`Clerks' filmmaker, a practicing Catholic, ventures onto controversial ground with `Dogma'

True to the maxim that no good deed goes unpunished, filmmaker Kevin Smith made a religious film -- and found himself the subject of protest by members of his own church.

In ``Dogma,'' Smith tells the story of an ordinary American woman who is visited by an angel and sent cross country on a mission from God. The film is comic in its treatment, but one thing is clear: It is made by a believer.

``I'm a practicing Catholic,'' says Smith, talking from his home in New Jersey. ``I go to Mass every Sunday.''

Does he believe that Jesus died for his sins? ``Yeah, I go with that,'' he says. ``Generally, I'm pretty much in line with most doctrines of the church.

``It's tough talking about your faith because people say, `Do you believe in the Easter Bunny, too?' People can make a pretty valid case for not believing, but I do. I feel like if it's working for you, it must be true. If my faith allows me to get up in the morning and see the world in a brighter way, then it's working.''

``Dogma'' has been the subject of a letter-writing campaign from the Catholic League. Hate mail from outraged Catholics -- who have not seen the film -- has flooded Miramax. ``Judging from the piles of hate mail,'' says Smith, ``not every Catholic is a Christian.''

In making ``Dogma,'' Smith didn't think he'd offend Catholics. He expected the hostility to come from other quarters.

``I thought people would say, `What happened to the ``Clerks'' guy? He's become a Jesus guy. . . . I thought it was too preachy.' ''

Smith first showed up on the media radar in 1994 with ``Clerks,'' a low-budget independent about a guy working in a convenience store in New Jersey. The picture was picked up by Miramax, and Smith's career was launched. Two years ago, ``Chasing Amy'' elevated him from an amusing young fellow to a filmmaker to be taken seriously.

``Dogma'' represents another big step forward. It's a film about a big subject, with a large cast, that takes place in multiple locations.

Linda Fiorentino plays the woman on a mission. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon play fallen angels. Alan Rickman plays an angel of God. Also in the cast are Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, George Carlin and pop star Alanis Morissette. The picture's tone is a sophisticated blend of the sincere and the farcical.

It's so clearly Smith's best work that it comes as a surprise that he wrote it in 1994, around the time of ``Clerks.'' ``Can you imagine what this movie would have looked like if I made it after `Clerks'? I'm a lot more technically proficient now.''

Smith says the germ of the idea came to him at Sunday Mass. ``They call it the celebration of the Mass. It's not a party in there. Most people there are just terrified of going to hell. There's no enthusiasm for what's going on in there. And I thought, why? Aren't they jazzed about it? Don't they dig their own faith? So I wanted to make a movie about faith.

``But most of the time, if you talk about faith, you're thrown into the category of fanatic, especially if you mention Jesus 60 times in a conversation. The predominant view of religion in this country is of wars in Ireland, priests molesting children and wackos shooting abortion doctors.

``I wanted to do something that said, hey, not all of us are a bunch of stupid f-- nuts. I wanted to do something full of faith that was entertaining enough to keep them in their seats. That's what Jesus did. He was talking lofty ideas and great philosophy, but Jesus wasn't in your face. It was all through parables, and later on, people would think, oh, I get it. So I'm trying to follow in the same tradition, except I have to work in the dick and fart jokes. It's harder to hold people's attention these days.''

Smith says 95 percent of the information that has been given out about the film has been false. For example, it was publicized that the film suggested that the Virgin Mary was promiscuous. Not true. The movie says only that, after the virgin birth, Mary had children by her husband, Joseph. This opinion, though not part of Catholic doctrine, is held by most Protestant faiths, which believe that James, the author of New Testament epistle, was Jesus' brother.

In 1994, at the start of his career, Smith said his goal was not to change. Five years later, at 29, he sounds like the same guy. He still lives in Red Bank, N.J. He's married now and has a 4-month-old daughter, Harley Quinn. He isn't working on any movie. `` `Dogma' was always the movie on the back burner. With the baby, I'd hate to be running off now to make another movie. So I'll wait a while.

``Some days I think, maybe I'm done. You know, I'm not a good filmmaker. My movies don't pop off the screen. I wasn't one of those kids with a Super 8 camera in the backyard. I never thought of making a movie until I was 21. It's not something I was born to do. I can't imagine making 10 movies, let alone 20. I mean, it's been great, but I might quit and do something else.

``I was thinking of becoming a deacon in a church. A deacon can marry people; he can preach. He can do anything a priest does, except he can't ordain people, hear confession or give last rites. And I can do without those things.''