No, we don’t think there is a friendship in Tinseltown more storied or star-studded than the dynamic duo of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Since their early days in the ethereal cornfields of Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams, these kindred spirits have been thick as thieves, a pair whose bond would make even the stars jealous.
But it was not until they struck Oscar gold with Gus Van Sant’s masterpiece Good Will Hunting that their names became etched in our hearts, catapulting them from boys-next-door to A-list actors.
Like seasoned sailors braving the tempestuous seas of celebrity, they dodged Hollywood’s fickle tides and built up their fame with the infamous and elusive Dogma, a fantasy comedy flick that stirred the pot like a Sunday sermon gone awry.
The Forgotten Controversy: Exploring Harvey Weinstein’s Involvement Dogma
Helmed and penned by indie prodigy Kevin Smith, Dogma became a signpost on their yellow brick road of fame—not only for its audacious commentary but also for how the star cast leveraged their success, refusing to bow down to bigwigs.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon collaborated with Alan Rickman on the controversial 1999 film, which can be described as a satirical take on religion that raised quite a few eyebrows.
You would think that a movie with such star power behind it would be a surefire hit, but the road to success was not without its bumps. The man who held the purse strings for this project was none other than Harvey Weinstein, a name that now carries a dark shadow in the film industry.
The film demanded a million dollars but Weinstein, not one to back down from a challenge, showed up on set with a bag full of Monopoly money. Affleck told Peter Biskind that Weinstein put on a grand show of defiance before finally relenting & cutting them million-dollar checks (via EL PAÍS English):
I’m not giving you suckers a single dollar in cash.
The cast of Dogma was a star-studded affair, with names like Rickman and Linda Fiorentino adding to the mix. The former, a fan of Smith’s work, had only two requests for his role: real wings and no script changes.
Fiorentino, on the other hand, found herself at odds with the director; her frustrations boiled over when she discovered her head had been photoshopped onto a body with more cleavage for the film’s promotional material. And this caused her to pull back from promoting the movie.
The Day Kevin Smith Took a Stand Against Himself: Dogma
Kevin Smith discovered that there would be an anti-Dogma protest at a local theater in Eatontown, New Jersey, during the premiere of this film. He, ergo, couldn’t help but take advantage of the opportunity to see people he knew from the area—there were reportedly 1,500 people in attendance (see YouTube).
Smith made a “Dogma is dogs*it” protest sign with a friend and headed to the Eatontown theater, where there were only a handful of protesters instead of the anticipated 1,500. Smith entered the protest of devout Christians by praying and holding his sign with a fictitious sense of pride, joining the small group of visibly older opponents.
A local news crew showed up, adding to the humor of Smith’s typically irreverent stunt. After questioning a number of people about their reasons for being so strongly against Dogma, a reporter eventually asked the director to give his reasons for being against the movie. Smith replied (see YouTube):
I don’t think it [Dogma] stands for anything positive.
This may be surprising, but after being released to mostly favorable reviews, Dogma ultimately brought in $44 million in revenue (Box Office Mojo).
As was to be expected, neither Smith nor his team nor the audience who saw and appreciated the movie suffered any consequences from God for producing it. However, despite its cult classic status, the movie has vanished from the streaming scene today, as if it were an invisible ghost haunting the Hollywood archives.
