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May 18th @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Nathan, Gramp, Zeebadaboodee, Alan Wolf & Chasing Holden

  • Lots of small Dogma mentions floating around the news today. First of all, Roger Ebert gives a shout out to Dogma in his web column today:
Weinstein’s top priority at this year’s Cannes festival, he said, is a successful launch for “Dogma,” the controversial Kevin Smith film that has been criticized for possibly being offensive to the Catholic Church. It plays here Friday.

“People who have seen it say it gave them a real spiritual experience,” Weinstein said, “That’s not what it’s about, but still . . . ”

Is it true that Disney, Miramax’s parent company, objected to the film?

“Not anymore,” he said, “because I bought it. I’m releasing it personally. Disney isn’t involved.”

You can read the full piece HERE.

  • Next, we’ve got gossip guru Liz Smith chatting about Salma Hayek’s popularity at the festival:

SALMA HAYEK, in Cannes for “Dogma,” stunned her handlers with her impact on the paparazzi last week. Hayek, who will also appear at the big American Foundation for AIDS Research benefit Thursday at Cannes, was mobbed big time. At least 200 photographers converged on the actress, separating her from her press people. This caused a bit of hysteria when it seemed she might vanish forever in the madding crowd! One shell-shocked Cannes veteran remarked, “never seen the like . . . only Elizabeth Taylor ever generated this kind of insanity.” (Taylor herself arrives any second in the South of France. She presides over the annual AmFAR event.)

Hayek, a great beauty, seemed to be loving every moment. She stood up in her car, waving, posing and pouting like a ’50s movie queen. Her boyfriend, actor Edward Atherton, tagged behind the star with his video camera, recording for posterity his beloved’s effect on the world press at the world’s most famous film festival.

  • Seems that Kevin took the time to stop by the Phantom Menace line outside the Ziegfield Theatre in NY and gave a quick interview. Turns out the theater has quite a page devoted to their Star Wars frenzy, complete with live webcams of the line, fan profiles, and lots more! The interview hasn’t been posted yet, but you should be able to find it at the above page. For now, here’s a snippet:
I just returned from interviewing Kevin Smith in front of the Ziegfeld where the NYLine is up. Questions ranged from what he thought of TPM, to how Star Wars influences his films, to his new film “Dogma.” He was extremely laid back and hung around with the line for awhile. He was interviewed by the BBC as well as by some other network. He signed all sorts of Star Wars paraphinalia and then quietly slipped out. The interview should be on NYLine TV by Thursday!
  • Desert Blue‘s trailer aired on today’s edition of Coming Attractions on the E! Channel. Askewer Ethan Suplee is featured in the flick and in many parts of the trailer, but doesn’t get billing at the end (though Casey Affleck‘s does).
  • Finally today, Kevin gets a mention, alongside a TON of other great directors, as one of the “Young Turks” at Cannes in a New York Times article by Janet Maslin. You can read the full article (or subscribe to the Times online FREE) HERE.

Time for the Star Wars Trilogy! Catch you folks later…And try to ignore the reviews and the hype and judge TPM by yourself if you see it tonight or tomorrow. That’s what we’re gonna do.

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