Photo: Getty Images for Vulture
Dogma is coming back, baby! For years, Kevin Smith’s religious comedy has been trapped in IP jail. But as he outlined at Vulture Festival, next year will be huge for thirteenth Apostle Rufus fans. Dogma is going on tour, getting a SteelBook release, and becoming available on streaming. Then, there will be a Dogma sequel. Smith also explained how the film finally was freed from purgatory.
Over the years, the 1999 film has been a bargaining chip between various feuding entities like Disney, Miramax, and Bob and Harvey Weinstein. As Smith explained, he’s made three different offers to buy the rights to Dogma off the Weinsteins — first for $250,000, then $500,000, then a cool mil. Smith sent his offer to “a convicted rapist,” as he put it, and “got no response from him. Got it from his lawyer. Lawyer’s like, ‘He’s not interested. The bid is too low.’” Smith wanted to buy back the rights to Dogma because it was a deeply personal film — both as an expression of his faith and his relationship to his deeply Catholic parents. But every deal that Harvey Weinstein approved gave him profit participation, which Smith couldn’t support. “I was like, I can’t be involved with that dude in any way, shape, or form,” Smith said.
But God Alanis Morissette works in mysterious ways. The convicted rapist needed money for challenging the aforementioned convictions, so his company sold a huge chunk of film off. “I guess he needed money for his legal fees and shit,” Smith said, “and he sold a giant package that was a bunch of kung fu movies, Fahrenheit 9/11, Kids, and Dogma.” The company didn’t realize what they had bought, Smith said. “When they looked at them, they’re like, ‘Ben Affleck’s in this one!’” They reached out to Smith, who said it was “like getting my fucking child back.”
And now that Dogma is back with its daddy — with a tour in the works — it’s time to give it a sibling. Smith said at Vulture Festival that his ideas for a Dogma sequel have been fomenting since a four-hour drive from Vegas to L.A. “Some people will be like, ‘Don’t fucking touch it. You’ll ruin it.’ And I’m here to tell you: I will,” he told the audience, later teasing, “I’m fucking tickled. I found a way in.” The film Smith’s started to plan will be more of a companion piece than a straight sequel.
So the gang isn’t getting back together to save God again, but Smith promised that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will be in the Dogma sequel/companion film. After all, they owe Smith: The pair credit Smith with “saving” their 1997 film Good Will Hunting by convincing Miramax to let them star, but Smith never got a thank you at the Golden Globes or Oscars. “I have been able to hold that over both their heads for 25 fucking years, which is why they keep showing up in all the movies,” Smith told the Vulture Festival crowd. “Expect a cameo from them — more than a fucking cameo. The only way we get a Dogma sequel made is if they’re there. So count on those guys being there.”
