MICHAEL MOORE: Ladies
and gentlemen, Kevin Vlk.
[APPLAUSE]
KEVIN VLK: And
Mr. Michael Moore.
So welcome to talks
at Google, everyone.
I'm Kevin Vlk, as Mr.
Moore just introduced me.
And this is Michael Moore,
filmmaker, documentar--
document-- documen--
MICHAEL MOORE:
Documentary filmmaker.
KEVIN VLK: There It is.
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
Documentarian is not a word.
KEVIN VLK: And
writer-producer of all this.
MICHAEL MOORE: I hate that word.
KEVIN VLK: Which one?
MICHAEL MOORE: Documentarian.
KEVIN VLK: Yeah, I know.
I couldn't say it.
I should have--
MICHAEL MOORE: Well, you don't
call Scorsese a fictionatarian.
KEVIN VLK: That's true.
MICHAEL MOORE: So it's
like I choose nonfiction,
others choose fiction.
But we're filmmakers.
I've been trying to drive
this home to more documentary
filmmakers.
If they made documentaries
as movies and not
as documentaries, more people
might go and watch them.
KEVIN VLK: That is true.
MICHAEL MOORE:
So, you know, it's
all about what we're going
to do on Friday nights.
Right?
KEVIN VLK: I apologize.
MICHAEL MOORE: No, no.
Don't apologize.
No, no.
I'm just--
KEVIN VLK: But so you
have a series of films.
MICHAEL MOORE:
Michael Moore today
received an official
apology from Google.
KEVIN VLK: You have
a series of films.
So your new film,
"Where to Invade Next."
This comes after "Roger
and Me," "The Awful Truth,"
"Bowling for Columbine,"
"Fahrenheit 9/11," "Sicko,"
"Capitalism-- A Love Story."
So many of us--
MICHAEL MOORE: Don't
forget "Canadian Bacon."
KEVIN VLK: And "Canadian Bacon."
MICHAEL MOORE: All right.
KEVIN VLK: And many of
us saw the film just now.
But can you just go into
what the film is about
and where the idea came from?
MICHAEL MOORE: Well,
I've had this idea
probably since I
was 19, although I
wasn't a filmmaker then.
I was just a kid with a youth
hostel card and a Eurail pass.
And I went over to Europe
on those $99 flights
and backpacked for two
months and saw the way
it was elsewhere than here.
And every country I
would go to, I would say,
God, that's such a good
idea, the way they do that.
Why don't we do that?
Or, oh, that's so simple!
That's so obvious!
And every time I've
traveled since I was 19,
I've had this thought,
wherever I was in the world,
that there's always this
really good little idea.
And how come we don't
just steal that idea?
We're good at invading and
trying to get other things.
Why don't we just
take some good ideas
and bring them back to the US?
So I've probably been
thinking about this
for a very long time.
And finally this year,
I decided to do it.
And so I called up
some friends that
had made those films
with me and said,
why don't go shoot this movie.
And let's just see what we find?
KEVIN VLK: So why does this
come now versus your first film?
What was the difference
between, oh, now I gotta do it.
MICHAEL MOORE: Why?
Because I think we're in
a fairly perilous time,
in a moment here
where things are going
to shift one way or the other.
And I think that they've
been moving somewhat
in a good direction lately.
But I'm trying to figure out how
to explain this because-- OK.
let's go back to 1999.
I'm directing a video for
Rage Against the Machine
done on Wall Street.
And we're going to
run over, and we're
going to try and break into the
stock exchange, essentially.
That's the conceit of the video.
And so we needed,
like, stockbroker types
and hedge-fund guys.
And so we had this
crowd of extras.
And I'm thinking, they need to
be holding signs or something.
So I went over to the art
person, and I said, here.
Make up a sign that says this.
And she goes, and she
gives it to the guy.
And it's 1999.
And the sign says,
Trump for President.
[LAUGHTER]
And not saying it was my idea!
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN VLK: Subliminal messaging.
MICHAEL MOORE: Well,
I just thought, what
would be the craziest thing
that I could come up with?
But now it's not
so funny anymore.
Now it's real.
Now he's going to be
the Republican nominee
for President of
the United States.
And it's like, oh.
Did you see his rally in
Massachusetts last night?
It was like a football
stadium of people.
It was America uber alles.
It was really, wow.
Now, I don't believe he can win.
But I don't think anybody
should take him for granted.
KEVIN VLK: Well, I
think people have been.
And the whole time--
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah, me too.
KEVIN VLK: And it would
start off as a joke.
Now, it's like, oh, crap.
But people are following him.
So it seems like no matter
what he says, too-- and not
to get off complete topic.
But no matter what he says,
it just seems to be, like,
oh I just said it.
And they just go on.
So how is that working for him?
MICHAEL MOORE: It works well.
One thing that people
do like about him
is that he doesn't
think before he talks,
which is like most of us.
So he seems kind of real
in that way, where he just
says whatever is on his mind.
And it feels refreshing
because we're so
used to the political speak.
And he, too, is
interested in it.
And he's saying things
he doesn't believe in.
So the beginning of this
year, I thought, well,
this is just really
good performance art.
Because if you've lived in New
York for any period of time
or if you are a native New
Yorker, you know Trump.
And you know that he has funded
all these different campaigns
and groups for gay marriage,
for pro-choice, for guns--
I mean, the whole-- I mean,
he's been very liberal
on all the issues
through most of his life.
He's very pro-union, at least
the private sector unions.
He wants to raise
the minimum wage.
He's always been for that.
He's always been
for-- and I think
he's still for-- a one-time
tax on the rich of 14%,
where they literally
would have to pay
14% of what they own right now.
But this would, in his
mind, retire the debt.
He's for single-payer health
care, not for the right reasons
but because, (TRUMP
IMPRESSION) I
don't like dealing
with those 50--
there's 50 state
insurance commissioners!
Red tape everywhere!
KEVIN VLK: That's
a great impression.
MICHAEL MOORE: (TRUMP
IMPRESSION) We just need one.
One insurance
commissioner, single payer.
So on that level, you
know that he's faking it.
And his time on
television sort of
blurred the line in his own
mind between reality and TV
or performance.
And now he sees
it works for him.
He sees by being a
demagogue, by being a racist,
by being kind of proto-fascist
that there's always
a crowd for that.
And history has proven there's
always been a crowd for that.
But the good news is that 81%
of the people in this country
are either women,
people of color,
or adults between the
ages of 18 and 35.
That's 81% of America.
That's not the America he sees.
He thinks they're all
guys that look like him.
But the white guys over 35
are 19% of the population.
So he's speaking to
a very small group.
And the reason he
shouldn't and can't win
is because the
majority of the country
are dames or broads, people he
wants to build a wall around,
or people your age who probably
don't find him too cool.
And I'm just saying.
I mean, I haven't surveyed
everybody in here.
But I'm just guessing
that when you
think of somebody representing
you to the rest of the world,
the image of Trump doesn't
come into your mind.
But we are also the slacker
side of the political arena,
our side of the fence,
my side of the fence.
The other side,
they're going to be
up on election morning
at 6:00 in the morning.
