Columbine producer bowled over by Moore's rant

CBC.ca ^ | March 25th, 2003 | Kelly Connors

[Sabertooth]

Last Updated 2003-03-25

Kelly Connors, The Arts Report

Michael Moore

HALIFAX- The Canadian co-producer of Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary Bowling For Columbine said he was surprised the director launched into a strong diatribe against the Iraq war at Sunday's award ceremony.

Michael Donovan of Halifax's Salter Street Films said he knew Moore was planning to take a stand against the war on Iraq but was shocked at how vocal he was at the podium.

"He and I talked about it and my recommendation to him was that he take the high road and just be very congratulatory, etc., and talk about the troops abroad. But he decided not to," said Donovan, who joined Moore on the stage.

"You know, I don't know if it was the right thing. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But that's what he did."

Moore began his acceptance speech by saying: "We live in a time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president."

The crowd grew more hostile and began to jeer loudly as he continued.

"We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's for the fiction of duct tape or the fictions of orange alert. We are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you Mr. Bush."

Moore had invited his fellow nominees onto the stage with him.

"I'm not sure that a lot of them were happy once they got up there because I'm not sure they understood how strident he was going to be."

Salter Street Films is a subsidiary of Alliance Atlantis.

For more arts news, listen to The Arts Report weekdays at 7:12 a.m., 8:12 a.m. and 5:55 p.m. on CBC Radio Two.

[supercat]

During a rerun of the idiot's remarks somewhere, I noticed Harrison Ford in the audience. It was so funny, the look on his face. He didn't smile, he GRINNED ... and his grin said it all - not "bemused" but AMUSED contempt. I really laughed when I saw him do it.

What was the timing? Was he smiling at Moore's speech, or smiling at the fact that on a scale of 1 to 10 its crowd approval rating was negative twelve?

[RobFromGa]

I don't know about the fictitious sics either, but I do know that Moore said "fictitional duct tape" which was a mistake. The other uses of fictitious are correct as you point out, as far as my understanding od English.

"Fictitional" is wrong though and if Bush said it, it would be a big joke. Moore though gets it corrected in print everywhere I have seen.

[supercat]

...but I do know that Moore said "fictitional duct tape" which was a mistake.

Verbal gaffe, sure, though if I remember right it sounded as though he caught it mid-utterance. Many people make such semi-corrected gaffes, so I don't really fault Michael Moore for that. What most people don't do is make crazy and unwarranted attacks about the President in wartime.