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 ...
Once again, JRD Rules.
Dan
I like Sam Elliot-always have. But I can't understand why Elliot and Gary Oldman-both admitted Republicans-were in that putrid piece of liberal propaganda "The Contender". Guess they were well-compensated...
Not what he said last night on Scarborough country...hbe said right out loud that he was there because he is a long haried entertainer who is a republican....
I heard Rudy Giuliani and John Rhys-Davies today. Just when I feel overwhelmed by my pessimism, I'm reminded that even if there were nothing else in the world worth fighting for, just the honor of standing shoulder to shoulder with some men is worth dying for.
LOL. That is a perfect 100 Mega Watt ZAP.
Read later.
What I really admire about Sam Elliot is the way he throws himself into a role. The guy actually looks like a cowboy, for goodness sake!
What more can you ask for from an actor?
Bump for JRD/Gimli, a lion amongst Durin's Folk!
Christopher Hitchens commenting on Micheal Moore:
HITCHENS: 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.
Ohhhh, that's so good...
Lara Flynn Boyle a Bush backer? Who'd a thunk it.
ping to #49 - that one's gonna leave a mark.
If I recall correctly, the script changed on them after it was too late for them to back out. I do know that Oldman was very very pissed about it, and refused to do any interviews or marketing for the film.
I posted the review last night here is the link
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138201/posts
Maybe I am being pedantic but Penn was speaking in past tense when he said that which leads me to believe that he no longer feels that way about Bush and Iraq.
BUMP!!! Some more GOP actors, e.g. Laura Flynn Boyle?!?!?! Gary Oldman?!?!?!
I knew Gary Oldman was but not Lara Flyn Boyle.
bump^
I'll give the thread a big JRD BUMP!!
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