Controversy shadows Kevin Smith and his film

The fight over Dogma, Kevin Smith's ribald comedy about the Roman Catholic Church, is getting nasty.

Under fire from protesters who want his controversial film banned, Dogma writer-director Kevin Smith is accusing some of his critics of blatant anti-Semitism. A series of "really vivid letters" have been sent to his producers, Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who are Jewish.

"They're just dripping with anti-Semitism," Smith says with disgust of the letters he has seen.

One, in particular, has stuck in his head. Quoting from memory, Smith says the letter writer ranted: "You Jews better take that money you stole from us and start investing in flak jackets, because we're coming in there with shotguns."

Smith rolls his eyes and says a little prayer in an interview: "Lord, save me from your followers, I guess."

The threatening letters represent the most extreme reaction to Dogma, under fire since April when William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, attacked it as representing "the worst in Hollywood."

The campaign was stepped up during the Cannes Film Festival, when Dogma made its glittering world premiere. The controversy inspired the Weinsteins to buy the film back from Miramax -- which is now largely owned by Disney, and whose head honchos wanted to distance themselves from the film -- and later sell it to the Canadian-based Lions Gate Films.

Picketing greeted the American premiere earlier this month in New York. Yesterday's opening at theatres across the U.S. and Canada was expected to generate more protests. Yet the Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September went ahead without incident.

"Canadians are too cool," Smith joked then at a festival party at which he showed just how wicked he really is -- he lit up and puffed away in a no-smoking area.

Smith, a charming, rotund, bearded man with twinkling eyes that remind people of Santa Claus, is hardly the man voted most likely to alarm the public with his work.

His credits include Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy. He served as executive producer of Good Will Hunting. That film's Oscar-winning co-writers and co-stars, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, play fallen angels who wreak havoc in Dogma.

Smith reads comic books, acts as the goofball Silent Bob in his own movies, is happily married, recently became a father and goes to church on his home turf in New Jersey.

Not that he wants to tell anyone which catholic church he attends.

"Right now, I can go to church anonymously, sit in the back and nobody's going: 'There he is: Satan!'"

The notoriety that Dogma has generated, despite conventional wisdom, has bugged Smith on a personal level.

"Because I tried to make a devout flick, you know. The film was kind of an expression of my faith, but it was chock-a-block full of dick and fart jokes to make it more entertaining. I didn't want to re-make The Song Of Bernadette.

"But I never thought it would be controversial. I thought that the worst we'd get when the movie came out is a bunch of people saying: 'Did you see the Clerks guy's movie? It's nothing but two hours of preachy Jesus s---!' To me, it's not welcome because that wasn't the intention and I don't think that bad press equals box office."

Smith, an altar boy growing up, says it is significant that no one from the church, including the Pope, has denounced his film. The Catholic League is not an official part of the church.

"The Catholic Church hasn't said anything about the movie, nor do I think they would. Because the Catholic Church has been in business a long time and has done quite well financially, and I think they're smart enough to know that if there's something you don't want people to pay attention to, you don't go: 'Look at it, look at how bad it is!'"