Disney Forbids Distribution of Moore Film

There was no admission of lying but that the final decision was made and the agent was given the reasons for not wishing to distribute the film:

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/06/moore.disney/

I don't really see anything funny about a company like Disney being so scared of the Bush family that they decided not to release this movie. Love Moore or hate him, "Bush fear" (or FCC fear) is rampant in the entertainment industry right now, and that, IMO, is a real issue that deserves addressing.

My suspicion is they fear having to pay their fair share of taxes in Florida.

I don't know about Moore implicating his agent in divulging this information about the Florida taxes but we'll have to see how it infolds before we know if it is a fabrication. I seriously doubt it considering how politics works in its machiavellian process.

Saying he knew a year before doesn't make it a fabrication -- the film hadn't gained any notoriety until its nomination at Cannes and the premier. I'll practically guarantee it appeared somewhere in the trades but wasn't considered a big news item by the major media. I wouldn't doubt that Moore could have played that up no more than I have no doubt Mel Gibson who knew that Passion plays were considered anti-semitic even by the Catholic church a year before he previewed his film. There's been a suspicion he purposefully leaked out the controversy. Although it's possible in both cases, I wonder if we will ever know if that's what occurred. Moore and Gibson are smart guys and both have had problems in distributing their films. In fact, Gibson was told by studios and distributors at least a year before that no matter what anyone thinks Passion plays are too controversial, and because of the origins of the script relying on the nun Emmerich (known as a virulent anti-semitic) texts, they were reluctant to distribute the film.

Moore will get distribution and Mel will go on to use his gains to make "Mad Max III." (Will "Mad Max" find faith in the turmoil of the future? ).

MICHAEL MOORE ADMITS DISNEY 'BAN' A STUNT

Filmmaker and waste of oxygen Michael Moore has admitted that he lied about Disney recently refusing to distribute his film. Anyone surprised? I didn't think so. Turns out there was no recent decision on the part of Disney to not put out his partisan, Bush-bashing picture....he was told over a year ago it wasn't going to happen. So much for the cries of censorship. Think the media will retract their stories? Of course not.

Moore admitted during an interview with CNN that he knew a long time ago Disney wasn't going to release it. This after he wrote a letter to his supporters saying he only found out Monday. So, he lied. Nothing new here...Michael Moore has been lying for years. Will the mainstream media call him on it?

Disney should sue him after that little publicity stunt. Why does anyone take this guy seriously?





sly? He's a f'ing liar.

Moore didn't admit on CNN that it was a stunt -- that's how the right media is characterzing it. Where's this letter to his supporters and does it actually say he just found out? I think this is a knee-jerk reaction from those who fear Michael Moore.

(So let Disney sue him if it is actually true).

Moore is getting more than his intended benefit from his stunt; he's getting the congress involved in whether corporations can censure movies. I personally make no judgement about the whys and wherefores; but this discussion reveals how people will interpret any issue from their own perspectives even when not fully informed.

The letter I read, if it is the one in question, said that Disney had officially bowed out from distributing the film. Unless someone has a link to any official statement by Disney a year ago, this one is in limbo and just being used as fodder for those envious of Moore's success.

There's a button in the reply tool box to turn further text on this matter to green.

Jealous of his success? Don't think so. Sickened by his perversion of the facts involving Columbine and 9/11. Definately but hey, the green will still work.

Lightwizard,

Here's a copy of Moore's letter to subscribers that landed in my mailbox:

Link

Someone will show his film just so they can get some money out of the deal. But speaking of speech that can't be heard, just try to find a National Rifle Association advertisment on any TV or radio channel.

Those who take Moore's high charged political comedy by the letter are finding they are looking at facts as only having one final truth. Facts can be arranged in many ways to support a falsehood for some or they can reveal the truth for some. It's up to each invidual to decide if Moore is getting to the truth instead of trying to fruitlessly pick at what they believe are discrepancies and then inadequately try to convince that they are using logical scientific analysis. That's the same method the nutcase who claims we never went to the moon used to deceive (that he is also deceiving himself almost becomes a moot point).
I've looked at all these amateur sites that try to rebuke Moore's conclusion and they are inconclusive. That they are so adament brings me to believe that they protesteth too much.

If this is an all out comedy of errors genre of satirical comedy I could find it both entertaining and enlightening even if I am sometimes skeptical of Moore's tactics.

Whether you want to believe Moore pulled off a promotional stunt or not, it's without a doubt like everything else he touches that it will make money.

I guess it depends upon how one defines the word "is."

take yer pick.


link to the above - don't follow the link unless you love pop-ups ...

When You Wish Upon A Star... by Michael Moore
May 7th, 2004

Friends,

Thank you for all the incredible letters of support as my film crew and I once again slog our way through the corporate media madhouse. Does it ever end? Are we ever going to get control of our "free press" again? Can you wish upon a star?

The Disney spin machine has been working overtime dealing with this censorship debacle of theirs. I don't think they thought they would ever be outed. After all, they know that all of us are supposed to adhere to the unwritten Hollywood Code: Never tell the public how business is done here, never let them have a peek at the man behind the curtain.

