More than 25 years, four popes and a near-death experience later, Kevin Smith has never felt more inspired to revisit his 1999 religious satire Dog
More than 25 years, four popes and a near-death experience later, Kevin Smith has never felt more inspired to revisit his 1999 religious satire Dogma.
Following the film’s “sweet victory lap” at the 78th Cannes Film Festival last month, where a screening of the film was met with a seven-minute ovation, the multi-hyphenate told Deadline, he wants to return to the festival by 2028 with a “Cannes-worthy” sequel.
“What I didn’t realize is, I would get there and I’d get bit by the bug again, and I’d be seeing all these places, these haunts from my childhood, from my 20s, so to speak, from the three times I was there when I was a kid,” explained Smith. “And suddenly, I was like, ‘Why is it that you assume that the Cannes-worthy portion of your life is over? You never even expected it to begin in the first place. It was never part of the aim. It just came along with the journey. Maybe if you really try, you could.’”
Dogma stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as Bartleby and Loki, two fallen angels who make their way to New Jersey for a loophole that will get them back to heaven. The film also features Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Jason Lee and Alanis Morissette, as well as Jason Mewes and Smith reprising their roles as as Jay and Silent Bob.
Although Smith no longer identifies as Catholic, the writer, director and actor has a fresh perspective on the topics of spirituality and mortality after suffering a massive heart attack in 2018.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in ‘Dogma’ (1999)
Lionsgate Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
“Dogma‘s been around longer than I was a normal human being. So, I’ve had a whole other lifetime to kind of fill up a script,” he said. “And so I feel like, if I had done a Dogma follow-up two years, five years, even 10 years after it, it wouldn’t be what this one’s gonna be. Now, I have the perspective of somebody that almost died from a heart attack a few years ago too, so I feel like I can talk about the mortal coil and what exists beyond.”
After teasing a Dogma sequel in the works in November, Smith said he’s now “cracked the story” for the follow-up, which has “a place at the table for everyone” from the original 1999 movie.
“If they want to come back, they’ll have a role to play, but if not, no harm, no foul,” added Smith.
Alanis Morissette, Alan Rickman and director Kevin Smith on the set of ‘Dogma’ (1999)
Following a long fight for the film’s rights with Harvey Weinstein‘s Miramax, Dogma was acquired by Goodfellas for international sales at Cannes. Since the film’s milestone anniversary last year, Smith has been visiting movie theaters for Dogma: The Resurrection Tour, promoting the re-release that will make Dogma available on streaming for the first time ever.
Read on about Kevin Smith’s Cannes victory lap with Dogma and what’s next for the filmmaker.
DEADLINE: How was Cannes? I saw your photo with your family, you all looked so amazing.
KEVIN SMITH: Oh my God, that’s so kind of you. It was absolutely lovely. I went there, in my head, I was like, “Oh, what a sweet victory lap.” I haven’t been back to Cannes in, God, 19 years since Clerks 2 in 2006. So, in my head, I was never going back to Cannes. I was never gonna make another Cannes-worthy film, so I was just like, “Well, that part of my life is over, that’s just something I did a bunch in my 20s and stuff.” But when I got there, I was making the most of it, as much as like, I had no intention of returning to Cannes, and now I can bring the kid back. Last time, the kid was here inside Jennifer’s stomach. Now, she gets to walk the red carpet with us and stuff like that. So, I said it’ll be a fun family trip. What I didn’t realize is, I would get there and I’d get bit by the bug again, and I’d be seeing all these places, these haunts from my childhood, from my 20s, so to speak, from the three times I was there when I was a kid, once in ’94 with Clerks, once in ’99 with Dogma, and then again in 2006 with Clerks 2. And suddenly, I was like, “Why is it that you assume that the Cannes-worthy portion of your life is over? You never even expected it to begin in the first place. It was never part of the aim. It just came along with the journey. Maybe if you really try, you could.” So, it was the 78th edition this year and so I was like, “You know what? I wanna come back on the 80th, or the 81st at the latest with the Dogma sequel, like that’s a Cannes-worthy movie.” And so, I said that on stage when I was intro-ing and everybody applauded, and [festival director] Thierry Frémaux was on stage with me, and he adds, “if it is good,” and I was like, “fair enough, if it’s good, yes.”
DEADLINE: Well, I’m definitely looking forward to that. Can you tell me what’s going on with that sequel or what’s coming up in the View Askewniverse?
