SPEAKER: Michael Moore; Mike Paul, of MGP &
Associates in New York
Reuters
June 24, 2004
REUTERS TV INTERVIEW - DURATION: 2:32
Filmmaker Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 offers a new kind of political tool
in the race for the White House.
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Surrounded by Democratic lawmakers, filmmaker Michael Moore went to Capitol Hill Thursday to talk about his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.
"It's a film about the last four years presenting the truth about the Bush Administration that we believe the media has not presented to the American people," Moore said.
The film - opening Friday - has been roundly criticized by many Republicans as anti-Bush propaganda. It landed a national distributor -Lions Gate Films -- only after the Disney refused to allow its Miramax arm to handle it.
Moore made it clear that he wants to use the movie to recruit voters who are currently underrepresented in the corridors of power. "Two thirds of the country don't look like me. The America we live in is 62 percent female, African American, Hispanic...That's the base that's got to come out. That's where the power is."
With the race for the White House still a dead heat, Moore's movie represents a new kind of political tool.
"It is like a political campaign commercial that's been made into a movie. Not only shown nationally, but around the world. What this is is a new genre," said Mike Paul of MGP & Associates in New York.
And while some citizens may not want to attend a campaign event, they will go to the movies.
"I think its something that gets to the layman. Many people are on the fence right now in terms of the Presidential campaign. before the debates before the conventions to have a movie like this is going to be very damaging," said Paul.
