Our thoughts: Will there be some protest and unrest surrounding Dogma? You betcha. But we think that Kevin and the ‘Maxexpect this, in fact, they COUNT on it (face it folks, controversy will definitely help those ticket sales with all the extra media exposure). The movie won’t be cut to satisfy these folks, but just because it’s too damn long. Shame, too…It’s really tough to think what Kevin can remove without losing the depth of the story and characters! Time will tell, and we’ll certainly be on top of all of this stuff. For now, though, enough with the worries! The flick’s not gonna be in theatres for nearly a year.

Here’s the entire Mr. Showbiz article as we reported it on July 2, 1998 :
Affleck Phophesies Dogma Controversy…

Scoop Courtesy Of Michael Anderson ,Urban,Rod Unck,Aug,Mike Ghost, Feldamundo, Ira Leiman, Matt Brown, Susan Dudley, GWHunting, David Adams, George Cifrancis, Matt, &Exile
It’s a SCOOP RECORD, folks! Over the couse of two hours, we got 13, count ’em, 13 mails on this story…Yikes! We’re not going to even take the time to reply personally to you all on this one, it’s just too much…But thanks all the same.Anyway, an interesting article on <../dogmarc">Dogma and the impending controversy that may surround it appeared on Mr. Showbiz today…Read for youself right here:



Affleck Prophesies Dogma Controversy
By Jeffrey Wells
Ben Affleck has his hands full with a gigantic asteroid in Disney‘s new thrill-ride Armageddon, but he believes the weather could be even stormier for his next movie, <../dogmarc">Dogma.
Miramax plans to release that film, a $5 million religious satire from Chasing Amy writer-director Kevin Smith, early next year. Insiders say, however, that the satirical grenades contained in Smith’s widely circulated script are so explosive the Walt Disney Company, which owns Miramax, is growing nervous about the potential for protests from the religious right.
A fantasy about a pair of foul-mouthed, homicidal angels (Affleck and Matt Damon) who’ve been banished from Heaven, Dogma is a tongue-in-cheek riff on Catholic mythology. In Affleck’s words, the film offers the notion that “Mary and Joseph had sex, and they had a kid, and therefore there’s a [female] descendant of Christ on earth who works at an abortion clinic.” The subject matter, he adds, is “definitely meant to push buttons. There are clearly things about it that will be incendiary.”
Smith’s characters include a black 13th apostle (played by Chris Rock) and a female God (played by rock singer Alanis Morissette). The comedy, written before the success of Smith’s 1994 debut Clerks, was inspired by Smith’s irreverent attitude toward his own Catholic upbringing. Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Janeane Garafalo, Alan Rickman, and Smith himself co-star.
A well-positioned industry source tells Mr. Showbiz that Disney chairman Michael Eisner “is not comfortable with this film. He’s responsible to the stockholders, and this will be a thorn in Disney’s side. He’d rather not see it go out [to theaters].”
>From his perspective, says Affleck, “It would not surprise me if the political situation around Dogma was very tenuous. I know [Miramax chairman] Harvey Weinstein has his trepidations about this, and he’s gotta answer to Disney.” Continuing on a rhetorical train of thought, he asked, “Is Michael Eisner nervous about it? Probably. For a $5 million movie, which is small beans, he may take a disproportionate amount of heat over it. So if I were Eisner, I might be a little nervous, but I certainly hope [Disney] supports the movie and stands behind it and [is] brave enough to say, ‘Listen, this isn’t necessarily Disney’s credo—this is Harvey Weinstein and Miramax, whom we allow to make the kind of movies they want to make.'”
A Miramax spokeswoman contends the film’s subject matter is a non-issue: Disney, she said, is contractually obliged to release Miramax’s films, as long as they haven’t been rated NC-17. (Dogma, which finished shooting in June, is expected to receive an R rating.)
The alleged concern at Disney (which declined comment for this story) apparently stems from the company’s recent problems with the religious right. In 1995, Miramax’s Priest, a drama featuring a pair of sexually active priests, aroused the ire of the Catholic community and resulted in a boycott of Disney products. In 1997, Southern Baptist leaders called for another Disney boycott due to what one religious publication called “pro-homosexual and anti-family products and policies.”
Controversy may make studio executives nervous, but every good movie marketer knows that a little free attention can be good for a film’s commercial fortunes. Affleck believes that whatever happens, Dogma stands a good chance of becoming a hit. “It’s one of the most original, funny, smart, interesting movies I’ve ever done,” he said. “I have very, very high hopes. I think it has a kind of Pulp Fiction break-out potential.”
And, he added, it would be highly ironic if Dogma were to draw fire from religious types, “because [Smith] is a devoutly religious Catholic. This is a criticism of the Catholic Church by someone who was raised in it. He’s a firm believer in Christianity and God and a believer in the Catholic doctrine.”
Affleck is more than a little bemused by all the hubbub these religious issues tend to raise. “I was reading the Bible recently in a hotel room,” he said, “and it occurred to me that Christianity is actually a liberal religion. Jesus preached a sense of tolerance, mercy, understanding, you know? It’s funny that Christianity is so staunchly represented by people who are so conservative in their beliefs [and] who demonstrate a lack of tolerance.”
As evidence, Affleck cited a speech he’d seen Pat Robertson give on television recently, about a gay rights parade in Orlando, Fla. “He was saying,” recalled the actor, dropping into the televangelist’s soft, southern drawl, “‘If I were in Orlando, I would be very concerned waving these gay flags around. The people there could be encountering terrorist bombs and possibly even a meteor.'”
Returning to his own voice, Affleck laughed and said, “I was saying to myself, ‘You’re insane! God throws meteors? [Armageddon producer] Jerry Bruckheimer throws meteors—not God!'”
Kevin Smith was unavailable for comment.