They're going to vote.
Right?
The only reason we'd be
up at 6:00 in the morning
is if we'd partied all night.
So if enough people
don't get involved,
if the Democratic candidate
isn't inspiring, doesn't create
the enthusiasm
that Obama did, is
just kind of [BUZZING]
like that and just talks
like a politician, enough
people may stay home-- certainly
enough young people may stay
home and enough people of color
may stay home.
And that's really
something to think about.
Its why in all those
polls, what's interesting
is that Hillary is ahead of
Bernie in the main number.
But when you pit them against
Trump, in the recent polls,
Bernie has come
out a point or two
ahead when it's Hillary versus
Trump or Bernie versus Trump.
So it's something
to think about.
I know this has nothing
to do with this movie.
KEVIN VLK: No, no, no.
I was like, oh, shit.
Cut him off.
MICHAEL MOORE: But how
did we get on that?
KEVIN VLK: You.
MICHAEL MOORE: Is it because
you called me a documentarian?
KEVIN VLK: I think that was it.
But I can kind of tie this
into, segue into social media
because you very, very, very
much embrace that with Twitter.
You did that stint at Trump
Tower with, we are all Muslim.
And so you fully
embrace social media.
How has that kind of changed
you and given yourself
another voice in this medium?
You didn't really
grow up with it,
but now you have
it as a platform.
MICHAEL MOORE: Oh, I know.
But as soon as it
came-- I had a TV
show 1993 to '95
called "TV Nation."
It was on NBC, and then
it was on Fox-- good Fox.
"Simpsons" Fox.
Not Fox News.
But I was the first
primetime television
show to actually have in the
credits at the end of the show
"www."
An actual website.
Nobody had ever
done that before.
And the network was like, why do
you want to put that in there?
I said, because this really
is-- this is 1993 now.
Right?
So it's not really a thing yet.
But I immediately
saw social media
as the smasher of the
wall between the people
and the rest of the people.
There's always
been a wall, where
if we wanted to communicate
to each other, how would
we do that?
I remember something I
didn't like that was written
in "The New Yorker" magazine.
And my only option, as it was if
you read something in the paper
or whatever, was to write
a letter to the editor.
Maybe they would publish it,
maybe not in its original form.
I wrote this to the "New
Yorker", and they wrote back.
And they said, we don't
have letters to the editor.
And I thought, wow.
So they just published something
about my hometown of Flint,
Michigan that wasn't true.
And I have no means
to correct the record
in a valued and sophisticated
publication like "The New
Yorker."
And I thought-- this
is way back then--
God, I wish there was some
way where I could leap over
the gatekeeper and just let
everybody know, actually,
here's the truth.
The fact that social media
has allowed us to talk to each
other, that we can't be
regulated or stopped from doing
that and that those in power
can't-- they can get away with
things still.
And they certainly try.
But it's a lot harder for them.
Witness the police, who simply
cannot just randomly get away
with now.
It makes you wonder how many
other innocent people-- and
by people, that's a euphemism
for black and Hispanic people--
but people, black and
Hispanic people who
have been killed by the police.
And we never knew that.
That's just one example
of how the democratization
and the sort of egalitarianism
of social media--
and that it doesn't matter
that if I'm a filmmaker or I'm
with Warner Brothers
or whatever,
that you can talk to me.
You can send me
an email tonight.
You can tweet at me.
You can go on my Facebook page.
And I go there, and I read it.
And I will randomly
write back to people.
I mean, obviously, I can't
write to the 1,000 that
may see this and write me.
But I do what I can do.
But I certainly get a sense
of what people are saying.
I never would have
got that sense before.
So this is such a great era.
And I don't think-- I mean,
a lot of people my age,
and I can't believe
there's still
people, baby boomers
and such, who
are still like this toward it.
It's like, oh my God.
You're going to end up like--
both of my grandmothers
never learned how
to drive a car.
They thought the horse
was going to come back.
I'm like, you're so crazy
to stay away from this.
And then they point out the
things that bother them.
like I came in
here, and I counted
five people that
were on their devices
while my movie was going.
And I'm like, hmm, OK.
But then I'm like-- but, you
know, I'd rather deal with that
than not have this.
And who knows how many
lives that those five were
saving in here?
[LAUGHTER]
But it's a good thing.
And we can't even imagine now.
I remember I was at the
2004 Democratic Convention.
And Jimmy Carter-- I
was just there, kind of.
I was covering it,
actually, for a paper.
And it was after
"Fahrenheit 9/11" came out.
And he asked if I
would like to sit
in the presidential box
with him on the night he
was going to give his speech.
And I was like, wow.
Yes.
Thank you.
And in the box were
two of the three,
the founders, the people
that started this.
And I still remember this
moment because Google, in 2004,
was how many years old?
Two years old?
KEVIN VLK: Like five?
Six?
Were we six?
Right?
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah,
but I mean-- OK, yes.
Yes.
The incorporation
papers were filed
and people started
working on it.
KEVIN VLK: But the
hype around Google
was definitely around then.
MICHAEL MOORE: But
I mean in the sense
that everybody was using it.
That was the early-- that was
the infancy, right, of Google?
And I just remember thinking,
this is such a great moment.
And I was thinking, as
I was standing up here
with everybody, we don't
even 10 years from now
what is going to be
invented or what better ways
we're going to have
to talk to each other.
I think it's revolutionary.
I think that this
can create movements.
It can involve people
more in their democracy.
It has so many good
things about it.
And the bad things about it
are regulated by other people.
So if you put out something
out there that's not true,
there's going to be 1,000
people on you to correct
the lie that you're telling.
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And it's interesting though
because I think with this film,
you did it very much in secret.
So you kind of shut
off social media.
You didn't let a publicist
come on with you.
And it was very
much done in secret.
MICHAEL MOORE: No press
release was set out
when we did the deal.
KEVIN VLK: Right.
So why was that, then?
MICHAEL MOORE: And we
didn't disconnect--
I didn't disconnect
from social media
in terms of politics or news
or things that were going on.
But I wasn't going to
discuss what I was doing.
Certainly the one
thing you've learned,
how many times do you have
to be burned on Google
to know there are just so
many things you want to share?
So that was an easy one to do.
But we knew we would tweet about
this and we would put this up
and we'd Instagram
it when we were done.
But what was
interesting is that we
were able to get away with it.
And I don't know in 10 years we
would be-- 10 years from now,
that we'll be able
to get away with it.
Part of it's a language issue.
Maybe somebody
saw me in Slovenia
and tweeted in Slovenian.
But there's not a lot out there
yet for people to kind of-- I
mean, the mechanisms
exist to translate that.
But I'm more concerned
with the fact
that we would be the top story
on the evening news in Italy
or France or whatever because
they would see me filming.
And so the camera crews would
come out and interview me.
But, you know, the
whole broadcast
was in Italian or Slovenian.
And because the
networks no longer
have these foreign
bureaus-- if they're maybe
one of the big three networks
or the "New York Times,"
they've got somebody in London.
They've got somebody in Tokyo.
But in the old days,
guys, in my time,
man, there was somebody in
Paris, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw,
everywhere.
