Another Smith Sequel???

Hey guys, it's Donnie...So Kevin Smith has caught a lot of shit recently for making a sequel to Clerks. (Shooting wrapped November 18.) In fact, Smith has been waging an epic war with messageboard posters over at AICN. It's been entertaining to say the least. Anyway, someone recently asked the man if he would be willing to do a sequel to Dogma, and his response...well, take a look:

So weird you should ask this, because ever since 9/11, I
have been thinking about a sequel of sorts. I mean, the worst terrorist attack on American soil was religiously bent. In the wake of said attack, the leader of the "Free World" outed himself as pretty damned Christian. In the last election, rather than a quagmire war abroad, the big issue was whether or not gay marriage was moral.

Back when I made "Dogma", I always maintained that another movie about religion wouldn't be forthcoming, as "Dogma" was the product of 28 years of religious and spiritual meditation, and I'd kinda shot my wad on the subject. Now? I think I might have more to say.

And, yes - the Last Scion would be at the epicenter of it. And she'd have to be played by Alanis.

And we'd need a bigger budget - because the entire third act would be the Apocalypse.

Scary thing is this: the film would have to touch on Islam. And unlike the Cathloic League, when those cats don't like what you do, they issue a death warrant on yer ass (see Rushdie). And now that I've got a family, I'm not as free to stir the shit-pot as I was when I was single, back when I made "Dogma". I mean, now I've gotta think about more than my own safety and well-being.

But regardless - yeah, a "Dogma" followup's been swimming around in my head for some time now.

P.S. - Interesting "Dogma"-related sidebar: I recently received a glowing "Dogma"-praising email from a recent fan, who began his missive with "My name's Tom Clancy. I do books." It was surreal and really wonderful.

I gotta respect Smith. He really seems to be maturing away from just his mindless dick and fart jokes, all while maintaining his dick and fart joke sensibilities...whatever that means. Seriously, he's said repeatedly that Clerks 2 came about not because it would be easy to do and make a bunch of money, but because he really wanted to revisit the characters and see what happened to them once they hit their 30s. Jersey Girl is all about being a father. There's nothing better than watching a filmmaker grow and develop over time, and I think Smith is in the midst of a very interesting point in his life as a filmmaker.

Having been raised Catholic, I think that Dogma is a work of pure genius, so I would LOVE to see Smith's take on the extreme rise in religious zeal in the last six years. At the same time, if studios get nervous about Albert Brooks's Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World, just imagine their reactions to Kevin Smith's religious apocolypse movie. Right now I'm really curious to see the reactions to Clerks 2, which Smith assures us will probably drop the Passion Of The Clerks title by the time it hits theaters. Smith claims that, having watched more than half the movie in the editing process, this has become his favorite of his own movies, bumping Chasing Amy from the top slot. That's a big statement to make, especially considering how many people are already against him on this one. I really REALLY hope this works out for him. And I wouldn't mind Dogma 2 somewhere down the road...although, honestly, I'm not sure if I could take an entire movie of full of Alanis.