Wow, Kevin unavailable for comment!??! That’s a first. Anyway, this marks the first time we’ve seen a public mentionof the concern over studio trouble, but it’s all just rumor at this point. We’re sure the film will make it out in its intended form (with an “R” rating, of course)…It’s also the first we’ve heard talk of a release date, which looks to have slipped from the rumored December/Christmas into early next year.

The question posted by Vivian on August 03, 1998 at 21:43:31:

I was reading about the Dogma controversy with Disney being worried about religious groups protesting against the story of Dogma and I was curious to what your opinion is on this whole thing. Do you understand how the religious groups may protest and Disney should be worried? Or do you think it’s just a fantasy movie that no one should take too seriously? Also, hearing how the movie will probably get rated NC-17 or R, what’s your view on that? Would you want the younger crowd to see this film?

The reply posted by Ben Affleck on August 04, 1998 at 01:28:45:

I actually have a very strong opinion on this matter. Some chump who writes for an internet tabloid (“Mr. Showbiz” I think it’s called– how silly and lame is that?) snuck into the Armageddon junket and asked me about Dogma at a print round-table interview (circular tables filled with seven or eight journalists with tape recorders who ask questions and tape record your answers.) Everyone was (appropriately) asking about Armageddon (“What’s Bruce like?” “How hard were the space suits to wear, day in and day out?” etc. etc.) So all of a sudden, this one fool plunges into a rambling, semi-coherent Dogma question, out of the blue. First of all, this is innapropriate as all the journalists accept the invitation to the junket (where they are feted with gifts, free food, little pins and books and jackets, etc.) under the implied agreement that, for good or ill (and many, as evidenced by the deluge of negative press the movie got, evidently chose the latter) they would write about the movie. All but two of the some odd one hundred and twenty journalists I spoke with over the two days were good to their (implied) word and wrote about Armageddon. The exceptions were some idiot from a Chicago paper and this chucklehead from “Mr. Showbiz” (what kind of a name is that? I mean, to borrow a phrase; ‘who the fuck talks like that? That is fuckin’ baby-talk!’ You don’t hear Sam Donaldson stooping to refer to himself as “The White House Prowler,” or some such nonsense, just to pick up a few errant viewers…) decide to write about a film that won’t be released for another year, no one has seen, few have read and has literally nothing to do with Armageddon; Dogma. His question would be disallowed by any competant judge as seriously leading, were we in a courtroom, but we are far from there. The O.J. jury got a better look at the truth than these ‘celebrity-journalists’ (a contradiction in terms if ever I’ve heard one) give you. He begins “I hear Michael Eisner is very nervous about Dogma…” “Really?” I say, “That suprises me.” nods his head furiously and begins taking copious notes. I stare at him dumbly as I can’t imagine what he’s writing down (or why, since eighteen thousand tape recorders are running at the table.) I go to great pains to say “I don’t know Michael Eisner. I’ve never met him. That seems strange..” “Oh, yes,” he assures me. Very nervous. At this point I’m wondering how this pathetic dingbat has any idea what Michale Eisner thinks, since I get the distinct feeling Eisner wouldn’t throw this guy a nickel if he were standing next to an off-ramp by a vending machine with a sign saying: ‘Will write senseless horeshit for two-bits.’ But I play along, out of politeness and answer in very non-specific terms aslong the lines of ‘well, the Disney Miramax marriage is not always easy, but both parties have a proven formula for success, it wouldn’t suprise me, necessarily, to find out that one party or another had it’s nervous moments at times, but I know Joe Roth (Disney exec/ entertainment head) and he’s a very smart guy– I know Harvey (Weinstein, Miramax Co-Chairman) and he’s also very on-top-of-it, so I assume everything will work out, blah, blah blah…”