And now corporate media,
that doesn't exist.
So--
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And so in "Where
to Invade Next,"
you visit Italy, France,
Finland, Germany, Slovenia--
not Slovakia-- Portugal,
Tunisia, Norway, and Iceland.
So how did you choose which
countries would be included?
And were there any that you did
film or you thought about doing
and then just pulled away?
MICHAEL MOORE: Yes.
We filmed three countries that
we didn't put in the film,
mainly because I
don't think movies
should be longer than two hours.
I think most movies
are too long, anyways.
Don't you agree?
And if they are
longer than two hours,
then they should really earn it.
Right?
So I didn't mind "Star Wars"
being longer than two hours.
But we went to Canada.
We went to Austria.
And we went, also, to Estonia.
And Estonia because they have
the best mother mortality rate.
The least number of mothers
die in childbirth in Estonia
than any other country.
Austria has lowered
the voting age to 16,
as have half a dozen
other countries.
And they've found that
18- to 30-year-olds vote
at a higher percentage
when you get them starting
to vote in high school.
I think that's a really,
really good idea, especially
if they're going to
be fighting in a war,
God forbid, ever
again in this country.
But there are a lot
of things you're going
to have to start doing at 18.
And maybe in the couple
years leading up to that,
you should have a say in what's
going to happen to you at 18.
And a lot of 16-year-olds
are not mature enough.
They won't bother.
They won't vote.
But the ones who
are engaged, why not
give them a say in
their early adulthood?
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And there's so much
interesting stuff in here.
But your goal was-- it paints a
very, very good picture of each
of these countries, too.
And you had said it
was not to present
a complete portrait of
each of the countries,
but kind of pick out
things that they do well
and not focus on
any of the negative.
And none of it was
actually shot in the US.
You didn't.
MICHAEL MOORE: No.
We wanted to make
a film about the US
but not shoot a single
frame of film in the US.
That was kind of our
challenge at the beginning,
could that be possible?
And tell the story of America by
going to these other countries.
And I only wanted
to take the good.
Why would I want to
take a bad thing?
I don't go to buy a new
car and buy a clunker.
I want to get a car that works.
So I don't want--
all these countries
have things that don't work.
But that's not my mission.
My mission was go take the
things that work really well
and bring them here because
I think most of those things
could work here.
Some of them will be harder
because we haven't dealt
with our racial question yet.
But some of those things--
we could stop poisoning kids
during the lunch hour tomorrow.
Every parent that sees this
film can go to the PTA meeting
next week and say,
hey, you know what?
Why don't we do
this differently?
They do this in France
differently, and it costs less.
KEVIN VLK: Right.
Well that's one of
the great scenes--
it was the second
country visited,
which was France--
which is basically
going into these children's
elementary school
and seeing what they serve
for lunch, which are basically
these gourmet meals, these
four-course meals with cheese
and lamb skewers and all that.
And just amazing, amazing stuff.
And they meet-- so the
head chef of the school
will meet with school officials?
MICHAEL MOORE: Yes, they answer
to the mayor and the school
officials and the town.
KEVIN VLK: And the dietitian.
Right, and the dietitian.
MICHAEL MOORE:
And the dietitian.
KEVIN VLK: And so what
I loved about that was--
MICHAEL MOORE: Can you imagine
if the people that fed us--
especially if you
went to public school,
if the people that
fed us at lunch
had to answer to a dietitian?
It would be like a firing squad.
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And Michelle Obama
tried to start that.
But it kind of got some pushback
and wasn't really working.
So why didn't that work?
That kind of seems
like the country
is moving more
towards-- at least
it seems like a little bit
more-- the healthy stuff.
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
Well, with us, you have
to do it differently.
I think you have to
do it healthwise,
but you call it pizza.
And as a matter of fact,
no matter what you make
or what you feed them a day,
don't call it lamb skewers.
Just call it pizza.
And I just think if we just
rename everything pizza
but then make it really
good and tasty-- all right?
It does have to taste good.
But it can taste good
and still be healthy.
But it's funny with these kids
because they don't drink Coke.
First of all, they looked
at it like it was poison.
Then finally, the little
girl next to me, I hope
I didn't bully her too much.
And I know every time
I watch that scene,
I want to call child protective
services on me because it's
like I keep pushing the glass.
And then she tries it.
And within 15 seconds, she
was like this with her fork.
And it's like, I'm thinking,
she's never had this.
Now she's taken
too big of a gulp
and literally has mainlined
it right into her system.
It was just-- it's
a sad, sad scene.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm embarrassed.
KEVIN VLK: There's
just some great scenes
and some great
interesting things
that you've pulled
from each country,
like in Italy, how
much vacation they get.
I think it was something
like 30 to 35 days of paid
vacation plus another
week of national holiday,
15 days of paid
holiday after getting
married, 13-month salary
in December-- just, here's
a month's salary.
Just here it is for you.
MICHAEL MOORE:
Yeah, because what's
the use of having a vacation
if you can't pay for it.
Right?
I mean, most people live
from paycheck to paycheck.
So what if they gave
you four weeks off.
Well, fine, but I got to
pay my mortgage that month.
I got to pay the car payment.
I got to pay the school.
I got to pay-- how am
I going to go anywhere?
So they work that
into the system.
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And it was interesting because
you talked about-- well, you
kind of were pressing
them a little bit
on the American dream and,
like, oh, well if you come
to America, you only get zero.
You get zero, unless
you have an employer who
actually will pay for it.
And they were like, oh.
So the American dream
kind of a little bit
changed for them, where
they were like, I don't
know if I want to go there.
MICHAEL MOORE: Right.
They think they all know
America a lot by the movies.
You know, we look good
in the movies, generally.
So I think they go-- in France,
let's say you're going to move.
You got a new apartment.
You're going to move
from Queens to Brooklyn.
That's a step up, right?
Yeah.
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm from Michigan,
so-- but the day you
move from Queens to Brooklyn,
if you were in France,
that's a paid day off by law.
You should not have to miss your
pay because you've got to move.
So if you've got
to move tomorrow,
then you shouldn't
have to lose any money
because you had to move.
I mean, it's just
little things like that.
You just go, wow,
that's kind of humane.
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN VLK: Well, what was
interesting in a lot of it-- I
mean, there's a ton of
interesting things in here.
But some of these were
actually American ideas.
And they brought that
up a few times in it,
where it was like in
Finland with free tuition
and only three to four hours of
school a day with a lunch hour
and getting rid of
standardized tests
that we have here in America.
And there's no good
or bad schools.
The rich kids are mixed
in with the poor kids
and the middle class, and
everyone goes to school
together.
And it's actually illegal
to actually charge tuition.
So with the sum of these--
MICHAEL MOORE: It's
illegal to charge tuition.
Can you believe that?
KEVIN VLK: That's crazy.
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
Even for college.
I said, you don't
have a Harvard?
And the Minister of Education,
she says, we have 19 Harvards.
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And like the
Norwegian prison, how
they treat their prisoners--
MICHAEL MOORE: Like humans.
KEVIN VLK: Like humans.
MICHAEL MOORE: And
they have to treat them
because there's no life
sentence and there's
no capital punishment.