SMITH: I’ve been whimsying about it for the last six months, because that’s the writing process for me. Writing is not like mashing your fingers on the keys, that’s the very last step. Writing is everything that happens before you actually sit down and put fingers to keys, so whimsying. I’ve been whimsying about what that could be, and I cracked the story. I absolutely love it. I feel like when people see it, they’ll be like, “Oh, I get it,” like “that makes sense” kind of thing. Hopefully they’ll be like, “that’s clever” and not be like, “well shit, I would have done that.” I will set a place at the table for everyone who was in the first movie who is still alive. Sadly, Alan [Rickman] and George [Carlin] won’t be able to join us, but I’ll set a place at the table for all of them. If they want to come back, they’ll have a role to play, but if not, no harm, no foul. The story I’m telling can definitely make operate of everybody who is in Dogma, but I can also tell it without. So, that makes me pretty excited to go forward. It’s its own unique tale, and I’ve been watching this movie for the last month on the road with the tour, two shows a night, and then doing an hour or two-hour Q&A after the screening, and then I just got to watch it again in Cannes, where when they brought me to the stage, I got a standing ovation before the movie and then when the movie ended, I got another standing ovation. So, I’ve been able to really imbibe Dogma, and what I see now is a movie that was written and directed by a kid who believed everything that’s on display. All the tenets of the counterfeit that are on display, it’s a fairly reverent movie. I don’t have those same beliefs anymore, like the movie says. I have some good ideas, but that belief structure doesn’t exist, so I won’t be able to bring the same story to it that I did the first time, let alone the same reason for being. That movie exists as an expression of faith. That was my idea of like, “This is how cool Sunday service could be.” It’s like, church with anal jokes in it. So, I won’t have that same perspective as I tell a Dogma tale this time, but I think that’s more of the way in. I’m looking at less life ahead of me than than behind me, and now is the time when one starts thinking about their faith, and one that I don’t really have anymore, so that’s kind of fueling the underneath of the story. But the upfront, the plot of it, I feel very ecstatic with it. I can’t drop the ball on it. It’s like one of the last fucking movies I ever made that’s beloved across the boards and shit like that. So, I would never step up to the plate unless I was like, “Oh, this will fucking work nicely as a companion piece.” So, I feel pretty great about it, man. But of course during the whimsy stage one always feels great about it. It’s when you make it and everyone sees it and they’re like, “Well, that fucking sucks. You should have left well enough alone.” You just hope it doesn’t come to that.
DEADLINE: No, I’m sure it’ll be good and I feel like it’s a good time for it too, with a modern pope.
SMITH: I know, fucking-A, like they did most of my work for me, for heaven’s sakes. So, perhaps this is the right time.
DEADLINE: Yeah, we need some good elderly religious satire too.
SMITH: Yes, and honestly, as somebody who’s older at this point, when I started writing Dogma, it was before I even started writing Clerks. So, I was about like 21, 22 years elderly. Back then, it was called a very ambitiously titled God. Thank the Lord I changed it to Dogma. But that was my life up until that moment, 21 years of Catholicism, and living on Earth, and pop culture, and all that stuff resulted in that movie. And I’ve lived now longer, since we’ve made Dogma. Dogma was 25, 26 years ago and stuff, and I’ve been in entertainment now for 31 years, and I started when I was 23. So Dogma‘s been around longer than I was a normal human being. So, I’ve had a whole other lifetime to kind of fill up a script. And so I feel like, if I had done a Dogma follow-up two years, five years, even 10 years after it, it wouldn’t be what this one’s gonna be. Now, I have the perspective of somebody that almost died from a heart attack a few years ago too, so I feel like I can talk about the mortal coil and what exists beyond.
Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith attend the 52nd Annual International Cannes Film Festival in 1999 (Neil Munns/PA Images via Getty Images)
DEADLINE: Is Moose Jaws next for you, or what’s next in the lineup?
SMITH: It’s so weird you say that, man. I was just on Bert Kreischer’s podcast and I was like, “Moose Jaws movie?” And he was like, “I will.” So I don’t know if I can hold it to him legally, but he wants to be in Moose Jaws, which it would make it a lot easier to get made in that instance. Justin Long is way the fuck in, so we’re getting closer, man. I had a budget meeting about it two months ago to go through the effects, like how many shots would be a CGI moose and how many would be a practical rubber moose that we built. I lean more toward the practical one because when the movie’s done, then I could put the moose in fucking Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, right next to the Buddy Christ statue. I like to hold onto my props and put them on display so people can see it. So, we are closer than we’ve ever been in 10 years. And Bert said, “He’s free in August,” so I’m like, “Alright, well, there it is.”
DEADLINE: Oh, that’s so cold. I am definitely looking forward to that then. That sounds entertaining if Bert’s in.
SMITH: Oh, he would fucking kill it as our Chief Brody character. He’s the substantial counselor, the head counselor in a kids’ summer camp, so he would destroy that part. It’s entertaining enough on the page, but I told him, “Do anything you want with it, bring jokes to it, feel free.” So, I feel pretty good about that today. I felt like that was a good day’s work. I was going over there to do a podcast and I may have walked away from my leading man.
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