After that response, ‘Mr. Showbiz’ (who has already demonstrated that he knows far less about his namesake than the average internet user, nevermind supposed internet industry ‘insider,’ in contrast to what his moniker seems to suggest) goes on a rather lengthy and prosaic tirade about some ‘war’ between Disney and Southern Baptists over same-sex health benefits. At this point it occurs to me that we have gone so far afield as to be almost comical, but I nod politely and think “note to self, avoid sitting at table with ‘Mr. Bonehead’ in foreseeable future.” And I leave it at that.
Weeks later, a piece runs on Chucklehead’s site under some outrageous headline like “Affleck forsees trouble with Dogma and Miramax.” I groan. The ‘text’ of the piece is really an elegant exercise in selective quotation, misquotation and out of context, text-manipulation. I assume it’s taken this guy the intermediate weeks since the junket to cobble this piece together. Only now, too late, do I realize I’ve been had by the Tim McVeigh of the gay left and duped into playing a role in his imagined ‘war’ between Disney and some fringe religious group. There’s always some guy with an agenda. And, more often than not, the end product reflects that agenda much more than what you were trying to express in the interview. Ah, freedom… at what price. At least I’m not running for office (and coming up next, after ‘Beastiality On-line’: Mr. 37th Congressional District!!!)
So you heard it here, from the horse’s mouth. There is no Dogma controversy that I (or anybody I know) know of. In fact, there isn’t even any ‘Dogma’ yet. So, a word to the wise, beware of Greeks bearing gifts and always beware of journalists with kooky pseudonyms. My only comfort is in the old adage ‘what goes around comes around.’
By the way (and for the record) that’s Karma, my friends, not Dogma.

Jeffrey Wells’ rebuttal from TNT’s Rough Cut:

WRITER OF THE DAY: The “rambling, semi-coherent, chucklehead, chump” is Jeffrey Wells, a long-established entertainment writer who now works primarily for the L.A. Times Syndicate. The article that Affleck cites has an awful lot of direct quotes in it, cobbled though they may be. (You might also find it interesting that Affleck and his publicists were sent the transcript of the roundtable interview before Wells delivered his story to Mr. Showbiz and that the publicist told Wells at that time that Ben stood by everything he said.) And this quotation from the article is particularly hard to claim as out of context: “It would not surprise me if the political situation around Dogma was very tenuous. I know [Miramax co-chairman] Harvey Weinstein has his trepidations about this, and he’s gotta answer to Disney.” Well, Ben says he knows Harvey. And Ben says Harvey has trepidations. Sounds like controversy to me. I can’t defend the article headline, “Affleck Prophesies Dogma Controversy,” because all he really does is acknowledge the possible controversy and that it had been considered by Weinstein and possibly others. But this response seems a little over the top. And the thing I find most fascinating about it is Affleck’s basic contempt for the media, in general, and the inherent falsity of most junkets in specific. Here it is, indeed, from the horse’s mouth.