So they get a lecture from
the warden on day one.
It says because we
don't have these two
things that America
has, that means
you may be my neighbor someday.
You may be living on my street.
So it's in my best interests
for that when you leave here,
that you leave here
a better person
and not inclined
to commit crime.
It's not just because the
Norwegians are better than us.
There's a self-interest
involved in wanting
to live in a safer society.
KEVIN VLK: Well, an
they're very free there.
I mean, for you guys
who saw the film,
it's crazy because it's almost
like a resort where they go to.
And it's very free and open.
They can swim across a lake.
They can swim one way.
They can't swim--
MICHAEL MOORE: In the prison.
Yeah, yeah.
KEVIN VLK: Right.
And it's very open.
They have the keys
to their own doors.
and the cool thing
was-- I was like,
oh, this has got to be fake.
But then you went to the
maximum security prison,
and I was like, oh,
that was interesting.
Because that was even free, too.
It was a little bit more
protected or guarded.
But it was very,
very open and free.
And they had TV.
And they had internet.
It was just crazy.
But again, the guard
was saying that it
was an American idea,
where it was basically
no cruel punishment towards
the prisoners and stuff.
So where did we lose our way?
MICHAEL MOORE: Where
did we lose our way?
KEVIN VLK: Where are they
getting that, actually,
because America obviously
hasn't done that for years.
So where are they
getting this from?
Is it just from the past?
MICHAEL MOORE: Well, the
world, for a very long time,
has loved the United
States of America
and has looked up to us.
And they know that there's
a certain thing about us
and our ingenuity and
our sort of motivation.
And we're kind of all like this.
And they're very much playing
it close to the chest.
And they know that Belgium isn't
going to invent the iPhone.
You know?
No offense to Belgium.
Google isn't going to
come out of Hungary.
No offense to Hungary.
But there is something
unique about us
that historically, we've been
this sort off-- and part of it
is the classless society
that we've always tried
to say we are or try to be.
But I think that there's so
many good things about us
that they admire.
And they bought a lot of it.
And we decided to
start un-buying it.
We had an education system
that was the envy of the world.
Now, nobody would want
our education system.
Nobody.
Nobody would come
here to study it.
So they just took all the great,
progressive, philosophical
American education ideas
and just implemented them.
In Germany and Japan and
Italy, the Axis powers
during World War
II, after the war,
after they were defeated,
President Roosevelt,
he had just passed away.
But he had set it up so
that when the war ended,
his team from his administration
would go and write
their new constitutions.
So in the new constitutions for
Germany and Italy and Japan,
they had universal health care.
They had labor rights.
They had college
and education being
a free and progressive system.
So they instituted
a lot of the things
we didn't have even then.
The part of our past that
we shouldn't be proud of,
in terms of our racial
issue, how we've
treated our native people,
how we've allowed capitalism
to morph itself into
an ugly system of greed
and making sure that only
the very, very, very top
get all the wealth
and everybody else
scrambles for the
crumbs-- there's nothing
to look back and be proud of
in that part of our history.
So it's kind of-- I
feel bad that we've
lost our way in that sense.
I mean, I want to know,
looking at you in this room,
I was just trying to add up the
total amount of student loan
debt in this room.
I'm sure it's in the millions.
But my generation,
your parents, we
went to school for
free or nearly free,
depending on where you lived.
If your parents went
to Brooklyn College,
they paid $35 a semester.
If they went to UC Berkeley,
they went for free.
If they went to SUNY
Buffalo, they went for free.
If they went to Ann Arbor, I
don't know, they paid $500.
It was nothing.
Why did we allow
a system to come
in being that then sent you as
22-year-olds out into the world
as debtors, in a debtor's
prison, as I said in the film?
Why would we do that
to our own kids?
Why did we let that happen?
Why did we let the banks
and the whole system--
why did we not give
you what we had?
KEVIN VLK: Well, how
you do change that?
How you go back?
Like, it seems like
we're too deep in.
MICHAEL MOORE: It does
seem that way, I know.
And some of it seems
a little hopeless.
Well, there's many
examples I can
give where it seemed
hopeless, and eventually women
could vote.
It seemed helpless, and
eventually-- I mean,
hopeless going back to
'04 of the election,
when 14 states made it part
of the Constitution to make it
illegal to marry the person
you're in love with if they
happen to be of the same gender.
Here we are 11
years later, gone.
It's like, wow.
Like I said in the film, OK.
The impossible can happen.
Because this was
a country bigoted
against gay and lesbian people.
And then, all of a sudden, it
wasn't illegal to be in love.
And if that can happen, I
think practically anything
can happen.
And there are some
good groups that
can show how we can go back
to free college education,
at least for the state schools.
Will we ever have a system where
there won't be private schools
and you can't
charge for tuition?
I would probably doubt that.
But we could certainly
make our state institutions
to be either very affordable
or free for all the students,
and it wouldn't cost that
much more money to do that.
We spent $750
billion on defense.
If we just cut that
back by a third,
that money could be used
for so many good things.
Why don't we have a bullet
train from New York to LA?
We and the Brits
invented the train.
Why does Taiwan
have a bullet train?
Go Google the map
of Taiwan right now.
If you went from the east
coast to the west coast
of northern Taiwan, you
could walk it in a day.
They don't need a bullet train.
They have a bullet train.
We have 3,000 miles.
We need a bullet train.
We could afford that if
we wanted to do that.
Why don't we have that?
I mean, we used to
be the innovators.
We used to do this.
I was telling some of my crew.
We came in here today.
I said, this building has
a very important history.
You guys all know the history
of this building, right?
For those of you who are
watching or listening
elsewhere, we're in the original
Port Authority building here
that goes between 9th
Avenue and 8th Avenue
and 15th and 16th Street.
By the way, I'm not
giving coordinates out
to the Trump campaign to fire
any missiles at this moment.
[LAUGHTER]
But the original cable that
was laid under the Atlantic
Ocean, the first cable--
first the telegraph and then
the telephone line-- came
up out of the Atlantic Ocean
and up into this building.
And from here, whatever the
hall or the telegraph was
or whatever emanated from this
building then out to wherever
across North America.
That an amazing thing,
when you think back to it.
And you've probably you've
read the book "Tubes"
about the internet?
Remember the
Republican senator who
was, (SOUTHERN ACCENT) yeah,
it's a bunch of damn tubes.
But then this journalist
thought, well, you know,
actually, there are a lot
of tubes involved here.
And sort of the sweet irony
that Google now inhabits
this building, that the virtual
tube that we're all connected
to in a so much
better and easier way
than trying to bring
a call or a telegraph
in from the Atlantic Ocean--
that you're in this building,
I think it's very cool.
KEVIN VLK: We'll start
taking audience questions,
if you guys want to start
lining up at the mic.
But one of the things
when we were sitting here
watching the film, one of the
things that got the biggest
laugh and got the
biggest chuckle out of me
because we all know it too well,
which is in Germany, where they
have-- basically, when the
work is over, it's over,
and they don't bring
it home with them.
And it's against the law
to contact an employee
while they're on vacation.
