Michael & me
by Matthew Socey
An interview with filmmaker, author and roustabout Michael Moore
Academy Award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Michael Moore spoke at Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall on Oct. 13 to promote his new book, Dude, Where’s My Country? Next year, he’ll release his next film, Fahrenheit 9/11, which connects the Bush and the bin Laden families. Moore spoke with NUVO before his official press conference about his book, the Oscars, Arnold and Rush.
Michael Moore visited Clowes Hall last week in support of his new book, ‘Dude, Where’s My Country?’
You’ve written a best-selling book and won an Oscar. Have you been able to finally get American financing yet?
MICHAEL MOORE: (Laughs) No. It’s mostly French on the next movie, although HBO wants me to do something with them. To do something like TV Nation but without censorship.
NUVO: How many times have you violated the Patriot Act?
MOORE: A lot, I hope. (Laughs) I’m not on the No-Fly List, though. That’s what bummed me out. I go through the X-ray just like anyone else.
NUVO: Chapter One of Dude, Where’s My Country? seems like an outline for Fahrenheit 9/11, your next film.
MOORE: It is. I’m a writer first and so I collect my thoughts by writing and the visuals come later.
NUVO: This book has footnotes in it. How come?
MOORE: I had to put them in. This first chapter is so, so outrageous in what I’m essentially asking and charging. [Chapter one asks President Bush several questions about business relations with the bin Laden family and the Saudi royal family.] I felt that the readers insist that they know right away that this is coming from very reputable sources.
NUVO: Will this silence those who accuse you of staging things in your films?
MOORE: They’re not really accusing me of those things. These are just right-wing lunatics who hate my politics that are afraid to debate me on the politics. They make up things about my movies or my books. There are three teams of fact checkers who do my books and films before I put them out and I have two separate lawyers who go through it. It’s the only way I can avoid the hassle that I would have. Here I am on my fourth book. The total number of lawsuits against me? Zero. Four books, no lawsuits. I’m not talking about losing a suit. I’m talking about not even filed. Why? Because everything in there is solid, solid, solid.
NUVO: What about claims that you staged the bank scene in Bowling For Columbine?
MOORE: That’s a lie. That’s a complete lie. The scene in the bank, if you watch the movie, it’s so clearly real. Everything in that movie is exactly how I shot it. I put a thing on my Web site called Lies and Lying Liars Who Lie About Bowling For Columbine and you click on there. For instance, I got the outtakes from all the bank scenes. You can see everything as it went on. I got the bank stuff exactly as it happened. Anybody who says otherwise is libeling me.
NUVO: How about the criticism about bombarding Charlton Heston?
MOORE: I did bombard Heston, but what did you expect? What’s the problem with Heston? He was the head of the National Rifle Association, he’s not supposed to answer some questions? He invited me into his house. I didn’t trespass. He invited me in.
NUVO: Have you heard from Oprah or Wesley Clarke? [In his latest book, Moore suggests that both could defeat Bush in the next election.]
MOORE: I’ve heard from Wesley Clarke. He said, “Thank you,” and, “I loved Stupid White Men.” He said, “My wife made me read it.” When you hear that, you go, “Yeah, right.” So I test them. I asked, “What was your favorite chapter?” He goes, “Kill Whitey.” (Laughs). Whoa, a presidential candidate that would admit that? He said, “You were absolutely right. It is the cancer on our national soul and we have to deal with it.” I was impressed. I want to see the debate between The General and The Draft Dodger.
NUVO: Your reaction to Gov. Arnold?
MOORE: Recalls are good. It means there’s an angry electorate that wants to get off the couch and do something. When you have an angry mob with torches and clubs, there can be a lot of collateral damage. That’s why Bush stayed out of it. He didn’t want anything to do with it. If they can recall an elected official, imagine what they could do to him.
NUVO: Have you made a list of all the things you could buy for $87 billion?
MOORE: (Laughs) When he said that number, I thought, “You just lost the election.” You certainly won’t be able to start another war. Could you imagine him going on TV tonight, saying, “Let’s go to Iran. Oh, and I’ll need $187 billion”?
NUVO: How has the film community been to you, post Oscars?
MOORE: As great as they were to me before. There is nobody in the film community that booed me that night. Nobody. Those boos all came from someplace else. I’ve talked to many people like Meryl Streep and others who were out there. They said the same thing: “Where’s this noise coming from?” It came from somewhere in the balcony. Up in the balcony is where The Suits sit. The executives, the sponsors of the show. There were a handful that were mad at me. I have 45 seconds to say what I want to say. There were people there who wanted to prohibit me from saying what I was saying.
NUVO: Who’s the toughest person to debate on TV?
MOORE: Anyone who’s screaming. Anyone who wants to talk over you. I stay off those cable news shows now because you can’t hear even yourself let alone another person. Otherwise, anyone else is fair game. Some people won’t debate me. All those years on Politically Incorrect, Ann Coulter wouldn’t go on a show with me. I actually proposed to the publishers that this be a book tour of debates with various conservatives.
NUVO: Your outlook on the next election?
MOORE: Very good. Very positive. I think Bush is a goner and there’s good Democrats this time. There’s nobody like Gore running, other than Lieberman. All the rest have something good to offer.
NUVO: Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction?
MOORE: (Smiles) We know because we have the receipt. We sold them the weapons. I don’t know why we wasted time with weapons inspectors.
