Moore’s ‘9/11’ is talk of the town
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CANNES, France — With the sound of soft waves lapping on the shore as background, bombastic director Michael Moore sat before hordes of international journalists and spectators and lobbed more fuel into the publicity fire surrounding his documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
Moore told the crowd that the film’s original financier, Icon Entertainment, pulled the plug on the project because Icon co-founder Mel Gibson was advised by a supporter of President George W. Bush, “Don’t expect any more invitations to the White House if you are going to finance this film.”
For the record:
12:00 a.m. May 22, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday May 22, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 66 words Type of Material: Correction
“Fahrenheit 9/11” -- An article about Michael Moore’s documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” in Monday’s Calendar section said Walt Disney Co. “until recently” intended to release the film. Although Miramax Films provided financing for the movie, neither Miramax nor its parent company, Disney, which have separate theatrical movie distribution operations, ever announced that either would distribute the film. Disney said that it never planned to distribute the film.
Gibson’s spokesman, Alan Nierob, quickly denied that Gibson ever received such a call or was asked to drop the film by a Bush backer. Although sources in Moore’s camp say Icon never gave an explanation for dropping the movie, a Gibson insider said Sunday the company just “didn’t want” the film. (Icon, however, will be distributing the film in Australia.)
Moore’s latest accusation, made during an interview with Variety editor Peter Bart, is only one in a series of provocative messages he has been delivering since his arrival at Cannes. Since then, the festival has turned into the Michael Moore show -- not unlike his visit here two years ago when he was promoting his documentary “Bowling for Columbine” by attacking the Bush administration.
On Saturday, he marched in solidarity with French workers picketing outside the Carlton hotel on the famous Boulevard La Croissette. Moore is also known for his corporate-America bashing, telling an audience at a directors panel that he was going to pull the curtain back on Disney, the company that until recently was going to distribute “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a documentary about reactions to the Sept. 11 attacks that screens here on Tuesday.
All this comes as Miramax and Disney are putting the finishing touches on a deal regarding the film, which Miramax intends to buy back from Disney. Disney decided to back out of distributing the film after company executives grew concerned about the movie’s political nature. Most observers say they doubted a studio with a conglomerate parent would touch the film because of its controversy, although Focus Features, one of the reported suitors, is owned by NBC Univer- sal.
Moore says half the movie is about the war in Iraq. Indeed, he says his crews were embedded with troops in Iraq but that the military was not aware the filming was for Moore. Some critics say Moore began speaking out now so his film would get more publicity in Cannes. Most of the stories about the Disney issue started appearing about a week before the Cannes film festival began.
Moore said Sunday that the media was either too “lazy” or “cynical” to get the story right. He said it came as a shock to him when, on April 23, Disney executives let Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein know that they would have to drop distribution. However, Disney maintains that its objections to the project date from a year ago.
“No filmmaker wants to hear six weeks before their film is to be released that they don’t have distribution,” he said. “I wanted Buena Vista to distribute this film. No filmmaker wants this publicity. I don’t like any of this.”
Miramax, which is owned by Disney, is now planning to sell the film to a different distributor. That deal is also being hammered out, with several prospective suitors, including Lions Gate Films, Focus Features and New Market Films. A deal is expected to be made by midweek.
Moore said one of the key negotiating points is that the film be released July 4. He said he doesn’t want the film to get pushed back until after the election in November.
“The potential of this film having an impact on the election is worse than [Bush supporters] thought,” he said.
Despite his recognized talent (“Bowling for Columbine” won an Oscar) or perhaps because of it, Moore has garnered a reputation in Hollywood as a headline-grabber and a difficult personality.
Said one distributor not vying for the picture: “The joke is, ‘How much money would it take to do business with Harvey and Michael Moore?’ ”
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