And many companies
have adopted the rule
that companies can't
send any emails
after work hours, such as
Mercedes, where they actually
have computers that
block the emails sent
by bosses to their reports.
MICHAEL MOORE: Was that
laughter you heard or wails
and moans and cries?
KEVIN VLK: It was so
interesting because, I mean,
they've change the entire
way they even work.
And the countries are
caring about their people
more versus just
trying to make a buck
or whatever the case may be.
MICHAEL MOORE: Right.
Social media should not be
used to abuse employees.
Social media is there to help
us be better people in a better
world, not for an employer
to have a tether on you
until midnight.
And I just think that just
seems like common sense,
decent behavior.
And it's your choice.
If you want to do that, do
that, if you the employee
want to work.
But again, you need to also
take some time for yourself.
And you need to not
work at some point.
Can I ask you,
just-- because this
is an interesting question.
Because the maternity leave,
the paid-- you guys, I've read,
you and Facebook and a lot
of the social media giants
have really good plans
in terms of if you're
going to have a baby or how
much time you can take off.
And, in fact, I
don't know who it
is, somebody just-- you
can have unlimited time.
AUDIENCE: Netflix.
KEVIN VLK: Netflix, yeah.
MICHAEL MOORE: Netflix?
It's like, can that be--
like, are they shitting me?
Or?
Because I can imagine that would
just make it worse because then
you don't know when or
how much you can take off.
Or how much are they
going to hate me?
Or I'm going to get the
worst job when I come back.
Isn't that an issue,
even in a place here?
Or do you have to think about--
KEVIN VLK: I think in
general, just in America,
any company that
I've been at, where
it's just you do feel
that pressure, where
it's like, oh, I do want to take
two weeks after I get married.
Or I want to take a week
here or a week there.
But it is very much, in
terms of American culture,
just disconnecting
in general and just
trying to break away and not
feel guilty for doing that
sometimes.
MICHAEL MOORE: Right.
KEVIN VLK: Enough about me.
You?
AUDIENCE: Hey, Michael.
MICHAEL MOORE: Hi, there.
AUDIENCE: So I think-- you
can correct me if I'm wrong--
but I think a lot of us
would agree that America
has some of the
best innovations,
especially in the tech
sector, in the whole world.
So I was wondering if you
thought that if America
was to adopt some of the
policies like in Europe,
if you think that
that would stifle
some of the innovations that
are coming out of America?
MICHAEL MOORE: No.
And in fact I just
said what I just said.
I do believe that's
one of things
that's really great about us.
When you say stifle, like,
you mean the vacation thing?
Or what do they have that
would stifle us here?
AUDIENCE: I'm not sure exactly.
But I know I've looked around
at-- you know, Europe just
doesn't have, if you
look at tech startups,
there's not that many in Europe.
And sure, some of it
might be that it's already
established in the US.
But I imagine that it might just
be a little bit harder and more
expensive to start
a business there.
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
Well, that I don't know about.
But just imagine, though, if
you actually had a few weeks
to not have to worry about work.
How many people in this
room have had an idea
that if you just had a little
time to explore the idea
or investigate it,
to noodle with it,
to go into whatever your version
of the workshop is for you,
what great ideas or
inventions are we not getting
because there's so much pressure
on you to be a certain way
and to work a certain way that
doesn't allow that to come out?
I'm more concerned about that.
And I think that if we were
a little more European, just
chilled a little more, the
creativity in us-- and I
don't mean just inventing
the next tech thing.
There's somebody in
here that probably
has got a great novel in them
or a screenplay or a movie
they'd like to-- or whatever.
Maybe there's just a
great poem that needs
to be written in this room.
Are you allowing
yourself to have the time
to do that and the
freedom to do that?
And are you having
the chill to do that?
I guess I'm more
concerned about that.
When you hear that they
have more regulations there,
there's a reason they
do on some level,
and that's because they don't
want you to eat bad meat.
And they want to make sure
the products are right.
And they're strict
about certain things
because they care
about the people.
So they're really
concerned about that.
They don't want polluters
polluting, things like that.
But about the small
businesses and all that,
I don't know much about.
Thanks.
AUDIENCE: Am I allowed to ask
a question about Donald Trump
or is it just movie?
MICHAEL MOORE: (GERMAN
ACCENT) You are not allowed!
This is America!
No, of course you can
ask me anything you want.
AUDIENCE: I had a moment
that you as a filmmaker
might relate to.
For holidays, I was in Europe.
And I was at a show,
and I was so enjoying.
And then I had, all of a
sudden, this moment of,
this feels very much like the
beginning of a Second World War
movie that shows
Europe before the war,
that everybody is just
enjoying the culture.
People are participating
in opera and concert
and everything.
And all of a
sudden, the generals
are called into an
emergency meeting
and a war is breaking out.
My point is why are we so
comfortable with believing
Trump has no chance?
What have we as the world
learned after Second World War
that we're so confident another
fascist government is not
going to come to
power, another person
like Hitler, who started
all these ideas by bullying
minority group or
religious group,
is not going to happen again?
Like nothing has
seriously happened,
and we are still very
strongly believing
Donald Trump doesn't
have a chance.
And I have been hearing that
for the last six months.
And now he's solidly
leading the GOP.
MICHAEL MOORE: The
reason people think
that he doesn't have
a chance-- and I
think you're OK to think
that he doesn't have
a chance-- is because
everybody knows
the America we live in now.
And it's not angry white
guys like Donald Trump.
It is the people I
said-- women generally
aren't going to vote for Trump.
He's guaranteed that.
People of color are
not going to vote.
You can look at all the polls.
I mean, I saw one poll where
Hispanics-- it wasn't even 0%.
It was a negative number.
And I couldn't-- how do you get
a negative number in a poll?
And then young people.
The one good thing baby
boomers and the next generation
did in terms of who
your parents are is
I think that we raised
a generation of people
who don't hate.
You're not haters.
You don't hate people
because of their skin color.
You don't hate people because
of who they are in love with.
And we raised you.
And so it's very hard for
the proto-fascist types
to take charge.
It's like if women were voting,
would they vote were Hitler?
If black people and
Hispanics voted in mass,
would they vote for Hitler?
I mean, not to use Hitler
as the-- I only use it
because you used that example.
But I'm just saying that
it's nothing to be afraid of.
But we should be
conscious of it.
And we should no longer
treat him as a joke.
He should be taken
seriously and dealt with.
And so I tweeted
out yesterday, when
he said that about Bill
Clinton was an abuser women.
Well actually, Bill Clinton
gave us the Family Leave Act.
So we don't have
paid maternity leave,
but we have maternity leave now.
You can take so many weeks
off, thanks to Bill Clinton.
He was pro-choice.
He had consensual
sex with an adult.
And none of our
business, frankly.
And I just hashtagged
Trump's three wives.
[LAUGHTER]
Not that there's anything
wrong with having three wives.
Sometimes the third
one is a charm.
And I make no
judgment about that.
I'm just saying-- that was just
my way of putting it out there.
I'd love to hear from him
because this guy can't get away
with that, shouldn't
get away with that.
