Story courtesy of Ribcage

Dogging "Dogma"

The sidewalk inf ront of the Software Engineering Institute in Oakland was a great place to meet girls this week. But, guys, you would have been outclassed by the competition -- a couple of young heartthrobs with futures as golden as the Academy Awards they won last month.

That's right, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the writers and stars of "Good Will Hunting:, interfaced with their fans in front of Carnegie Mellon Universtiy's cyberplace, which served as the location Wednesday and Thursday for their current project, "Dogma", directed by Kevin Smith.

If you had happened by around 4:30 on Thursday, you would have seen Affleck surrounded by some 50 young women brandising cameras and autograph paper. He posed and signed until the security guys pulled him into a black car and drove him away on his dinner break.

The scene was repeated with Damon at the eye of the storm about six hours later, when filming wrapped up for the day.

"They were very gracious and very accessible" to workers at the institute as well during two days of filming in the building's fifth floor conference room, says Terry Mcgillen, SEI's public affairs coordinator, about the twentysomething stars. "I found them to be mature beyond their years. I don't know how anyone handles that kind of fame and visibility. But these guys love their craft, and so does Kevin Smith."

The SEI conference room was used for a scene in which Damon and Affleck, who portray the fallen angels Loki and Bartleby expose the board members as sinners and isolaters before exacting the ultimate punishment on them.

Considering the movie's religious theme, you might think SEI's boardroom was chosen because of its view of St. Paul's Cathedral across the street. But that wasn't the case, McGillen says.

"They liked it because it had a nie high ceiling with lots of space for the lighting equipment. In fact, they blocked off the window."

The timing was right as well, he adds.

"A lot of our technical people were at a conference in utah this week, so we had less people to disrupt. And it gave [the filmmakers] more access to the boardroom."

On Tuesday, "Dogma" filmed one of its opening scenes at Pittsburgh International Airport, introducing the characters of Loki and Bartleby and explaining their quest to reach a church in New Jersey in time to get a chance to return in heaven, an event that could result in the end of the world.