Posted on 05/19/2004 11:48:48 AM PDT by Gelato
SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, May 18th
[snip]
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Michael Moore is the toast of the town at the Cannes Film Festival this week. According to the BBC, Moore‘s anti-war flick may be the odds-on favorite to win the top prize, the first time for a so-called documentary since 1956. It seems the French have fallen in love with Michael Moore. But how will American audiences react to this controversial film?
With me now is John Rhys-Davies. He‘s, of course, an actor from the blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.” We also have Dana Kennedy. She‘s MSNBC entertainment editor. And back with me again is Penn and Teller‘s Penn Jillette.
[snip]
SCARBOROUGH: John Rhys-Davies, what do you think about Michael Moore being praised AT Cannes, AS it appears that they‘re probably going to name him the top filmmaker for this year‘s ceremonies?
JOHN RHYS-DAVIES, ACTOR: Well, you see, the French have a lot of problems internally. And the one unifying factor that they can find in their society is to bash America.
So don‘t be surprised by anything the French do. Their society is so troubled and it‘s about 24, 25 years away from major civil war. So you can discount most of what they do.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, what does it—how does it make you feel as an actor to have this guy coming in—you can‘t even call it a documentary, if you look at what he did with “Bowling for Columbine”—and actually having them elevate this sort of class clown above all the other producers, all the other actors, all the other screenwriters from all over the world just to make a political statement that bashes America?
RHYS-DAVIES: Well, the truth of the matter is there is no—virtue is never rewarded in the world anyway. You must know that. So don‘t be naive enough to expect it to be.
He has made a documentary party political board broadcast for his political viewpoint. That‘s perfectly fair and perfectly legitimate. My beef with him would be this, that, when you knock America, you run a real danger that you will change the perception of the world that the world has of America. Right at the moment, the Americans are doing something very, very important and I believe very virtuous.
The notion that we could take Iraq, for instance, which has a strong middle class, and turn it right in the middle of Arabia and turn it into a functioning democratic capitalist society and use that to galvanize the rest of the Arab world out of the 13th century is a virtuous vision. And you could disagree with the tactics of it or not, but the vision is admirable. And not to see that is deplorable.
Moore is making a fortune out of his anti-Americanism. And I don‘t blame the guy for making a buck, but he‘s not serious.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: He certainly is not serious. And I want to read you what “The Hollywood Reporter” said. They‘re not backing the movie again. And this is their review—quote—“In ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,‘ Michael Moore drops any pretense that he is a documentarian to pull together from many sources an angry polemic against the president, the Bush family and the administration‘s foreign policy.”
Penn Jillette, is this nothing more than a paid political advertisement for the Democratic Party in America?
JILLETTE: Yes, I think that it might be that.
[snip]
JILLETTE: So if I have a conspiracy to go with, I‘m going to go with Michael Moore is just trying to make Bush look really, really good.
SCARBOROUGH: All right, we‘ll have to leave it there. Penn Jillette, like to thank you, John Rhys-Davies and Dana Kennedy for being with us.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
(Take a look a the full segment in the transcript. The Penn Jillette comments were surprising. For representing the liberal side, he sure didn't do Moore any favors.)
I love this guy. Speaks straight up. No PCBS.
And Virtue is its own reward. :)
Penn Jillette is a Libertarian, not a liberal.
This dwarf is a giant. Actually, he's really 6'1". Still a giant.
From what I've heard, Michale Moore and the "hate Bush" nonsense has Penn of Penn and Teller leaning towards Dubya.
Even if they agree with him politically, most people in Hollywood view Moore as a repulsive, self-serving cynic and publicity hound.
Not to mention, Sam Elliot, Rovert Duvall, and my own personal favorite, James Woods!
You forgot the best quote on the show last night from Hitchens
HITCHENS: It‘s a very crass decision taken by some very inelegant people.
LYONS: Absolutely.
HITCHENS: (on Michael Moore) But speaking here in my capacity as a polished, sophisticated European as well, it seems to me the laugh here is on the polished, sophisticated Europeans. They think Americans are fat, vulgar, greedy, stupid, ambitious and ignorant and so on. And they‘ve taken as their own, as their representative American someone who actually embodies all of those qualities.
In the show last night he said he wasnt liberal.Its in the transcript.
And please ping the Hobbity/elven/dwarven suspects ....
Sallah PING!
Penn Jillette is a Libertarian.
Amen!
dwarf ping!
Leftist or not, when Christopher Hitchens gets ahold of one he belts it out of the park. All things considered, though I often disagree with Hitchens, he is my favorite talking head.
Go Gimli, GO! Very dangerous over short distances!
While you're at it, Salla, go whack Indy when he's got his back turned...
I also think he said he didn't like George W. Bush, either.
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