And I'm not a
Hillary-- I haven't
endorsed anybody for president.
I'm just saying,
though, that if he's
going to go down
that road, people
have got to stand up against
this and not be bullied.
Yes, thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
So growing up in
Australia, I always--
MICHAEL MOORE: I'm sorry.
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: I mean,
I'm here now, right?
I always felt strong cultural,
social, economic connections
to the US.
There's a lot of similarities.
I think it is the same with
a lot of European countries,
with Canada.
But I remember watching
"Bowling for Columbine"
when I was 11 or 12 or
something and thinking,
what the hell is wrong
with this country?
So in this movie,
as well, you've
laid out a lot of differences
and a lot of the things
the US does differently
to these other countries.
And we can all see
those differences
around us-- education,
health care, guns.
Why is it that the
US is so different?
There's so much history,
cultural, economic connection.
What do you think the reasons
are for these differences?
MICHAEL MOORE: Partly
what I said in the film--
because we haven't been able to
deal with our two original sins
that we were founded
on genocide and we were
built on the backs of slaves.
We don't acknowledge it,
and we haven't fixed it.
And so you got to take care of
that first problem, I think,
before you can move on
and be a better people.
AUDIENCE: Canada and Australia
also had serious problems
with that, too.
Right?
MICHAEL MOORE: Well,
yes, but nothing like us.
Nothing at all like us.
Canada did not have a
slave system like us.
And Britain and
Canada ended slavery
before we did and
made reparations.
The Canadians have continued
to make reparations
to their native people.
In fact, they gave
them a whole province
that they can autonomously run.
You can't imagine us doing
that for Native Americans
or-- even though, as I show,
almost 40% of Mississippi
is black.
And what they get
for that, what they
get for being 40%
of the state, are
the most conservative redneck
representatives in Congress.
It makes absolutely
no sense until you
start to think about, well,
how do you suppress the vote?
If 40% of the
state is black, how
do you get the most
conservative white people
to represent the state?
I think that a lot of our
problem has to do with fear.
We're easily
manipulated with fear.
It's why we have so many guns,
I think, in people's homes.
I mean, why would you
have a gun in the house?
You're afraid of something.
You might need it
for protection.
Protection against whom?
Little freckle-faced
Jimmy down the street?
I don't think so.
I don't think you're
worried about Jimmy.
What are you worried about?
Why are 90 of the guns in homes
in suburbs and rural areas,
not in the city?
Why don't we have any mass
shootings at our city high
schools?
Right?
Doesn't happen, does it?
So I think that there's a
much longer answer to that.
But I think that there are
things unique about us.
And President
Obama, you probably
didn't see him
today with his-- did
you guys see it, his
press conference on guns
and what he's going to do?
He broke down and cried.
I mean, he's had tears before.
But I've never seen
him-- he actually cried,
and he couldn't stop the tears.
He tried to stop them,
and they wouldn't stop.
Once he mentioned the 20
six-year-olds that were shot,
20 first-grader shot at Newton,
he couldn't get the thought out
of his head and
the tears couldn't
stop coming down his face.
And you'll see it later.
You look it up.
KEVIN VLK: Yeah, that was crazy.
I did see that this morning.
And actually, do think the
president's executive action
would-- is it going
to change anything?
MICHAEL MOORE: No.
KEVIN VLK: Nothing.
MICHAEL MOORE: No.
But his heart's in
the right place.
He's a compassionate person.
He doesn't really
have the power that he
needs to have to fix this.
But the biggest problem isn't
the fact that-- you know,
they have guns in Canada and
they don't shoot each other
like we do.
And they have guns
in lots of countries.
Israel's a good example.
Lots of guns in Israel.
But they don't go into the
high schools and shoot them up.
They don't shoot each other.
There's something very unique.
And he said during
the talk today,
I don't think Americans are any
more violent than other people.
Actually, we are.
We are more violent.
We're violent
collectively by the way
we invade countries, the
way we drone bomb civilians.
The things that we
do are shameful.
And personally, the way we
resolve our differences.
Remember, 60% to
70% of all murders
are between people
who know each other.
It's not a stranger killing you.
It's somebody you're
resolving a dispute with
or somebody you're mad at,
and you reach for the gun.
That's how most of our
murders take place.
I'll give shorter answers
so you can get more people--
KEVIN VLK: No, no, no, no, no.
But really quickly, would
you ever revisit something
in a film like you did with
"Bowling for Columbine"
now knowing where the country
has gone with gun [INAUDIBLE].
MICHAEL MOORE: No.
Sadly, "Bowling for Columbine"
could open this Friday
and be every bit as
relevant as it was in 2002.
That's a sad statement to make.
The only thing I would change
about "Bowling for Columbine"
is I would mention that
we're safe from 51%
of the population.
Women don't do this.
San Bernardino aside--
that's an incident
that hasn't been explained
yet, so I'll wait on that.
But women don't
do mass shootings.
Women don't go into high
schools and spray bullets.
When you're walking home on 8th
Avenue here tonight, it's dark.
Your radar's up a little
bit because it's dark.
You're in a big city.
What are you afraid of?
The image in your mind is not a
woman jumping out of the bushes
to assault you.
It's a guy.
So let's just say what is.
The unsafe factor comes from
the 49% of the population.
So I would have put a little
happy news in "Bowling
for Columbine" to say
that we're actually
safe from the
majority of Americans.
[LAUGHTER]
The majority of
Americans generally
are not going to kill you
or harm you in that way.
KEVIN VLK: Go women.
MICHAEL MOORE: Unless
you're cheating or--
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: Michael, thank
you for the [INAUDIBLE].
When you make a
film-- and, I guess,
thinking about your
portfolio films--
what do you want
those films to do
in terms of affecting change?
Is it to start a dialogue?
Is it to--
MICHAEL MOORE: The
first thing I want to do
is for you to have felt that
you just spent a good two hours.
It was a good way to
spend those two hours.
I'm a filmmaker.
So you go to the movies,
I want you to have
a good time at the movies.
I want to walk up the
aisle going, damn.
That was good.
Seriously.
Every filmmaker wants
that first and foremost,
that at the very least,
you were entertained.
And entertainment can mean
that it was thought-provoking
but you laughed, maybe.
Maybe you cried.
Maybe you got mad.
Any of those things.
I'm happy with all of that.
If 10% of the audience commits
themself to doing something
about this, that would be huge.
I don't expect that
from everybody,
and I don't demand it.
I really want you to have
a good time at the movies.
And so I make movies for
you to take a date to
on a Friday night.
Serious.
I have a sign in the edit
room that says, remember,
people want to go home and have
sex after watching this movie.
So it's like, don't
mess it up for them.
AUDIENCE: Earlier
in this interview,
you were mentioning the
influence of social media
and how it allows things to be
a little bit more democratic,
get more feedback.
But at the same
time, over the years,
we've seen a decline
in public interviews
that everyone can see.
Like in 1993, for example,
you had a "Larry King Live"
interview between Ross Perot
and Vice President Al Gore
about NAFTA.
But with things like the
Trans-Pacific Partnership,
much bigger in scope, we've had
no public debate or discussion.
