Republican spoof film makes less of Moore

Boston Herald ^ | 10/27/04 | Dean Johnson

[kattracks]

Republicans have an answer to Michael Moore's popular Bush-bashing flick ``Fahrenheit 9/11,'' and they're staging an all-out blitz this week to get people to see it.
     ``Celsius 41.11 - The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die'' is a 75-minute film that ``debunks the lies and propaganda'' of the Moore-made flick, according to its maker, Citizens United.
     Even the new movie's title is ``a spoof'' of Moore's work, according to CU President David Bossie, also the film's executive producer. ``We think his film brings out the worst in people and that it brought the political debate in America down, and we try to lift it back up with this film,'' Bossie said. Citizens United is a conservative grassroots group, but there is nothing conservative about the way it is marketing the new flick.
     The R-rated work is now at Loews Copley Place and is due to open Friday in more than 100 theaters spread across 50 markets. It's also available this week on DVD at several major chains, including Best Buy, Tower Records, Strawberries, Barnes & Noble and Borders for $21.99.
     ``Along with our ability to do a national campaign with newspaper ads and television commercials, which we've done, we also wanted to do a more grassroots operation because a word-of-mouth campaign for a movie is very powerful,'' Bossie said.
     So the group also made 4 million automated phone calls from Ohio this week to selected homes throughout the country, including the Bay State, ``to educate people that the film is out there.''
     Another 3 million people were contacted by e-mail, Bossie said, and the East Boston native added his group focused the calls and e-mails on areas where the movie will be playing, though special attention was given to so-called ``battleground states'' such as Florida, Ohio, Iowa and New Mexico.
     ``We did not do this film simply for commercial reasons, but to have an impact on the political process.''

[BellStar]

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