Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
May 30, 2025
Table of Contents
From the Ashes
A quarter of a century after its initial crucifixion by critics- professional and otherwise- and a long, drawn-out stay in legal limbo at the hands of a devil, ‘Dogma’ has finally been resurrected for a 25th anniversary tour.
Goodfellas, the maverick Paris-based sales company, has acquired international rights to the newly remastered 4K edition of Kevin Smith’s 1999 religious satire. The film will screen at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the prestigious Cannes Classics sidebar, alongside a centenary screening of Charlie Chaplin’s‘The Gold Rush.’ This marks a major moment for ‘Dogma’, which has long been out of circulation- Smith only regained the rights to the film last October, decades after its initial release. The new deal was secured by Triple Media Film in partnership with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’sView Askew Productions.
The film will be returning to movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada on June 5th. In collaboration with Iconic Events, the 1999 film has been remastered in stunning 4K for re-release in theaters only! To commemorate the occasion, AMC Theatres is supporting a national tour that will feature Q&A screenings hosted by Kevin Smith, leading up to the June 5th release.
Controversy surrounded ‘Dogma’ well before the cameras even rolled. Michael Eisner, then-CEO of Disney- which at the time owned Miramax- reportedly attempted to shut the project down for being “too hot-button.” The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (no official affiliation with the Catholic Church, but highly influential in the court of public opinion) led a campaign against the film after reading one of its early drafts- then sensationalized their findings. Once production wrapped, Eisner insisted that Miramax “sell [the film] off.”
So how did it get made?
In the ’90s particularly, directors like Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, and Lasse Hallström had a powerful backer at Miramax. A man who styled himself as a friend to the modern auteur- who pushed their films, often aggressively, from niche indies to major awards contenders. A Machiavellian power broker whose fear-driven influence earned his production companies 341 Oscar nominations and 81 wins, garnered 34 personal- albeit extremely public- thank-yous from A-list celebrities, and even prompted Meryl Streep to call him “God” during her 2012 Golden Globes speech.
As Kevin Smith put it, “The name that nobody wants to hear anymore.” Harvey Weinstein.
With Eisner’s insistence to “sell [‘Dogma’] off,” Harvey obliged- selling it to himself and releasing it through a little-known entity called Shining Excalibur Films. Smith contends that Weinstein made ‘Dogma’ knowing he could “do a Shining Excalibur with it at the end of the day.”
It would become the first wide theatrical release from Lionsgate– “Pre-Katniss Everdeen and the vampires that sparkle,” Smith added- and their biggest box office success at the time. Smith recalls a two-page Variety spread celebrating its performance. Columbia/TriStar secured home video rights, but only for a limited window.
Aside from pickets from various Catholic groups- one of which Smith himself attended– and the “bona-fide” death threats they received, the film actually did quite well. It was made for only $10 million, and grossed $31,430,896 at the box office. And although it received a slew of less-than-favorable write-ups at the time, the preeminent film critic Roger Ebert actually wrote a relatively glowing review, in which he compares the writer-director to George Bernard Shaw, and gives the film 3 ½ out of 4 stars.
The movie had been saved. But at what price? Smith wouldn’t begin to understand until 2017.
Kevin Smith details the whole messy ordeal in a 2022 interview with The Wrap.
“The [Columbia/TriStar] rights [on ‘Dogma’] lapsed,” Smith explained. “I don’t think [Weinstein] realized that he still owned that movie. I don’t think he realized it had gone out of public distribution or anything like that.”
By then, Smith had been out of Miramax for nearly a decade and hadn’t worked with the Weinsteins since. That’s when he got a call “out of the blue” from Harvey Weinstein- “back when that was still a good thing,” Smith noted.
On the call, Weinstein mentioned ‘Dogma’ and asked if Smith was still interested in doing something with the project. Smith was thrilled, not only at the prospect of revisiting a popular and monetarily successful title, but also by the fact that Weinstein called him without any prompting from Smith himself.
A week later, The New York Times published its bombshell exposé detailing Weinstein’s decades of sexual abuse. He explains that he felt “guilt by association.” But it wasn’t until speaking with John Gordon, a former Miramax executive and longtime producer, that it all clicked.
“I was like, ‘Did you see that New York Times piece? I can’t f–king believe it.’ And I told him, ‘I don’t know how to say this, but he called me a week ago, out of the blue, to talk about ‘Dogma’ and maybe doing a series. I got really excited- and now I feel gross and disgusting.’” Gordon’s response: “He called everyone because he knew the story was coming. He wanted to find out who talked to the Times.”
