Dispatch from IndieWood -- Miramax Drops Kevin Smith's "Dogma"; Indie Crowd Gets "Slossed"

BY EUGENE HERNANDEZ

With the indie community buzzing about the big changes at October Films, Miramax made some headlines of its own today (Thursday), with the news that it is essentially dropping Kevin Smith's much-anticipated new film, "Dogma."

In a New York Times article, Bernard Weinraub reported that Disney (Miramax's corporate parent) has deemed the film "inappropriate," calling the company's decision "an embarrassment." According to the piece, Miramax co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein will acquire the rights to the movie with the intention of instead selling them to another film distributor.

While Weinstein told Weinraub that the decision was not at the direction of Disney, the Times reported that a Disney executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity -- and has seen the film -- felt that some of "Dogma" might be seen as an attack on the Roman Catholic church's "dogma." Weinraub reported that the executive was "dismayed" by the movie and indicated that it is "inappropriate for all of our labels." The Weinstein's move is clearly an attempt to delicately extricate the IndieWood company from a difficult situation with its parent company -- in the wake of the messy media flap that erupted when Seagram forced October Films to drop Todd Solondz's "Happiness" last year.

Brad Plevyak & Chris Alley's newsaskew.com website, which has been tracking the building controversy for awhile, published comments from Smith. The filmmaker cautioned fans, "What Harvey and Bob are doing is a good thing," adding that, "Nothing's ever been done to or with the film without the consultation and approval of me and Scott."

For some time now, "Dogma" has been on the short list of movies expected to screen at Cannes, where last year's "Happiness" flap basically began. Smith indicated that the Cannes announcement would be made in two weeks and he reinforced to site visitors that "everything's fine." Smith explained, "When shit's bad or going south, rest assured - I'll let you know. At that point, you can rattle your sabres all you like."