So my question is, is there
a risk of social media
being a self-selection kind
of filter where you only
get the information
you want to hear
and everything else is out?
MICHAEL MOORE: That's
a great question.
Yes.
And I think in part, the
good news-- like this year,
look at the TV ratings
for the debates.
They're through the roof.
They're higher than they've
ever been because there's so
few moments like that
where there aren't
those kind of shows, where you
have this live interaction,
unedited, unsupervised,
and just go at it.
And I think that's
a really good point.
When I said that about
social media, I mean,
I think it's like
she said in the film.
Are you using it to
watch the Kardashians?
Or are you using it for all the
good that it could do for you?
AUDIENCE: I mean,
to test my theory,
I've been walking
around my neighborhood
about political topics and
making comics and fliers
and just talking to people.
And everyone tells me
I'm just wasting my time,
and I should be going
on social media instead.
MICHAEL MOORE: Oh, no.
I don't-- no, no, no.
Because social media
can also just be noise.
There's so much noise.
What you're doing, having that
personal, human interaction--
we're social beings.
It's why nothing has
killed the movies.
The movie theaters won't go away
the way record stores and video
stores went away.
Theaters won't go away.
That's because people want
to be with other people.
It's why restaurants
will never go away.
Nobody says, well, how did
the restaurant survive?
Everybody's got a kitchen
in their home now.
[LAUGHTER]
Because they like to go out.
And they like to
be around strangers
and eat in front of strangers.
That's who we are as humans.
And we want to sit in a dark
room with 200 other people.
The video store, you were taking
that home to watch, sometimes
by yourself.
Or the record or the CD, you
were putting in your ears.
That's not the movies.
In fact, I honestly, I'm
very anti watching a movie
on that laptop or on your phone.
You are not watching
a movie if you're
watching it on your phone.
You're watching something.
But as the filmmaker,
it's not the way
I intended it-- I made this
to be seen on a big screen.
I meant it to be experienced
socially, not personally.
You can watch the
"Lawrence of Arabia"
or the current "Star
Wars" on your phone.
But you're not
watching "Star Wars."
That's not the way they
intended that to be seen.
The US Postal Service
issued the "Mona Lisa" stamp
many years ago.
That was not the "Mona Lisa."
That was a stamp with a
"Mona Lisa" on the stamp
or a depiction of the
"Mona Lisa" on the stamp.
But you have not
seen the "Mona Lisa"
unless you go to
that museum in Paris.
So you have not seen my movie if
you've watched it on an iPhone
or on a computer screen
or even on a TV screen.
That's just not the way.
You need to go
out to the movies.
You need to go into
a movie theater.
And I feel very
passionate about this.
In fact, I have restored
movie theaters in Michigan.
And I set them up as
nonprofits and run them.
And I program them.
And I have really just one
rule, other than that everybody
should be able to buy
soda and popcorn for $2.
That's rule one--
don't rip people off.
And the second rule is if you
are caught on your cellphone
during the movie, you are banned
from the theater for life.
[LAUGHTER]
It really works.
KEVIN VLK: Wow.
MICHAEL MOORE: Because this
is not the place for that.
As much as I am a proponent
of the devices and technology
and social media or
whatever, that is just--
I read some crazy
statistic that 17% of guys
admit to having looked over
at their phone during sex.
What's-- wow.
What's going on?
KEVIN VLK: You're looking at me
like I'm guilty or something.
MICHAEL MOORE: No!
KEVIN VLK: Like my fiance
just called you and was
like, so, Kevin--
[LAUGHTER]
MICHAEL MOORE: I just
don't understand.
I don't understand that.
I don't know.
But I don't want
us to become that.
Stay human.
Use these things like
she said, for the good.
But stay human.
KEVIN VLK: So two more.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
I'm an American, clearly,
who started traveling abroad
a lot several years ago.
And it took me a
long time to stop
thinking America was
the best at everything
and to become less
defensive and be
able to take criticism
and be open-minded.
And I wonder how
can Michael Moore
make a movie that would
actually speak to Republicans
and get them to learn
what me, as sort
of a Democrat or an
open-minded person,
would get from this movie?
[LAUGHTER]
MICHAEL MOORE: I made it.
It's this movie.
It's this movie.
They've already-- the
studios already tested it
amongst conservatives.
AUDIENCE: Really?
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
Yeah, now, I'm not talk about
the 20% who are way over here
on the far right.
They're kind of lost souls.
You know, the people that
believe that Adam and Eve rode
on dinosaurs 6,000 years ago.
God bless them, but
I can't help them.
But there's a
whole bunch in here
who call themselves
conservatives.
But they actually believe if
women are doing the same work,
they should be paid the
same amount of money.
And they want to drink clean
water and breathe clean air.
And they want their kids to
go to really good schools.
And they're for a
lot of good things,
they just don't
like being taxed.
They don't like sharing their
money with other people.
They hate the poor
like it's a disease.
But they at least will
have an open mind.
And they've tested this.
And it's tested-- I
went to a screening
out in Westport, Connecticut
a couple weeks ago.
And then I talked to the
Republicans in the room
afterwards.
And then we went out
to a bar after that.
And it was amazing.
The amount of epiphanies
that these Republicans
had watching this.
First off all, it's
the first film of mine
they've seen
because they've been
told not to see the others.
And I always tell a
Republican, I say, you know,
I don't want you to
change your mind.
But if you'll just
watch any of my films,
you'll know three things right
away-- I love this country,
I have a heart, and you're
going to laugh at least a
half a dozen times
during the movie.
I can guarantee you
those three things.
And you don't have to change
your politics at the end of it.
But maybe it'll make you think
a little bit about some things.
And like you say,
you reach that point
where you realize we're not
number one at everything.
We're not the greatest
thing ever invented.
But you love this country.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHAEL MOORE: You don't
want to live anywhere else.
AUDIENCE: Well--
MICHAEL MOORE: Well,
after watching this movie!
[LAUGHTER]
You can't leave!
You have to say and
help make it better.
Sorry.
KEVIN VLK: All right.
One quick one.
AUDIENCE: Not sure
if it's a quick one.
But first of all, I live
in Westport, Connecticut.
So I can relate to that.
And second of all, it's great
that you make all these movies.
I love them and a lot of others.
I just went to watch
Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq."
And I was really
impressed with the movie,
and I wish more
people would watch it.
But the theatre was half-empty,
even if it was an opening
weekend.
And the turnout was really
small, to be honest.
So my question is, movies are
awesome and they're open-ended.
Articles are great.
But beyond the movies, how
do we reach the, maybe, 80%,
90% of the population
who are just
too busy to watch the movies
or too-- much more concerned
with making ends meet
and feed the family?
MICHAEL MOORE: Well,
that's the problem.
All art suffers--
all art suffers
when the majority
of the population
is living from
paycheck to paycheck.
That story last week that the
majority of Americans now--
the majority of Americans--
if they had an emergency,
don't have $400.
If they needed $400 tonight,
they have it nowhere.
They'd have to sell
something or borrow it.
You've got so many people
working a second job.
The Germans laughing at me
there, the idea of a second job
is insane to them.
AUDIENCE: Right.
