• Here’s the weekend figures from the UK Box Office. As you can see, Dogma did QUITE well given the number of screens that it was on. Congrats to View Askew and Film Four on a very respectable and profitable opening for the flick.

Notice that Dogma was on the LEAST amount of screens of any of the top 10 flicks, and still managed to pull third. Nice.

• Congrats to Dogma for making yet ANOTHER Top 10 end-of-the-year list. The film rounds out the list from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Film Critic Joe Holleman. Here’s an excerpt:

• We’ve just been made aware that the Digital Entertainment Network has a site on Dogma, which you can find HERE. Nothing new really, but a nice package. We like the way this site handles things. May be worth a bookmark for ya for future reference.
• Wizard ran a small piece on Kevin’s infiltration of the Dogma protesters on opening night (When Kev joined up with the group undercover to protest his own flick). They ran down a few of the highlights:

• Picketers told Kevin some “nasty things about his parents” and “even nastier things about himself”.
• Kevin prayed the rosary in 40 degree weather, all the while holding up signs that read, “To hell with Dogma” and “Dogma is Dogshit”.
• Kevin apparently was so elusive, that he even answered some questions for an unknowing local news crew, all the while holding his ground as a protester of the film.

Nothing you didn’t really know already, but we figured we’d report it, anyway.

• Here’s a local copy of that interview from the Popcorn Website. In it, Kevin discusses his night out with the protesters as well as a few of the frightening results of making a movie about faith:

Alrighty then. We’ll see ya.

• We’ve got some excellent shots from the UK today that most of you probably haven’t seen yet. First, there’s 3 different versions of the Dogma poster that were created exclusively for the Film Four Dogma campaign. As you can see, each feature 2 of the film’s main characters. Next, the entire ensemble on a nice banner-style ad, followed by a couple of shots of said banner in billboard form, out in the wild! Finally, another colorful variation on the ensemble and a circular (button of some sort, perhaps?) look at the Buddy Christ. All of these pics, of course, enlarge, so click the thumbnails for a much closer look. Many thanks go to Kevin & Kim for getting the exclusive shots to us. It’s very interesting seeing how different an ad campaign can be for the same exact movie opening elsewhere in the world.

• In addition to the Film 99 poll, their show on Dogma aired as well. Several scenes were shown, including Metatron spreading his wings for Bethany, the moving walkway scene from the airport terminal (we watched them film that one!), Serendipity stripping, and one of our favorites, the underground garage scene. The presenter actually stated the film would starting showing on CHRISTMAS EVE, though we’re not sure if this means the release date has been bumped up from the 26th to the 24th or if it was just a clerical error. By the way, Affleck‘s interview on the program was NOT a new one, but basically just bites from his Cannes interview on the film. Same thing for Salma Hayek‘s.

• Here’s a glimpse at the interesting Dogma marketing strategy that Film Four is using (Kevin alluded to this above).These are scans from 2 postcards being distributed around the UK (At college campuses, from what we’d heard yesterday). We really like these things! The quotes on the cards aren’t from the film, but rather just an interpretation of the film’s themes surrounding them. Very cool stuff. If anyone’s got extras, let us know! Click the scans for a much better look at these nifty things.
• While Dogma’s gotten a “15” certificate in most of the UK, The Irish Film Censors office in Dublin have confirmed that Dogma has been passed with an “18” certificate – this is only for the Repubic though, any showings in the North will come under the BBFC certification of “15”.

They have ALSO re-confirmed that Dogma will be released on the 26th, however, it seems it won’t be getting a general release in Ireland. They could only confirm about 7 cinemas in the North where it is going to be shown. They did say that there would be a “second wave” of release, which will be in the New Year.

