Religious rating
Kevin Smith is stoking the fires of controversy with his latest film Dogma, purportedly a satire on the Catholic church replete with "a foul-mouthed apostle, a discussion of whether Joseph and Mary had sex and a descendent of Jesus who happens to work in an abortion clinic." The cast is predictably star-studded, with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, Jason Mewes and (ahem) Alanis Morisette all on the billing. The writer/director's has the script on his own website www.newsaskew.com/dogmarc/script.html for those who "want to spoil the complete surprise", as Smith puts it.
The story of the film's US distribution is becoming increasingly complicated however. Miramax, Smith's studio of choice, originally bought Dogma, but now co-execs Bob and Harvey Weinstein are forming a separate corporation to purchase the film from their own studio, as an agreement signed with parent company Walt Disney prevents them releasing any NC-17 films (the equivalent of the British 18 rating). Once they've purchased Dogma (again), the Weinstein pair will then sell it to a third party for domestic distribution. The same clash of interests occurred with Larry Clark's Kids, which had to be released under Weinstein's previous sub-company, Shining Excalibur.
New attractions at King's Cross
Scala aficionados may already be aware that King's Cross's beloved rep cinema has recently undergone an exciting reincarnation. It isn't, alas, the Scala of old, but the all-new 'live music and film venue' has its own attractions: namely, regular film club nights, to be consumed on 'loose seating' of comfy sofas and floor cushions. Hop along there at 7pm tonight and for a rather pricey £8 you can sample the delights from established short film club Kentra. Among the line-up, we're told, is Manga, Boiling Point and Come Dancing.
The end of the word as we know it
Dire pun of the millennium has been unofficially awarded to Warner Bros, who've just unveiled their end-of-century marketing campaign, 'Mil-Looney-Um'. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird and friends are getting the futuristic once-over, just in time to cash in on the ever-lucrative Y2K.
Casting couch
Malcolm McDowell is having a busy (and diverse) year: he'll be donning wizard robes in the English-language remake of Les Visiteurs, co-written by John Hughes (yes, he of Breakfast Club fame) and will then be taking the lead in FilmFour's Gangster No. 1. Paul 'The Acid House' McGuigan is to direct this latest British gangster flick which begins shooting next month.