Disney has been hoping for nearly a year that they could keep this thing quiet. As I promised on Wednesday, here are the details behind my sordid adventure with the Magic Kingdom:

In April of 2003, I signed a deal with Miramax, a division of the Walt Disney Co., to finance and distribute my next movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. (The original financier had backed out; I will tell that story at a later date.) In my contract it is stated that Miramax will distribute my film in the U.S. through Disney's distribution arm, Buena Vista Distribution. It also gives Miramax the rights to distribute and sell the movie around the world.

A month later, after shooting started, Michael Eisner insisted on meeting with my agent, Ari Emanuel. Eisner was furious that Miramax signed this deal with me. According to Mr. Emanuel, Eisner said he would never let my film be distributed through Disney even though Mr. Eisner had not seen any footage or even read the outline of the film. Eisner told my agent that he did not want to anger Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida. The movie, he believed, would complicate an already complicated situation with current and future Disney projects in Florida, and that many millions of dollars of tax breaks and incentives were at stake.

But Michael Eisner did not call Miramax and tell them to stop my film. Not only that, for the next year, SIX MILLION dollars of DISNEY money continued to flow into the production of making my movie. Miramax assured me that there were no distribution problems with my film.

But then, a few weeks ago when Fahrenheit 9/11 was selected to be in the Cannes Film Festival, Disney sent a low-level production executive to New York to watch the film (to this day, Michael Eisner has not seen the film). This exec was enthusiastic throughout the viewing. He laughed, he cried and at the end he thanked us. "This film is explosive," he exclaimed, and we took that as a positive sign. But "explosive" for these guys is only a good word when it comes to blowing up things in movies. OUR kind of "explosive" is what they want to run from as fast as they can.

Miramax did their best to convince Disney to go ahead as planned with our film. Disney contractually can only stop Miramax from releasing a film if it has received an NC-17 rating (ours will be rated PG-13 or R).

According to yesterday's New York Times, the issue of whether to release Fahrenheit 9/11 was discussed at Disney's board meeting last week. It was decided that Disney should not distribute our movie.

Earlier this week we got the final, official call: Disney will not put out Fahrenheit 9/11. When the story broke in the New York Times, Disney, instead of telling the truth, turned into Pinocchio.

Here are my favorite nuggets that have come out of the mouths of their spinmeisters (roughly quoted):

"Michael Moore has known for a year that we will not distribute this movie, so this is not news." Yes, that is what I thought, too, except Disney kept sending us all that money to make the movie. Miramax said there was no problem. I got the idea that everything was fine.

"It is not in the best interests of our company to distribute a partisan political film that may offend some of our customers." Hmmm. Disney doesn't distribute work that has partisan politics? Disney distributes and syndicates the Sean Hannity radio show every day? I get to listen to Rush Limbaugh every day on Disney-owned WABC. I also seem to remember that Disney distributed a very partisan political movie during a Congressional election year, 1998?-a film called The Big One... by, um... ME!

"Fahrenheit 9/11 is not the Disney brand; we put out family oriented films." So true. That's why the #1 Disney film in theaters right now is a film called, KILL BILL, VOL. 2. This excellent Miramax film, along with other classics like Pulp Fiction, have all been distributed by Disney. That's why Miramax exists -- to provide an ALTERNATIVE to the usual Disney fare. And, unless they were NC-17, Disney has distributed them.

"Mr. Moore is doing this as a publicity stunt." Michael Eisner reportedly said this the other day while he was at a publicity stunt cutting the ribbon for the new "Tower of Terror" ride (what a pleasant name considering what the country has gone through recently) at Disney's California Adventure Park. Let me tell you something: NO filmmaker wants to go through this kind of controversy. It does NOT sell tickets (I can cite many examples of movies who have had to change distributors at the last minute and all have failed). I made this movie so people could see it as soon as possible. This is a huge and unwanted distraction. I want people discussing the issues raised in my film, not some inside Hollywood fracas surrounding who is going to ship the prints to the theaters. Plus, I think it is fairly safe to say that Fahrenheit 9/11 has a good chance of doing just fine, considering that my last movie set a box office record and the subject matter (Bush, the War on Terror, the War in Iraq) is at the forefront of most people's minds.

So what will happen to my movie? I still don't know. What I do know is that I will make sure all of you see it by hook or crook. We are Americans. There are a lot of screwed up things about us right now, but one thing that most of us have in common is that we don't like someone telling us we can't see something. We despise censors, and the worst censors are those who would dare to limit thoughts and ideas and silence dissent. THAT is un-American. If I have to travel across the country and show it in city parks (or, as one person offered yesterday, to show it on the side of his house for the neighborhood to see), that is what I will do.

More to come, stay tuned.

Yours,

Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com
[email protected]

P.S. Be sure to check out yesterday's New York Times Editorial, "Disney's Craven Behavior"

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/opinion/06THU4.html?ex=1084420800&en=dd695e1433b69ff3&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Depends on what really is true!

(Crow is now being served).

Can we prepare a plate for anyone? :wink: