1 of 3 | Kevin Smith (L), pictured at a hand and footprint ceremony with Jason Mewes in 2019, told UPI he has become a "lapsed Catholic" in the 25 years since writing, directing and starring in religious comedy "Dogma." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Filmmaker Kevin Smith's once-devout Catholic faith has "lapsed" in the 25 years since he made religious comedy Dogma, but his love for the film hasn't changed.
Smith, 55, best known for his "Askewniverse" films including Dogma, Mallrats and Clerks trilogy, was an observant Catholic when he wrote, directed and starred in 1999's Dogma, the story of two exiled angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) who put all of creation at risk in their scheme to get back into heaven.
"The kid who wrote and directed Dogma believed in everything you see in that movie," Smith told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Like, that's not Christian mythology to him. That's what happened. That's the faith he was raised in, it was the stories he was told as a kid."
Smith, who plays Silent Bob in Dogma and the rest of the Askewniverse films, said he now looks back on the making of Dogma as "the beginning of the end" of his faith. He compared the waning days of his faith in Catholicism to a failing marriage.
