Just a couple passing thoughts/requests/whatever: We’re both slacking off on TV shows lately. We just totally forgot about FAIL SAFE airing live on CBS last night, and missed the whole damn thing (Sopranos’ lackluster season finale sorta got in the way). So, if anyone taped it, we’d be happy to cover the shipping/tape cost for a copy.

On the movie scene, nothing spectacular playing in theaters until the summertime really, with early Spring being the pre-blockbuster time. However, Lion’s Gate‘s first big post-Dogma entry, “American Psycho”, hits screens this week, and from what we’ve been reading, this is one to go and see. They dropped a lot of dough on it, too, more than Dogma even we’d imagine, so we think it’s an important release for the studio. We’ll let ya know how it is.

So, that’s about it. Sorry for those of you that saw the new update and expected some news today. We’ll do our best to have some tomorrow. Maybe Kev’ll be able to reveal some Clerks TCS or next project information soon to spice stuff up around here. Never fear, though, we’re sticking around, even if it’s quiet for a bit.

Catch ya later.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein to Personally Acquire Rights to Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” Through Private Corporation Separate From Miramax Films

New York, NY, April 7, 1999 — Bob and Harvey Weinstein announced today that they are forming a corporation to acquire all rights to writer/director Kevin Smith’s film “Dogma,” a satire that deals with religious issues. The announcement comes after speculation about the film’s distribution by Miramax Films and the potential controversy that could arise.

The Weinsteins, who will personally buy the negative and film rights, plan to sell domestic distribution rights to a third party and work with individual distributors internationally as well. Miramax has recently collaborated with several studios — Paramount, Universal and Sony — on co-productions.

The decision to acquire the film through a corporation of Bob and Harvey Weinstein was reached amicably by all parties involved with the film, including Kevin Smith and the film’s producer, Scott Mosier.

“We all agreed that this is the best way for the film to be presented,” said Bob and Harvey Weinstein. “All of us look forward to the time when audiences will be able to see this film; it will be properly understood and viewed for film as film’s sake.”

The Weinsteins added, “Now that we are ending speculation as to ‘Dogma’s’ distribution, we believe the film will speak for itself and be understood for its artistic intentions and merits.”

“Through the new corporation, we intend to work with a distributor that shares our vision of the film,” said the Weinsteins. “We are confident that we will find a marketing and distribution partner that will fully realize ‘Dogma’s’ potential as broad entertainment.”

The film boasts an all-star cast that includes Ben Affleck, George Carlin, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Smith regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, Alanis Morisette, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, as well as Smith himself. Early preview screenings of the film have played to enthusiastic and receptive audiences who have wholly embraced it.

“It has been our hallmark to grow with and support our artists,” said the Weinsteins. “In fairness to Kevin, we do not want to jeopardize ‘Dogma’ from being seen as the mainstream entertainment he has imagined it to be. We feel that this action is the best to remain true to the film and to our corporate parent.”

Through the resources and support of Disney, the Weinsteins have grown Miramax into their vision, producing, acquiring and releasing dozens of critically acclaimed films including Academy Award-nominated Best Pictures “Shakespeare in Love,” “Life is Beautiful,” “Good Will Hunting,” “The English Patient,” ” Il Postino,” “Pulp Fiction,” and, in addition, Kevin Smith’s own “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy,” among many others.

Kevin Smith said, “As per usual, Bob and Harvey are the only ones willing to stick by us or back our goofy little flicks. In this instance, I would say they’ve shown great courage, however, I wrote the film, I directed the film, I have seen the film many times — in my opinion, ‘Dogma’ is in no way blasphemous or worthy of the mild controversy that seems to be brewing around it.”

“Dogma” is an adult fairy tale, a fantastical journey about a lone hero joined by a band of misfits marching on to a common goal to save humanity. While each traveler has his and her own set of beliefs, in their quest to save mankind, each will be forced to confront their faith, and ultimately find their own relationship with God. At the center of the fable is “Bethany” (Linda Fiorentino), who is called up by “Metatron” (Alan Rickman) to stop two renegade angels, “Bartelby” (Ben Affleck) and “Loki,” (Matt Damon) from unmaking existence in their quest to return “home.” Along the way, “Bethany” is aided by two unlikely prophets, “Jay” (Jason Mewes) and “Silent Bob,” (Kevin Smith), a man who falls to earth claiming to be the 13th Apostle (Chris Rock) and a heavenly Muse, (Salma Hayek).

A cinematic fantasy filled with suspense, comedy, action and mystery, “Dogma” is intended not to skewer, but to satirize its subject matter with good humor, which is the point of sophisticated comedies. While plot points and characters may be taken out of context, appearing as if Smith is attacking organized religion, the film should be taken as a whole: a satire that comes from a filmmaker who himself is a practicing Catholic with a solid foundation of love and reverence to faith.