So how do you get those
people to actually start--
MICHAEL MOORE: We have to
fix the economic system
in this country that is driving
people's heads into the ground.
That's what we have to stop,
this massive transfer of wealth
to the upper 0.1% because it's
making everybody else scramble
so hard and worry
for their survival
that they don't have
time to go to the movies
or write that poem
or sing that song.
And we've made our
entertainment so out
of the reach of working people.
What's it cost to
go to a Knicks game?
I went to U2 last summer.
That was $280.
What's it cost to-- I mean,
the movies are the last place,
and even that, it's too much.
I don't charge more than
$8.50 at my theater,
and that includes
3D, no extra charge.
That's a rip-off.
I don't charge you more money
because the movie's three
hours instead of two
hours or two hours instead
of 90 minutes.
But that's what has to change.
The oligarchy, the
people that exist
at the top that are running
the show, the small number
of people that own 90% of
the wealth in this country,
are setting it up
so the rest of us
just can't frigging enjoy life.
And that has to change.
That has to change.
And it can change.
We can make it
change legally, too.
That would just require
a Bernie Sanders.
Imagine him as president.
It's not an endorsement.
I'm just saying.
I like Hillary.
I'm just saying, not going
to change with Hilary.
Then again, she could end
up being our Pope Francis.
Like, where did that come from?
All of a sudden
there's a pope that
says gay people aren't
going to burn in hell.
So things can change.
Things can get better.
But I really
believe that this is
a great question you've raised.
That the theater would be
half-empty for Spike's film,
such an important movie.
But my question maybe
to you, all of you
and you, who has sex
in strange ways--
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN VLK: Distracted.
MICHAEL MOORE: I would
call it distractive sex.
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
But honey, Michael
Moore just tweeted.
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN VLK: We're going
to edit all this out.
MICHAEL MOORE: No,
but I would ask you,
your generation--
this is the generation
where you're not going
to the theater as much
to watch movies.
Why is that?
Why?
I mean, it's a serious-- not
a philosophical question.
I mean, it's--
KEVIN VLK: Lazy.
MICHAEL MOORE: Lazy.
KEVIN VLK: It's
easier to get a--
MICHAEL MOORE: It's easier
to watch it on the computer?
KEVIN VLK: It's
easily attainable.
MICHAEL MOORE:
Easily attainable.
KEVIN VLK: But there
are-- I don't know what
category everyone falls into.
But for me personally,
there are some films where
I will actually go out and
see them because I'm like,
I need to see that
on the big screen.
And some, I'm just like, hmm.
I can wait.
MICHAEL MOORE: Right.
So for an action film, you want
to see that on the big screen.
KEVIN VLK: You want to
see everything, right.
MICHAEL MOORE: But
for this, you want
to see this with other people.
Wasn't this a
different experience?
KEVIN VLK: And that
plays into it, as well.
MICHAEL MOORE: In here?
KEVIN VLK: For sure.
MICHAEL MOORE: Or
maybe the movies just
aren't as good anymore.
Maybe there's just too
much crap out there.
KEVIN VLK: Well, everything's
a franchise and stuff.
MICHAEL MOORE: Right?
And so which means
that your generation,
we're not seeing the next
Kubrick or the next Scorsese
or the next whatever.
We're not seeing enough
of the good films made
by people in their 20s and 30s.
KEVIN VLK: Well, and I
know we have to wrap up.
But just one final
point because it
was really, really important.
And it was one of my favorite
moments in the film, as well,
was in Iceland-- the
first woman president
who really inspired so
many young women and girls
to kind of grow up and actually
be more than what society had
kind of painted them
to be, [INAUDIBLE]
oh, these are only
men's jobs or whatever.
And one of the most incredible
things was the company boards,
it's by law that they have to be
at least 40% women or 40% men.
Could be 60% women
and 40% men or it
could be 60% men and 40% women.
But it has to be that.
And she had said,
once you have three
women in the boardroom, that's
when culture starts changing.
One is just a token,
two is a minority,
and three is when the group
dynamics really start changing.
So could that be something
that is a big start in the US,
of something that we could do
to really inspire the change?
MICHAEL MOORE: Yes.
That would be a
great law to pass.
Germany's just passed it.
They're at 30%.
I think that we could
follow the German way easier
than the Scandinavian
or Nordic way.
But yes, obviously, the more
women in the room, the better.
That's so old.
Whoever thought of
that idea that women
shouldn't be at the table?
It's always better
with women around.
Right?
I mean, your generation
already knows this.
There are now more women
in college than men.
Didn't just last year, women
in law school surpass men?
There are now more
women managers and just
the low-level business stuff.
I mean, things are
already changing.
Your generation has helped
to make this change.
But we're going to be
better off with women
having a strong say--
not a token say,
but a real strong say.
And I'm not just making--
like trying to bundle
all women into one group thing.
There's lots of
examples of women
that have done horrible things.
Well, a couple women I know.
But not a whole lot.
But I just think
that we're all going
to be better off in that way.
Weren't your mothers like that?
Didn't your mothers raise
you to believe that,
whether you're men or women?
It's crazy to walk into a room
and have just a bunch of guys.
You're never going to get
the best work, the best
product, the best anything.
And in tech, this
is a real issue,
that you don't want to
shut women out of this
because that next
great invention
or that next great
thought is going
to come from what they
bring to the table
that you don't have as a man.
KEVIN VLK: Well, and they're
starting to change that.
I mean, we have this whole
campaign with Made with Code.
We're starting to teach little
girls about-- in a fun way.
They paired up with
Pixar and Disney
to do the Made
with Code campaign
and with "Inside Out" and stuff.
So it was really good to kind
of get these girls when they're
young instead of say, hey.
You can also be an engineer.
Hey, you could do this.
And kind of teach
them at a young age
so they're just not
trying to figure it
out when they're older.
MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
I hope that came
through in the film
that I'm really a
big believer in this
and that we'll have a
better world when it's
a shared world and
not just you and I
because we have a Y
chromosome and not
the second X. It would have been
an X, but one of the quadrants
fell off, making it a Y. It's
my firm belief that that missing
part of our second X
has the volume control,
has the ability to ask for
directions, aesthetics.
There's a whole bunch of things.
Why do women do
better on the SATs?
That's in there somewhere.
And I just want to say before we
close, too, that your main dude
here, Larry.
KEVIN VLK: Larry Page.
MICHAEL MOORE: The
godfather, yes, of Google,
is a Michigander,
is from Michigan.
Anybody knew that?
Did anybody know that in here?
Yes?
So just another great thing
that we've given the world.
[LAUGHTER]
KEVIN VLK: Well, thank you.
MICHAEL MOORE:
Thank you very much.
KEVIN VLK: Yeah.
Thank you so much.
"Where to Invade Next"
is out, I think--
MICHAEL MOORE: February 12.
KEVIN VLK: February 12.
And that's right in the
middle of the election cycle.
MICHAEL MOORE: Yes.
Yes.
We're in theaters the week
of the New Hampshire primary.
KEVIN VLK: Perfect timing.
Thank you so much, Michael.
MICHAEL MOORE:
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
