Michael Moore on Fame, Non-Fiction Films, and "Fahrenheit 9/11"

Michael Moore on Fame, Non-Fiction Films, and "Fahrenheit 9/11": "When it opens tomorrow nationwide in 868 theaters, art-house Screens, and shopping mall megaplexes, Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' will mark the widest opening ever for a documentary film. (Of course, that's not counting the more than 2,000 screens that brought us MTV Films' non-fiction, reality fare 'Jackass: The Movie' and 'The Real Cancun'). The only other doc to open as widely also came from MTV: 'Tupac: Resurrection' debuted on 801 screens last November. Mentioning such titles in the same paragraph as 'Fahrenheit' seems fair, since Michael Moore's new film is a hybrid, mixing documentary techniques with the entertainment value of a reality TV show, or more precisely a satirical comedy cable news broadcast. Were it a straight doc about the war in Iraq and the Bush administration, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' wouldn't be debuting in more than 800 theaters.

'I make movies,' Moore told me plainly, when I asked him how he answers the critics who say his films are not documentaries. 'I don't write non-fiction books,' he continued, referring to his successful career as an author. 'I don't call it non-fiction, I call it a book.'

Moore spoke with indieWIRE during a lunchtime interview at the Majestic Hotel in Cannes back in May, just a few days after showing his film for the first time and days before winning the coveted Palme d'Or, the top award at the prestigious Festival de Cannes. The director, who drew large crowds of well-wishers and paparazzi everywhere he went along the Croisette, sat down with a small group of journalists to talk about his new film."

by Eugene Hernandez
indieWIRE