“Dogma was from first to last always intended as a love letter to both faith and God almighty,” added Smith. “It’s mind bending that as we come to the close of this century that anyone would still attack a work that has yet to see the light of day without having seen it themselves. I just hope that my intention with the film — to make people, even if for only two hours, think about the reason we’re all here in the first place — isn’t lost amidst religious politicking.”

Anyway, click HERE to go directly to all the stories over at Dogma: RC!

High Prophet Max sings the praises of Kevin Smith’s Dogma.

By Max Broker, April 8, 1999

What HSX MovieStock would you most likely see following these names of the most popular MovieStocks: Mission Impossible 2 (MISS2), Eyes Wide Shut (EYESW) and Men In Black 2 (MIB2)?

The answer is Dogma (DOGMA).

The premise of this Kevin Smith (KSMIT) directed movie for Miramax involves two angels trying to get back into Heaven. The great grand niece of Jesus Christ, with the help of Jay, Silent Bob and Rufus the 13th Apostle, must hinder the angels’ efforts in order to prevent the end of existence.

DOGMA is trading at H$41, indicating an implied opening weekend gross of $13 million (using the HSX opening weekend multiplier) with an average daily volume of over 8 million shares.

I predict that DOGMA will make this number. I believe that this will be Kevin Smith’s big commercial smash hit (he also directed Clerks and Chasing Amy).

As we head into the last months of the century, the population of Earth, that is to say, the movie going audience, is questioning their spiritual selves and their relationship to the cosmos and various cosmic forces that rule reality. So spirituality-themed stories like DOGMA already have a built-in audience. Add Miramax’s excellent marketing abilities and Kevin Smith’s sharp eye with the camera, and it all adds up to big bucks.

Regardless, I’ve got so much to type in that I feel I could write a book, including our feelings on the missing story, the protesting, and all the other news blurbs out there. There’s a TON of text ahead as we unload, so sit back, grab a cold beverage, and enjoy. This update contains more editorializing than ever before, so your comments are most certainly welcome…

• The Clerks animated series, which is Kevin’s favorite project at the moment (aside from Dogma, of course), is slated to debut on ABC this January. He confirmed that Brian and Jeff would indeed be doing the voices of the title characters, along with MANY special guest voices, including most of Dogma’s cast (Affleck wants to be a Canadian character), and a recurring role (Leonardo Leonardo) hopefully voiced by Alan Rickman. A bit of the third episode’s storyline was revealed, and MAN does this sound HILARIOUS! We won’t spill the beans, but, anyone see “Outbreak”?
• Jay yelling “It’s ALL BULLSHIT!!!!” from the balcony of the theater after Kevin finished telling a story about his falling asleep during the filming of a scene in Dogma.
• The Dogma soundtrack is residing with Capitol Records at the moment, with the chance of including a brand new track from The Beastie Boys, and of course lots more. Howard Shore’s score will most definitely be released on another CD, as well. We hear the score is outstanding.
• Kevin hinted that an idea that he had in his head about a Mallrats sequel during the filming of the first one would be turned into a comic book rather than an actual second film. Most of you who have seen Kevin speak know the story, and how well it’ll translate on the comic pages.
• The Green Arrow books may or may not happen, depending on Jimmy & Joe‘s availability to draw the thing.
• He’s working on a script for the Mage movie sometime in the future.
• The Dogma trailer being shown to a highly appreciative audience, who demanded a “REWIND!!!!” when cheering drowned out some of the closing lines of the 2+ minute piece.

A nice reception was held afterwards, where Kevin sat, signed, and chatted away until everyone was left satisfied. We chilled on a couch until business was done, then had a few minutes to talk with Kevin about the past couple day’s events, much of which is summarized in the stories below. Got a summary, favorite moment, or some pictures from tonight’s appearance? Shoot it our way for our upcoming Rider Wrapup page.

Later that day, we received a polite request directly from View Askew to remove the story, since it had apparently leaked before its time. Miramax and Disney were NOT pleased. So, the scoop was removed, but not before many other outlets on the web and print media had picked it up as well. Whether it was from us or an inside source, we’re not sure, but it did at least confirm what we had heard.

Anyway, everything’s cool now – Seems that the studios were mostly just upset that the WE leaked the story before they were ready for the press to know…But now that it’s everywhere, all is right with the world once again. As an independent site, we are fully aware that we have the right to post any stories that we like, but because of where the request came from and the way we were asked, we took it offline.

Fear not, though, dear readers. This in NO WAY will stop us from posting the news as soon as it leaks to us, regardless of the circumstances. In fact, it just wants to make us dig even harder for the NEXT big scoop. We’re just too big of fans of View Askew to let this stuff keep us down. So, as always, if you’ve got something, be sure and send it to us RIGHT AWAY! We’re determined as ever to get you that big news first.

Well, that about does it for today! Phew! It was indeed an exciting one. For those of you who are visiting for the first time today, be sure to read the update below, as well. Adios. See some of you at Rider tomorrow.