John Rhys-Davies slams Michael Moore (and France!)

MSNBC ^ | May 18, 2004 | Joe Scarborough

[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 13^th 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]

[TheDon]

"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."

Bingo! Many other nations are guilty of the same, for the same reason.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Penn Jillette, is this nothing more than a paid political advertisement for the Democratic Party in America? ***

Maybe Moore could get his film on Air America-If AA is still around, since both are essentially paid political infomertials.

For those of you who are slow, Air America is radio, Moore's film is, well, a film! Would anyone notice?

[weegee]

For the record, is there any report as to what French audiences thought when Triumph Of The Will premiered?

[weegee]

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.

I've been saying that the rest of the world like Michael Moore because he is the face of the new Ugly American.

He's deceitful, has bad personal hygiene, he's rich adn hypocritical, he's morbidly obese, he's a loudmouth, etc.

[Mich0127]

A list of GOP backing actors would be fab...and let us all not forget Jessica Simpson!

[SuziQ]

Oh, it's much worse than that:

LOL!! And they're BOTH Senators!!

[Freemyland]

"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."

That's what I recall also.

[sheik yerbouty]

The one on the right looks like Henry Gibson.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Whatever one's assessment or opinion of the war, the great farce of glib anti-Americanism at the Cannes Film Festival is that the French and other Europeans at the festival never really ever get to know American culture in its many realities because of the very narrow field of cultural vision of the Hollywood Left. Hollywood panders to crass banality, bad taste, and images of American society reflecting bad taste, stupidity, and shallow values. Even on the level of the physical beauty of actresses, you can meet more beautiful women in almost any bar than are exhibited by the vapid Kultur vampires of Hollywood.

Thanks to Hollywood and the liberal media, the rich character and complexity of American culture and of Americans never reaches places like France. What a tragedy, that so much money and advertizing is focused on not presenting the most talented and creative of American society. They are never represented in Hollywood. This is the great scandal of the American Film industry. Liberal dorks in Hollywood distort the cultural image of Americans.

[Havisham]

Every time I see John Rhys-Davies he gets sexier.

[Hildy]

Penn has changed. However, if you ever get the chance, see his show on PETA. Penn and Teller have this new show on HBO. The first episode was just a slap at PETA, showing how hypocritical and dangerous they really are. And, of course, who they really are. It was great.

[Vic3O3]

Good one! You gotta love Rhys-Davies!

[CharlieOK1]

read tomorrow...

[Charles Martel]

For the record, is there any report as to what French audiences thought when Triumph Of The Will premiered?

A written record of what the French thought of that film would be tough to find - though I'll bet the French restauranteurs responded by laying in a good supply of sausages and beer.

[sushiman]

ping

[BillyBoy]

>> Penn Jillette is a Libertarian, not a liberal. <<

I watched the MSN program and Penn said that personally he really did not like Bush or his policies, but Moore was SUCH an lowbrow obnoxious jerk that everytime he saw the guy he had a urge to choke the daylighs out Moore and felt himself moving "way to the right" whenever Moore starts yammering.

So I say, keep up the good work Mikey!

[Destro]

Penn Jillette is a Libertarian not a Liberal.

[Destro]

The show is not on HBO it is on Showtime and the name of the show is BULLSHIT! Penn has not changed - he was always a Libertarian and atheist and a good advocate for being those things, too.

[Hildy]

Yes, that is the one. I'm sorry about the HBO/SHOWTIME mix-up.

[Destro]

Few Libertarians like Bush or his policies - can't say I blame them from a Libertarians point of view.