Before you read this article, and feel that I snuck in to spy on the
proceedings, it should be stated that I honestly am a writer for the NYU
publication, The Plague, as I stated when I signed in. I went as a matter of
curiousity, without seeking or receiving permission, real or implied, from
News Askew, View Askew Productions (including any person connected therein,
legally or in any other way), Kevin Smith, Miramax Films (or its
subsidiaries), the Weinstein Brothers or their lawyers, or Disney. I went
of my own will and desire, and, as such, humbly request that any hate mail,
responses, criticisms, or compliments, by sent directly to me --
Guam824@aol.com -- and that I be referred to as an independent source (or by
my name, Sean Richardson) and not a "spy" or anything else. Whether or not
this is published in The Plague, we shall see. (I doubt it, but I can hope.)
[Also note that anything in quotes after this is a quote from
Catholic League president William Donohue unless otherwise indicated.]
Now that that's out of the way...
The Catholic League is at it again. I'm sure that's what many people
will say. After their recent conflict with The Simpsons ("We showed them,
insult anybody, Baptists, Protestants, Presbyterians, just not Catholics!"),
they've moved on to bigger things.
Is their conflict really with (Kevin Smith's) Dogma? Partially.
After "requesting to see the script and the film countless times," Donohue
settled for reading the third draft off the Internet. [He acknowledged after
the conference to one reporter that the final shooting script was Draft
Five, and that he read Draft Three, and they had already cut the "particularly
blasphemous segment" regarding Hosties' Cereal.] When I arrived, slightly
late, he was acknowledging that this protest would likely provide a slight
bump in the film's grosses, and also said that thier "plans" for Opening Day
were still being decided.
When Askew-friend John Pierson, in attendance, pointed out that Kevin
was a lifelong devout Catholic, Donohue dismissed that with two quotes from
Kevin (I know they're available elsewhere on News Askew); one regarding
Sunday mass being difficult to sit through sometimes, the other regarding
his crisis of fate leading to this script, to which Donohue replied, "I'll
introduce him to some good priests to help him through, but don't write a
movie like this!" (Apparently, the film does not affirm faith.)
His specific complaints were as follows:
(1) Joseph and Mary having sex.
(2) Jesus' descendant (!) working in an abortion clinic (!!!)
(3) The "Howard Stern" type dirty humor throughout, that "the country
is growing tired of." [If given another chance, I would like to ask Donohue
how he feels about dialog like that making the film, and therefore the faith
contained within, more accessible to today's youth, a generation or two
removed from him as we are.]
But, it seemed, he had bigger fish to fry, making the primary target
of his talks not Kevin Smith, or Dogma, but Miramax films and the Weinsteins
specifically. [He still has not acknowledged that the Weinsteins, not
Miramax, own Dogma.] His (by his own admission) large scale plans call for
Disney to altogether drop Miramax and return to being "family friendly".
Being extremely cordial to Mr. Pierson, he acknowledged that "those guys
(the Weinsteins) are no dummies .... they've released many extremely good films,
but they feel the need to continually attack the Catholic faith ... I feel
that they will do quite well on their own, especially if they lay off the
Catholic-bashing." He feels, though, that while Disney is in a period of
weakness (profits are, apparently, down), now is the time to "exploit" that
and get Disney to completely drop the Weinsteins and their "agenda".
The League's goal (and, misguided though this may be, I do think they
have pure motives) is singular, he says. They don't care about politics (he
endorses nobody, but will commend a politician who denounces Dogma as
blasphemy, even Hillary Clinton, as the reporter asked); they're "not out to
be liked", or "assimilate" (as "many Catholics are nowadays"), just to stop
the "growing" prejudice he feels exists for and towards Catholics, not as
individuals, but as a faith and a church.
After the conference, I myself asked two questions.
Q1) Do you feel the Weinsteins' fear of violence is justified, not
neccessarily sanctioned by the League, but from more zealous members?
A1) No, because there is not one incident of violence in the history
of the League.
Q2) If that's true, then why not issue in a statement, even in
conjunction with the "re-doubling your efforts" one, that such tactics will
not be accepted or condoned?
A2) (thrown, visibly slightly annoyed) Well, I would think that's
gratutious, but it is ... it's a good thought.
Me) Thank you.
[it should be noted, I had no tape recorder; those are not direct quotes,
however they do convey both the intention of the statements and, wherever
possible, the verbatim account.]
Thus ended my face-to-face meeting with him (by his own admission,
more than he has had with Kevin).
Other things of note from the conference:
-- The press packet included the Weinsteins' attorneys' full letter.
I know this was originally intended to be private, however, since they are
now making it public, I'll transcribe that for you as well, ASAP.
-- A similar letter did stop protests of Corpus Christi after two
days. However, in the interim between then and now, the League researched
and found that the legality of their "blame" is questionable. (Thanks to
John Pierson for that tidbit.)
-- Donohue specifically thanked Ben Affleck for his quote regarding
the film being designed to push buttons.
-- He also brought up a quote from Roger Ebert, "Nobody in attendance
was offended," responding: "Why should they be? They went to see the movie,
they're not the ones we expect to be offended." (Ignoring that Ebert
pointed out his own lifelong Catholicism in the article.)
-- Though one reporter was quick to label Kevin as "an ex-Catholic
posing as a Catholic", Donohue dismissed that by saying, "I don't care if
he's a Buddhist!" adding it was the film itself whose blasphemy was
important, moreso than the maker's.
In the coming weeks, we'll see if he releases a statement in indirect
response to my question (which, sadly, most reporters didn't see, though
Pierson commented to me afterwards about it), but I assure you all that if
there is another press conference like this one, I'll do everything in my
power to attend and report on it as unbiased as possible as both a Christian
and a Kevin Smith fan, as well as bringing any of my own points (like the
Language = accessibility one) into the discussion.
From the field,
Sean Richardson
-Sean is not a member of the Associated Press, View Askew Productions, or
News Askew, but attended the conference as the lone reporter representing
any publication from New York University.
