Movie preservation can be a bit of a pain, especially when the rights of a particular title are entangled in a complicated web. So when something like Kevin Smith’s Dogma makes a glorious return on the 2025 movie schedule, it’s something to celebrate.
But we can’t give Mr. Smith all of the credit, as his quest to snare the film back from producer Harvey Weinstein was largely unsuccessful. Even the man himself recently admitted that without the help of one dedicated woman, this 26-year-old gem could have remain buried.
How Alessandra Williams Became ‘The Guardian Angel Of Dogma’
The story of how Dogma was won back to the side of the angels starts around the same time Kevin Smith tried to recover the picture. As we sat down to promote the Linda Fiorentino-led ensemble’s return to theaters, the Clerks mastermind took me back to five years ago, a point where he saw his requests to purchase the rights back rejected.
However, as Smith told CinemaBlend, it seems that Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse cases were the key to buying back Dogma. And while Williams isn't exactly the God we saw Alanis Morissette play in the picture, she did seize the following opportunity in Harvey Weinstein's ever present legal woes to make it happen:
This is the nearest I can figure, and, and I know this because of Alessandra Williams who saved the movie, she's the guardian angel of Dogma, if you will. She reached out at a time when I reached out. … And so Alessandra made an approach through his lawyer, when I guess he knew he was going back into court and needed money.
Which, in turn, led to the actual acquisition of Dogma and some similarly controversial siblings cast off by Miramax. Continuing that story in our interview, Kevin Smith shared the final leg of this picture’s journey to the light thusly:
So he liquidated all of his personal assets, which included a tranche of films that the company she oversees bought. … He needed to liquidate that, and he sold it off. … They've never told me what they bought the entire tranche of films for, but apparently it was more than we were offering for the one movie. … Then we made sure to [do] due diligence, to make sure this dude ain't connected, there's no backdoor, or anything like that. Once we saw it was on the up and up, it was like, ‘Oh my God, she did it! She saved the movie.’
Dogma’s unique distribution history was one that other pictures that originated in the Miramax stable had shared. In fact, Alessandra Williams apparently also purchased the rights to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, as well as Larry Clark’s Kids; both of which were sold off to other companies, as they were deemed too hot for any Disney-related company to touch.
But even the sheer will to acquire these titles wasn’t enough, as again Harvey Weinstein rebuffed Kevin Smith’s previous efforts to bring Dogma home. And that ties into something we should all take away from this tale of defeating the red tape of messy film acquisitions, through the power of fandom.
To Kevin Smith, Alessandra Williams’ Help Freeing Dogma Hammered Home An Important Message
As Mr. Smith kept telling the tale of this religious comedy’s time in purgatory, he threw out the fact that he offered up to $1 million to purchase his catalog title back. But alas, all offers were rebuffed by Team Weinstein, which ultimately left the New Jersey born filmmaker without hope.
Now, if the story ended there, we wouldn't be asking what the hold up is with that hypothetical Buddy Christ popcorn bucket Kevin Smith mentioned previously. However, faith did move in mysterious ways with Dogma’s current fate; as exhibited in this conclusion:
I'm only getting to do all this 'cause of her man. And the lesson here, kids, is that you never know where help's gonna come from. I did not know Alessandra until eight months ago, and she was not involved in Dogma, had no connection to any of the players involved, and still found a path to freeing the movie, man. So I think she is one of the most powerful manifesters I've ever met in my life. If you're trying to make a movie, hook up with this lady.
So there you have it. Sometimes, it’s more about who you don’t know in this industry that saves a picture like Dogma. That saving grace comes from the fact that Alessandra Williams is someone who, at the end of the day, resembles the audience she’s helped reunite with this 1999 classic.
Just like those present at Dogma's Cannes screening this summer, she’s a fan of Kevin Smith’s antics, and she couldn’t allow his holy testament of high snark stay in the shadows. Thus endeth the lesson, which frees us all up to go see Dogma’s 25th anniversary restoration, which is currently showing in theaters.
Until we meet again, which is hopefully for the hypothetical release of Dogma 2, remember that even show business makes mistakes. So we should be thankful that people like Ms. Williams are around to help correct them in the name of the fans.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