• In what seems to be becoming a daily feature here at the site, here’s the latest bits on Dogma in the UK (some good stuff today, too!):

• The publicity for Kevin’s latest cinematic masterpiece keeps on rolling in, and what better than England’s main movie show doing a review. Tonight (Tuesday) on UK television, Jonathan Ross from ‘FILM 99′ will be reviewing Dogma, and to go with this, Ben Affleck will be doing an interview and talking about the flick.
• Check out the FilmFour website, click the Dogma link, and answer a simple question for your chance to win tickets toa preview of Dogma in central London on the 13th (this Monday). There’s also an interview with Kevin that you can download.
• We’ve got transcribed copies and pics of the two small pieces that appeared in Loaded Magazine today (The Jay Interview appears here). Click the thumbs for larger pics, and read the text right here. Sorry in advance for any typos, itwas done with an OCR scanner and we didn’t have time to proof it:

  AN INTERVIEW WITH JASON MEWES

  To the world, this man is known as Jay. As in Jay and Silent Bob. As in Jay of the Bluntman and Chronic comic. Jay is Jason Mewes and Silent Bob is director Kevin Smith, the man who put him in cult comedies Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and now Dogma. In the process, Smith made the former New Jersey roofer the best slack suburban sleazebag turn in the world.

  Jay first appeared – dealing dope and philosophizing about “bitches” and Star Wars- in Clerks, a brilliant comedy about a day in the life of a New Jersey convenience store with all the lunacy, eccentricity, death and sexual tension you normally get down the shops.Smith’s latest film, Dogma, features Alanis Morissette as God, Alan Rickman as the voice of God and Matt Damon as the avenging angel who laid waste Sodom and Gomorrah. In a film full of jokes about the meaning of life, the universe and everything, Jay has all the best gags about girls, sex and latent homosexuality loaded called him at his mother’s house in New Jersey to see what he’s smoking these days.

  [Before a single question Is Asked, he’s off]

  Jason Mewes : I’m so sorry I was at the View Askew[Dogma production offices} in Red Bank with Kevin, and Kevin said he’d give me a ride home but he’s been like tied up on the phone and I was like, “C’mon Kevin, I’m gonna be late for my interviews” So he just rushed me home and I just got in. I told my ma if you called I’d be home soon. I ain’t got a car right now. I lost my licence ,for parking tickets and stupid stuff. I paid ‘em and I didn’t like get my lisence renewed and then I got caught driving on suspended and I didn’t know, I thought after I’d paid the tickets they’d renew it but I didn’t know you had to go to Motor Vehicles and renew it.I have to take buses and cabs all the time.Kevin’s always driving me around.

  Er, right… why do you think Kevin Smith originally wrote the part of Jay for you?

  Jason Mewes : He told me it was because he thought I was really funny. One day Kevin said he was really curious about how many other people had the sense of humour that we did.

  Danny Plunkett : It’s the type of humour that sometimes gets you into trouble…

  Jason Mewes : Sometimes people don’t realise I’m joking around with them, and get all mad. I fool around with girls and they won’t get the joke.You know.

  Danny Plunkett : You slip into character?

  Jason Mewes : Yeah, and I say some rude things to ‘em,joking around, thinking they’ll understand that I’m joking, but they don’t.

  Danny Plunkett : Jay is extreme. Do people think you’re him?

  Jason Mewes : People expect me to be exactly like that,which I’m not all the time. Sometimes I get real rowdy and goofy and sometimes I just get real quiet. We just had a thing in New York, this screening, and I met some guys there and they’re like, “Yo, man, let’s smoke some weed,” and I think, nah. I didn’t feel like smoking ‘cos I was drinking, and I don’t smoke when I drink. And they were, like,disappointed. They thought that I was some big stoner, that I’d smoke 24 hours a day,which I totally don’t. I used to but it just got to be too much, you know? I just wanna sit at home and watch TV when I smoke. I used to like going out and doing stuff when I was smoked up, but then it got to be like I was too old to be getting into trouble being caught with a joint in my pocket.

  Danny Plunkett : So guys expect you to be a stoner. How do girls expect you to be?

  Jason Mewes : I don’t know-girls seem like they think I’m funny and they wanna hang out. They don’t want to date or nothing. I guess they thinkI might be like how l am in the movies, just like a player and be like, “You slut!”. Alot of girls wanna be my friend

  Danny Plunkett : That Jay approach ‘hey, sit on my face,bitch” – doesn’t work for you?

  Jason Mewes : Yeah ha ha no. With some it does. This one girl on the Internet she’s like “I love it.”I’m like messing around and saying dirty stuff to her and she loves it so some girls I guess like it.