“That made perfect sense,” Smith said. “I’m guileless. I don’t see all the angles. He wasn’t calling because he wanted to do something with ‘Dogma.’ He wanted to know if I’d talked to the New York Times. I hadn’t- because I didn’t know any of that stuff.”
Years later, Smith heard that a new ‘Dogma’ DVD was in the works. That’s when he discovered Weinstein was trying to sell the rights. “I found out he was shopping it around,” Smith said. Weinstein was asking $5 million, also suggesting Smith would be involved in the release, which wasn’t true.
Through the legal rigmarole, Smith remained firm on one core principle regarding the future of ‘Dogma.’ “I told my lawyers, ‘Please tell that company I’ll have nothing to do with it if [Harvey Weinstein is] still attached.’ I’ll work on a ‘Dogma’ anything- as long as he has no ties to it.”
Smith and his lawyers even made an offer to buy the rights back. “We felt very dirty about it, because we didn’t want to give him money,” he admitted. “But at the same time- it’s my movie. And he’s got it. He’s holding it hostage. My movie about angels is owned by the devil himself.”
Unfortunately, it proved an offer they could refuse. They were “scoffed at.” They returned with a higher offer- also rejected. “I think he’s holding out for $5 million,” Smith said. “Look, I love ‘Dogma’ as much as the next guy but a) I don’t have $5 million and b) that’s not what the market bears anymore. It’s a streaming era. Last I heard, another company said he wouldn’t sell it back to me.”
Around July, 2022, Smith heard the rights had been transferred to a “new company.” But he suspected otherwise. “I asked my lawyer to find out who the company is. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion [Harvey] just renamed it- or sold it to a shell.”
“My movie about heaven,” Smith said, “is in limbo.”
Fitting, in a way, that the savior of a cinephile like Kevin Smith arrived bearing the name Goodfellas.
To jog your memory- or maybe to introduce you to the film- “Dogma follows two fallen angels, Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), who discover a loophole in Catholic doctrine that could allow them to return to Heaven, threatening the very fabric of existence. To stop them, a group of unlikely heroes- including a faith-struggling woman (Linda Fiorentino), the erased 13th Apostle (Chris Rock), and Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith)- must prevent the apocalypse. With irreverent humor and sharp satire, Dogma explores faith, salvation, and the human experience.”
That’s the official synopsis from the website for the re-release- where you can still grab tickets to the remaining live Q&As, and even score a selfie with Mr. Smith himself, especially if you show up dressed as your favorite ‘Dogma’ character. That shouldn’t be too hard an ask, given most of the cast- even the angels- wear fairly casual clothes. Personally, I’d recommend going as the Golgothan, aka the shit demon, if you’re looking to stand out.
In Judd Apatow’s 2022 documentary ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’, Kevin Smith recalls how his entire family- despite not being allowed to curse in the house- gathered around the TV for Carlin’s first HBO special. “George Carlin was the only one who was allowed to curse in my house,” Smith recalls. The only consolation his father could offer Smith’s frustrated, arms-crossed mother? “[George Carlin is] Catholic.” And it mollified her, Smith remembers.
That moment helped justify ‘Dogma’ in Smith’s mind. The cult filmmaker, who still identifies as a man of Catholic faith, maintains that for all its crudeness, ‘Dogma’ affirms religion, and even the Catholic church. The stakes of the story hinge entirely on the legitimacy of Cardinal Glick’s (played, in a full-circle casting decision, by George Carlin) church and the plenary indulgence he offers on its rededication day.
Smith puts it plainly in his GQ retrospective: “I always felt that, in a very Catholic tradition, there’s suffering before reward. So, in that spirit: get past the [vulgar] jokes, and you’ll see a movie that is insanely not just pro-faith, but waves the flag for your dopey organization-even though it shouldn’t.” “It’s not a dry way into the faith. It’s lubed.”
Roger Ebert said it perhaps more elegantly, if not more delicately, in his 1999 review of the cult-classic: “Kevin Smith has made a movie that reflects the spirit in which many Catholics regard their church. He has positioned his comedy on the balance line between theological rigidity and secular reality, which is where so many Catholics find themselves. He deals with eternal questions in terms of flawed characters who live now, today, in an imperfect world.”
By Joseph Tralongo
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Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
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