of the "Free World" outed himself as pretty damned Christian. In the last election, rather than a quagmire war abroad, the big issue was whether or not gay marriage was moral. Back when I made "Dogma", I always maintained that another movie about religion wouldn't be forthcoming, as "Dogma" was the product of 28 years of religious and spiritual meditation, and I'd kinda shot my wad on the subject. Now? I think I might have more to say. And, yes - the Last Scion would be at the epicenter of it. And She'd have to be played by Alanis. And we'd need a bigger budget - because the entire third act would be the Apocalypse. Scary thing is this: the film would have to touch on Islam. And unlike the Catholic League, when those cats don't like what you do, they issue a death warrant on yer ass (see Rushdie). And now that I've got a family, I'm not as free to stir the shit-pot as I was when I was single, back when I made "Dogma". I mean, now I've gotta think about more than my own safety and well-being. But regardless - yeah, a "Dogma" followup's been swimming around in my head for some time now.

Smith later commented he was amazed that the post was picked up by the press and noted that he had only thought about it and had not actually written anything yet. Smith also stated that even if the project ever formulates, it is a very long way off.

Trivia

Smith had had this script written before he wrote and shot Clerks., shelving it only because he did not have the proper special effects to pull it off at the time.
A one-shot comic featuring Bartleby and Loki was announced by Smith in 2000. It was going to be a 50 (or so) page story detailing how these two angels confronted God and were kicked out of Heaven and forced to stay in Wisconsin. As of January 2006, the comic remains on Smith's agenda, but has not been worked on.
The word "fuck" is used 106 times in the film, a rough average of about once every 0.93 minutes. (See List of films ordered by uses of the word "fuck".)
The word "shit" is used 38 times in the film, a rough average of about once every 3.34 minutes.
The word "damn" is used twice in the film, the word "ass" 14 times, the word "bitch" 9 times, and "bastard" once. Rufus refers to Christ saying "nigga owes me twelve bucks." This line does not appear in most versions of the script, and in the commentary, Smith says Rock ad-libbed it. In the trailer, this was softened to "brotha owes me twelve bucks."
Two prominent Pittsburgh buildings are used in this movie: the U.S. Steel Tower (Mooby Inc.), and The Grand Concourse (the fancy restaurant).
Rufus tells Bethany that she is the descendant of one of Christs' half sisters. (See Desposyni.)
On the train, Jay can be heard describing the events of Mallrats to Bartleby and Loki.
After the climatic scene at the church, Jay suggests to Silent Bob that they travel to "Quick Stop," the New Jersey convenience store that acted as the chief filming location in Clerks.
God in human form (Bud Cort) is seen outside a skeeball arcade. Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams' characters played skeeball at a boardwalk arcade in Chasing Amy.
Azrael (Jason Lee) says to one of the Stygian Triplets "One side, Red." Lee's character in Mallrats said the same line while pushing through the crowd in front of the mall comic book store.
During the board room scene Loki (Matt Damon) refers to a board member as "Mr. Burton". This probably references director Kevin Smith's relationship with Tim Burton after an incident involving a press misquote.
The airport scene in the beginning of the film was shot at the Pittsburgh Airport.
When Loki is trying to talk the nun out of Christian faith in the beginning, he refers to "The Walrus and the Carpenter" from the book Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.

External links

Official site