  Danny Plunkett : Kevin Smith has said that Alanis Morissette was terrified of you on set.

  Jason Mewes : Was she ? I didn’t know that. In the make-up trailer I used to hang around and talk to her. She would laugh and it didn’t seem like she was scared.

  Danny Plunkett : How was it working with Salma Hayek?

  Jason Mewes : Salma was cool, really nice. They did a press junket in New York and I was in the TV room. She was saying, “I never met anybody like him. I’d be in my trailer and he’d come and knock on my door and say, ‘Oh can you sign my friend’s picture?I’ve been using his cellphone all week and I promised him if I used it I’d get an autograph from you for him’.” She said that was weird.

  Danny Plunkett : What’s been going on since you made the film?

  Jason Mewes : I was working at the comic book store[Jay And Silent Bob’s Secret Stash] for awhile. I just stopped a couple a weeks ago because another guy started working there. He has a car and I wasn’t making it every day and the guy who runs the comic book store was getting upset with me. ‘Cos I had to get a ride from Kevin and I had to get a cab.

  Danny Plunkett : You got the sack from your own comic book shop?

  Jason Mewes : My own comic book store gave me the boot! Can you believe it? It’s true. That’s just the way it goes, I guess. It’s been fun not working. It’s been cool to work for four months and like kick back for six months, but now I’m ready to work pretty steady and start making lots of cash.

  Danny Plunkett : Kevin Smith’s producer Scoff Mosier recently said: “I am definitely stuck holding the bag a lot. With Mewes, it’s like it’s a job. Like running around, being like, ‘Don’t do that! Get off Of that! Why are you late?”‘

  Jason Mewes : Yeah, ha ha, yup, totally.

  Danny Plunkett : Are you the problem kid on the set?

  Jason Mewes : I guess I hangout a lot and do stuff, and I’m alway late. I’ll be in my trailer and they’ll be like knocking on my door saying, “Come on, you’re on in five minutes.” So I’m like,’Alright, I’ve got five minutes.” Then they come knocking again two minutes later and I’m like, “You said five minutes so I’ll be out there in a few minutes.” So tell Scott I’ll come and get me and go like, “Come on man, they’re read for you.” Then I’ll get mad ‘cos then the I bring me on set and I’ll have to wait a half hour and go, “Yo man,you rushed me do here and it’s not time yet.” And sometimes they’re like, “You have half an hour,” and someone’ll go, “You wanna go to the store with me?” and I’m like,”Sure”. So I’ll take a ride and I’ll leave. when I get back they’ll be mad and like, “Everyone was looking for you,” and I’m like, “Yo, you said I had a half-hour…”

  Danny Plunkett : What do you do to keep yourself amused between takes?

  Jason Mewes : Usually just hang outside and bullshit with the people watching and stuff. Like in Pittsburgh when we were doing dogma I was chatting with the cop that was doing the traffic, and he was like, “Dude, after the set tonight you’d wanna go do some shooting?” I was telling him how I love shooting guns and he took me to the police range that night. Shooting up cardboard figures-that was pretty fun.

• In a rarely-seen move, the cable network Comedy Central has bought first network broadcast rights to Dogma! If for some crazy reason you miss the film theatrically AND on DVD/VHS AND on pay cable (shame on you), you can catch it on CC sometime in the year 2002. At any rate, it’ll be fun to see what they change some of Kev’s dialogue too (remember that Mallrats ABC debacle)?

• The protests continue…On the Disney lot??? That’s right, a source checked from the Animation lot in Burbank, CA, where he noticed a large DOGMA protest going on in front of the Disney Studio Lot in the big building that looks like the Fantasia Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat. Maybe someone should have told these folks that Disney’s no longer involved? Hmmm.
• There is a new very large billboard poster put up by Film Four announcing the coming on the 26th of December featuring all the main characters but in different poses as compared to the US poster. Our scooper spotted it at the main entrance to Wembly Stadium, London – easy to checkout for those going to concerts this Christmas period at Wembly Arena. The smaller pink Matt and Ben posters are all over the London Tube system.
• There’s also a new Kevin Smith UK interview now up on the Film Four UK Dogma site.
• We didn’t realize this, but Dogma is Kev’s first flick released in the UK to get a 15 rating, NOT an 18! That’s pretty darn cool. No cuts or anything.
• As for those of you in Ireland, we hear that Film Four does indeed plan to release Dogma in ALL of Ireland, North and South, on the 26th as well, though a scooper over there has told us that it’s not officially confirmed, as well as the areas or number of screens. Oh, and can we come over and have some Guinness?

