Smith actually wrote Dogma when he was making his first feature film, the award-winning Clerks. "It started with me asking some questions about my own faith but the flick doesn't attempt to hold out answers to any of those questions. It's meant to make you laugh," he explains. With three films, Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy under his belt, the comic book loving director and writer decided the time was right to take a shot at bringing Dogma to the screen.

"Personally, I don't think I was mature enough to take it on until now," Smith continues. "Not that the subject matter is so mature — because it's really a flick that's as goofy as it is thoughtful — but I think taking it on earlier would have led to a far more adolescent film. I'm pretty much the least visual director around so making such a visual film was a stretch and I wanted this world to really pop".

Smith's producing partner Scott Mosier found the world his friend had created on the page irresistible, "This was a script that really did something different and new. It was peppered with so much fun and so many different questions. But it also had all those elements that make Kevin's movies so appealing", he says. The finished movie turned out to be even more than Mosier had hoped for, describing it as 'uncategorisable' he adds: "It has it's own tempo, it's own groove that's very different from anything else. Every time you think it's one thing — a fantasy, a comic journey, an inquiry into faith — it switches to another mood. The only thing you can do is let go and allow it to happen to you. If you try to say it's one thing or another, you're fighting the nature of the film".

To make Smith's most unusual film work however, both Smith and Mosier knew they had to cast some very special actors.

Once filming began Smith was convinced he had found them. "The commitment of the actors made me want to make a phenomenal flick because they were all taking a leap of faith in telling a story about a leap of faith," Smith says.

At the heart of that 'committed' cast are hot Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as the renegade fallen angels Bartleby and Loki. The two actors who took home the Oscar for the screenplay for Good Will Hunting had worked with Smith before — Affleck on Chasing Amy and Mallrats and Damon in a cameo also on Chasing Amy — and they proved to be everything Smith and Mosier were looking for.

Describing Affleck as 'the linchpin' of his film, Smith says, " No matter how much Ben's star rose during the making of this movie, he never lost his desire to make the film or his belief in it. Without Ben, I don't think I could have done this movie. He was there one hundred percent. He worked like a dog to bring something to this role he's never really ' brought to the screen before. I think his is the toughest job in the movie: he's a character who goes from one end of the spectrum to the other, and goes completely over the edge at one point."

There was no question in Smith's mind about who should play Affleck's partner in mystical mayhem — "Who else could have such great chemistry with Affleck? Matt took a leap and it really pays off. He took the opportunity to show off his comic side".

Mosier adds: Matt and Ben brought a real sense of fun to these characters. You get to see the more playful and mischievous side of Matt that's never really been seen before while Ben brings that sincerity and sort of tragic quality to Bartleby".

While Affleck and Damon were busy showing different sides to their talent on screen they both noted how different Dogma was from what they were used to seeing from Smith: "This is Kevin's first foray into making a real, whole movie with all of its components; it is his effects-laden, verbal trampoline Blockbuster in a way," says Armageddon star Affleck. "He has created a modern fantasy story, using familiar spiritual beings to forge this whole set of colourful characters on a mission. It's hip and cool and I think it has two great things going for it: on the one hand it's a chance to see an innovative, unusual filmmaker doing something groundbreaking. And on the other it's just plain funny, entertaining and vibrant".

His co-star Damon adds: "Dogma is a totally different animal from Kevin's other movies, a totally different look and feel. The only thing that remains the same is Kevin's sense of humour and his sensibility. When it comes to Kevin, I like to use the word irreverent but he comes at this subject with a lot of reverence. He takes us on some serious themes here in a fun and light way. It's a comic book story but to me it has a spiritual underpinning."

Smith's 'comic book with a spiritual underpinning' so captivated Men In Black star Linda Florintino, she fought long and hard to get the part of Bethany, the woman chosen to save the human race. "When I read the script, I just said there's no way anyone else is allowed to have this part. I thought it was extremely clever and it had very imaginative answers to all my childhood questions about angels and devils and the apostles and all that stuff," she says.

With Salma Hayek as a celestial being dancing in a strip joint; singer Alanis Morrisette as God; comedian Chris Rock as a foul-mouthed apostle; and Britain's own Alan Rickman as a Seraphim with spiky hair and a shiny suit, Dogma certainly is imaginative. Will it answer any of your questions about 'angels and all that stuff'? Well, you'll just have to take it home to find out.