Disney block distribution of Michael Moores new movie

hahaha... Free Country indeed...

Published on May 6, 2004 By Muggaz In Politics

May 5, 2004

Friends,

I would have hoped by now that I would be able to put my work out to the public without having to experience the profound censorship obstacles I often seem to encounter.

Yesterday I was told that Disney, the studio that owns Miramax, has officially decided to prohibit our producer, Miramax, from distributing my new film, "Fahrenheit 911." The reason? According to today's (May 5) New York Times, it might "endanger" millions of dollars of tax breaks Disney receives from the state of Florida because the film will "anger" the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush. The story is on page one of the Times and you can read it here (Disney Forbidding Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush).

The whole story behind this (and other attempts) to kill our movie will be told in more detail as the days and weeks go on. For nearly a year, this struggle has been a lesson in just how difficult it is in this country to create a piece of art that might upset those in charge (well, OK, sorry -- it WILL upset them...big time. Did I mention it's a comedy?). All I can say is, thank God for Harvey Weinstein and Miramax who have stood by me during the entire production of this movie.

There is much more to tell, but right now I am in the lab working on the print to take to the Cannes Film Festival next week (we have been chosen as one of the 18 films in competition). I will tell you this: Some people may be afraid of this movie because of what it will show. But there's nothing they can do about it now because it's done, it's awesome, and if I have anything to say about it, you'll see it this summer -- because, after all, it is a free country.

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

Comments (Page 3)

kingbee

on May 07, 2004

one of disneys 'angels' is prince al-walid ibn talal ibn abdulaziz sa'ud--a member of the saudi royal family--who has help bail out eurodisney twice in the past 10 years. the prince also used his influence and resources to defuse an arab league boycott of disney products to protest an exhibit that was created by disney in association with the state of israel that allegedly indicated jerusalem was the capital of israel.

moore's film doesnt portray the saudi royal family in a very positive light.

disney gutted the abc news organization (which paid off well for cnn) and pulled the plug on bill mahr based on a joke that was interntionally misperceived.

i was for a time a consultant to the pub/promo depts of several of the major studios. no release is ever guaranteed nor irrevocably "dead"; its a life-imitates-art situation in which the art being imitated is the halloween/friday 13th film genre

Saint Ying

on May 07, 2004

Moore truly is an obnoxious, left wing zealot with an inflated ego and a larger than life persona... and he's awesome. Documentaries? Absolutely, they are documentaries in tone and style, even if Moore takes liberties to create certain scenarios and drive in his points. Perhaps more accurately they are provocumentaries. They are funny and entertaining. They are thoughtful and very skillfully arranged and edited. And of course they give the appearance of Moore being courageous, and perhaps he is indeed. Just because he flaunts those qualities doesn't mean he doesn't really have them.

The right has the same type of 'infotainment' personas in its talk radio. Naturally, the right excuses them, and all their vitriol and inaccuracies, while lambasting Michael Moore. Moore's position is that he doesn't need to take the higher road, doesn't need to be less manipulative or provocative, because as left-winger, his priorities are in the right place, whereas conservatives have wrong priorities. There's nothing inherently wrong in that. The right alienates the left, and the left alienates the right. Eventually they'll all kill each other. We can be thankful, that unlike most democrats, Moore isn't gonna sit around and let the right wing media zealots of Fox News and talk radio do their thing without spitting his own venom.

BTW, I'm a much bigger fan of Greg Palast and Jim Hightower than Michael Moore, but Moore's the one making the movies. That doesn't mean I religiously follow what he says. His movies are light indulgences for the more serious liberal mind. They are no substitute for comprehensive journalism.

Re: Bush and the Saudis, this stuff isn't a bunch of lies. The connections are real. Lets see what Moore does with it before we judge his movie as being without factual basis.

Corio

on May 07, 2004

Bah, we don't live in a democracy, and we never have. We live in a republic based on democratic principles. And we have always lived in a world of censored and tightly controlled media and will continue to do

Ain't that the truth...

Corio

on May 07, 2004

I'm real glad I live in a free country.

Mr_Frog

on May 07, 2004

The right alienates the left, and the left alienates the right.

So, that means since I'm on top I can alienate everyone?

-- B

Saint Ying

on May 07, 2004

So, that means since I'm on top I can alienate everyone?

As long as you are right, you can alienate everyone else. Since the left is right, and the right is wrong, the left is perfectly justified in alienating the right.

Frogboy

on May 07, 2004

I personally get tired of seeing people scream "censorship" when their favorite pet cause doesn't get paid lots of money to spew their distorted messages of hate.

Michael Moore is certainly free take his movie to some other studio. But there's no reason why Disney should be forced to put out something they think will damage their company financially or in terms of reputation.

messybuu

on May 07, 2004

I wonder if these people cry censorship with a pilot episode of a new sitcom is never aired or when a song a band makes is never released on CD. After all, these too are examples of corporations like Disney choosing not to release everything that's made.

Mr_Frog

on May 07, 2004

Like I said...

In...ter....net. That way, no one can stop the distribution. Bet it'd piss Disney off something firece.

-- B

PacDragon

on May 07, 2004

Moore has known for a year that Disney wasn't going to distribute this movie. Why is everyone crying censorship? One would think a studio is free to distribute /whatever they want/.

I have a multi-player, text based, pirate game a couple friends and I wrote. Atari won't publish it, of course. They're censoring me! It must be a devious anti-pirate game conspiracy, to increase Sid Meir's profits when he releases his pirate game next year. Help, help, I'm being oppressed!

Muggaz

on May 07, 2004

What I like about Moore though is that you he is really good at attracting know-nothing anti-American foolbots and getting them to clap their hands seal-like. It enables the rest of us (known as normal people) to discount their opinions on issues Moore covers from then on.

Whatever Brad...

I cant beleive you guys would discount someones opinions just because Moore covered it...

No one denies he sensationalizes! but to completely discount anything he portrays in his films... *shudder*

BAM!!!

Saint Ying

on May 07, 2004

Nobody's calling what Disney has done censorship... It simply is not. However, we can't deny that it's cowardly either, especially considering that F911 will in all likelihood be a fairly profitable film. They're putting political economic considerations over standard product-profit based decisions. This is not a violation of anyone's free speach, but it is a good reason to practice 'consumer democracy' and avoid Disney products if you disagree with it on principle. Whatever the case, the film will be released and anyone who wants to see it will get that chance.

What is censorship, as far as I'm concerned, is Sinclair Broadcasting's decision not to show the Nightline program honoring dead soldiers. This decision was 100% political and done with the intent of preventing viewers from being exposed to a very grim reminder. They must not have much faith in the American people's willingness to follow this war to the end. Perhaps they're right. Still, very cowardly move on their part. Fox, ClearChannel, and Sinclair ARE the conservative media in many respects, and they go much farther towards their end (and receive much more for their efforts in the way of deregulation) than anyone on the other side does. I was watching Bill Moyers tonight, and he played a 15 second clip from Rush Limbaugh talking about the abuse cases. He basically said, laughingly and jokingly, that the soldiers were just letting off some steam and having some fun, like Skull and Bones frat boys. I might have said the same thing, but in a very cynical, not celebrating context, and hearing Rush Limbaugh talk was just about the most disgusting thing in the media to come out of this scandal, as far as I'm concerned. After hearing that, I can't help but appologize to Michael Moore for saying that he's the left wing equivalent of right wing radio. He's simply a more moral and honorable individual.

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