• Here’s our first KNOWN UK appearance for Kevin! The UK’s Big Breakfast this morning trailed that they will have Kevin Smith on TOMORROW (Thursday 2nd December) talking about Dogma. Don’t miss it!
• The new issue of Q Magazine has a nice pic of Kev and Harley in her little wings from the New York premiere, as well as a review (over on RC) and a Q&A that follows:

Bad Religion?

Kevin smith’s latest movie, Dogma, has outraged US church-goers, with its “blasphemous” humour. So is he telling the Church to piss off? Let’s ask him…

Are you expecting any trouble in Britain, as there has been in America?

I don’t think so. You guys are mainly Anglican, for what it’s worth. Thanks to good old Henry VIII I’ve probably avoided a lot of heat in England.

So what resistance have you met with?

We had some protesters outside the theatre at the New York Film Festival. They weren’t really screaming or whatnot, they were singing Cumbyah. I wanted to invite them in and show them the flick, cos they just didn’t seem to know what they were protesting about. I mean, none of ‘em had seen it and the people who urged them on to protest hadn’t seen it either.

What were they so upset about?

It’s that the film was ever made. There were some news reports I saw where this guy was going, “This movie maintains that all of the apostles had active sex lives – and I’m guessing not with just their wives!” I mean, bizarre conclusions like that, things that are not in the movie. Some people think the movie says that Christ had sex. They’ve come up with these plots that don’t exist.

Have you shown it to your family?

Yeah. My mother and father were there for the New York Film Festival. My mother kinda dug Dogma, because she’s a devout Catholic as well, but she’s ever riding my ass about the language. “Must you use all that bad language?” Well, must I? No. Do I? Yes. Must we talk about this…?

The people you cast in this movie seem to have done very well for this movie since you cast them…

Boy, they really have. Everyone we cast seemed to get famous. Which puts a lot of pressure on yours truly because, now, if this movie tanks, it’s really my fault.

Whose idea was the speech in which Ben Affleck talks about people thinking he’s gay?

That had been in the script since 1994, since before I even knew what a Ben Affleck was. But he read the script in 1995, before he was very famous, and he wanted to do it then. It’s kinda funny cos Ben has been defending his, uh, heterosexuality quite vehemently as of late!

Are you worried that audiences will think of this as a Matt Damon and Ben Affleck vehicle?

There’s more of a degree of panic over people paying to get a polemic, a blasphemous film. My fear is that people are gonna be going in saying, “Can’t wait – this is the movie that tells the Church to piss off for several hours.” And then they get there and it’s not. It’s actually kinda devout.

• We’ve been receiving lots of mail praising Howard Shore’s score for Dogma, now available in record stores everywhere in soundtrack form (also with the infamous Mooby song as well as Alanis’s new track, “Still”). Vincent took a listen to the CD himself and was quick to point out that, surprisingly, some of the film’s score is actually MISSING from the disc. One of his favorite tracks, the music playing at the Mooby restaurant (which in the film plays distorted and ‘tinny’ since it’s coming from loudspeakers), and the music during the first Cardinal Glick scene (the organ music). There may be more, but we just wanted to make you aware — If you liked the score, you’ll hear even more of it this weekend, and hopefully perhaps even get a chance to hear the score isolated on Dogma’s DVD. By the way, sorry, but we don’t have the Mooby song lyrics. No lyrics were included with the Dogma CD soundtrack and they’ve yet to be published on the web.

• Dogma played ShowEast last night, and holds the prestige of now being the first ever Full-Length feature film presented in an all digital format at the festival. Wow. And we hear it was SWEET! In fact, we’ve been holding off on fan reviews for the flick just because there’s too darn many, but here’s a scooper’s writeup of the experience and completely non-spoiler thoughts on the film. Sounds like he LOVED it through and through, along with the rest of the audience: