Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker,
author, social critic, and political activist.
He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit
9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary
of all time and winner of the Palme d'Or.
His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko
also placed in the top ten highest-grossing
documentaries, and the former won the Academy
Award for Documentary Feature. In September
2008, he released his first free movie on
the Internet, Slacker Uprising, which documented
his personal quest to encourage more Americans
to vote in presidential elections. He has
also written and starred in the TV shows TV
Nation and The Awful Truth.
Moore's written and cinematic works criticize
globalization, large corporations, assault
weapon ownership, U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton
and George W. Bush, the Iraq War, the American
health care system, and capitalism.
Early life
Moore was born in Flint, Michigan and raised
in Davison, a suburb of Flint, by parents
Helen Veronica, a secretary, and Francis Richard
"Frank" Moore, an automotive assembly-line
worker. At that time, the city of Flint was
home to many General Motors factories, where
his parents and grandfather worked. His uncle
LaVerne was one of the founders of the United
Automobile Workers labor union and participated
in the Flint Sit-Down Strike.
Moore was brought up Catholic, and has Irish
and English ancestry. He attended parochial
St. John's Elementary School for primary school
and later attended St. Paul's Seminary in
Saginaw, Michigan, for a year. He then attended
Davison High School, where he was active in
both drama and debate, graduating in 1972.
As a member of the Boy Scouts of America,
he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. At the
age of 18, he was elected to the Davison school
board. At the time he was the youngest person
elected to office in the U.S.
Career
Moore dropped out of the University of Michigan–Flint
following his first year. At 22 he founded
the alternative weekly magazine The Flint
Voice, which soon changed its name to The
Michigan Voice as it expanded to cover the
entire state. In 1986, when Moore became the
editor of Mother Jones, a liberal political
magazine, he moved to California and The Michigan
Voice was shut down.
After four months at Mother Jones, Moore was
fired. Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard
reported this was for refusing to print an
article by Paul Berman that was critical of
the Sandinista human rights record in Nicaragua.
Moore refused to run the article, believing
it to be inaccurate. "The article was flatly
wrong and the worst kind of patronizing bullshit.
You would scarcely know from it that the United
States had been at war with Nicaragua for
the last five years." Moore believes that
Mother Jones fired him because of the publisher's
refusal to allow him to cover a story on the
GM plant closings in his hometown of Flint,
Michigan. He responded by putting laid-off
GM worker Ben Hamper on the magazine's cover,
leading to his termination. Moore sued for
wrongful dismissal, and settled out of court
for $58,000, providing him with seed money
for his first film, Roger & Me.
Directing/producing
Roger & Me
Moore first became famous for his Emmy Award
winning 1989 film, Roger & Me, a documentary
about what happened to Flint, Michigan, after
General Motors closed its factories and opened
new ones in Mexico, where the workers were
paid much less. Since then Moore has become
known as a critic of the neoliberal view of
globalization. "Roger" is Roger B. Smith,
former CEO and president of General Motors.
Harlan Jacobson, editor of Film Comment magazine,
said that Moore muddled the chronology in
Roger & Me to make it seem that events that
took place before G.M.’s layoffs were a
consequence of them. Critic Roger Ebert defended
Moore's handling of the timeline as an artistic
and stylistic choice that had less to do with
his credibility as a filmmaker and more to
do with the flexibility of film as a medium
to express a satiric viewpoint.
Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint
(1992) is a short documentary film that was
aired on PBS. It is based on Roger & Me. The
film's title refers to Rhonda Britton, a Flint,
Michigan, resident featured in both the 1989
and 1992 films who sells rabbits as either
pets or meat.
Canadian Bacon
In 1995, Moore released a satirical film,
Canadian Bacon, which features a fictional
US president engineering a fake war with Canada
in order to boost his popularity. It is noted
for containing a number of Canadian and American
stereotypes, and for being Moore's only non-documentary
film. The film is also one of the last featuring
Canadian-born actor John Candy, and also features
a number of cameos by other Canadian actors.
In the film, several potential enemies for
America's next great campaign are discussed
by the president and his cabinet. The President
comments that declaring war on Canada was
as ridiculous as declaring war on international
terrorism. His military adviser, played by
Rip Torn, quickly rebuffs this idea, saying
that no one would care about "a bunch of guys
driving around blowing up rent-a-cars."
The Big One
In 1997, Moore directed The Big One, which
documents the tour publicizing his book Downsize
This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American,
in which he criticizes mass layoffs despite
record corporate profits. Among others, he
targets Nike for outsourcing shoe production
to Indonesia.
Bowling for Columbine
This 2002 film probes the culture of guns
and violence in the United States, taking
as a starting point the Columbine High School
massacre of 1999. Bowling for Columbine won
the Anniversary Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film
Festival and France's César Award as the
Best Foreign Film. In the United States, it
won the 2002 Academy Award for Documentary
Feature. It also enjoyed great commercial
and critical success for a film of its type
and became, at the time, the highest-grossing
mainstream-released documentary. It was praised
by some for illuminating a subject avoided
by the mainstream media.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Examines America in the aftermath of the September
11, 2001 attacks, particularly the record
of the Bush administration and alleged links
between the families of George W. Bush and
Osama bin Laden. Fahrenheit was awarded the
Palme d'Or, the top honor at the 2004 Cannes
Film Festival; it was the first documentary
film to win the prize since 1956. Moore later
announced that Fahrenheit 9/11 would not be
in consideration for the 2005 Academy Award
for Documentary Feature, but instead for the
Academy Award for Best Picture. He stated
he wanted the movie to be seen by a few million
more people via a television broadcast prior
to election day. According to Moore, "Academy
rules forbid the airing of a documentary on
television within nine months of its theatrical
release", and since the November 2 election
was fewer than nine months after the film's
release, it would have been disqualified for
the Documentary Oscar. However, Fahrenheit
received no Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
The title of the film alludes to the classic
book Fahrenheit 451 about a future totalitarian
state in which books are banned; according
to the book, paper begins to burn at 451 °F.
The pre-release subtitle of the film confirms
the allusion: "The temperature at which freedom
burns."
As of August 2012, Fahrenheit 9/11 is the
highest-grossing documentary of all time,
taking in over US$200 million worldwide,
including United States box office revenue
of almost US$120 million. In February 2011,
Moore sued producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein
for US$2.7 million in unpaid profits from
the film, claiming they used "Hollywood accounting
tricks" to avoid paying him the money. In
February 2012, Moore and the Weinsteins informed
the court that they had settled their dispute.
Sicko
Moore directed this film about the American
health care system, focusing particularly
on the managed-care and pharmaceutical industries.
At least four major pharmaceutical companies—Pfizer,
Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline—ordered
their employees not to grant any interviews
or assist Moore. According to Moore on a letter
at his website, "roads that often surprise
us and lead us to new ideas—and challenge
us to reconsider the ones we began with have
caused some minor delays." The film premiered
at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2007,
receiving a lengthy standing ovation, and
was released in the U.S. and Canada on June
29, 2007. The film was the subject of some
controversy when it became known that Moore
went to Cuba with chronically ill September
11 rescue workers to shoot parts of the film.
The United States is looking into whether
this violates the trade embargo. The film
is currently ranked the fourth highest grossing
documentary of all time and received an Academy
Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
Captain Mike Across America
Moore takes a look at the politics of college
students in what he calls "Bush Administration
America" with this film shot during Moore's
60-city college campus tour in the months
leading up to George Bush's 2004 presidential
election. The film was later re-edited by
Moore into Slacker Uprising.
Capitalism: A Love Story
On September 23, 2009, Moore released a new
movie titled Capitalism: A Love Story, which
looks at the late-2000s financial crisis and
the U.S. economy during the transition between
the incoming Obama Administration and the
outgoing Bush Administration. Addressing a
press conference at its release, Moore said,
"Democracy is not a spectator sport, it's
a participatory event. If we don't participate
in it, it ceases to be a democracy. So Obama
will rise or fall based not so much on what
he does but on what we do to support him."
Writing
Moore has written and co-written eight non-fiction
books, mostly on similar subject matter to
his documentaries. Stupid White Men is ostensibly
a critique of American domestic and foreign
policy but, by Moore's own admission, is also
"a book of political humor." Dude, Where's
My Country?, is an examination of the Bush
family's relationships with Saudi royalty,
the Bin Laden family, and the energy industry,
and a call-to-action for liberals in the 2004
election. Several of his works have made bestseller
lists.
Acting
Moore has dabbled in acting, following a supporting
role in Lucky Numbers playing the cousin of
Lisa Kudrow's character, who agrees to be
part of the scheme concocted by John Travolta's
character. He also had a cameo in his Canadian
Bacon as an anti-Canada activist. In 2004,
he did a cameo, as a news journalist, in The
Fever, starring Vanessa Redgrave in the lead.
Television
Between 1994 and 1995, he directed and hosted
the BBC television series TV Nation, which
followed the format of news magazine shows
but covered topics they avoid. The series
aired on BBC2 in the UK. The series was also
aired in the US on NBC in 1994 for 9 episodes
and again for 8 episodes on Fox in 1995.
His other major series was The Awful Truth,
which satirized actions by big corporations
and politicians. It aired on Channel 4 in
the UK, and the Bravo network in the US, in
1999 and 2000. Moore won the Hugh M. Hefner
First Amendment Award in Arts and Entertainment
for being the executive producer and host
of The Awful Truth, where he was also described
as "muckraker, author and documentary filmmaker".
Another 1999 series, Michael Moore Live, was
aired in the UK only on Channel 4, though
it was broadcast from New York. This show
had a similar format to The Awful Truth, but
also incorporated phone-ins and a live stunt
each week.
Music videos
Moore has directed several music videos, including
two for Rage Against the Machine for songs
from The Battle of Los Angeles: "Sleep Now
in the Fire" and "Testify". He was threatened
with arrest during the shooting of "Sleep
Now in the Fire", which was filmed on Wall
Street; and subsequently the city of New York
City had denied the band permission to play
there, even though the band and Moore had
secured a federal permit to perform.
Moore also directed the videos for R.E.M.
single "All the Way to Reno" in 2001 and the
System of a Down song "Boom!".
Appearances in other documentaries
Moore appeared in The Drugging of Our Children,
a 2005 documentary about over-prescription
of psychiatric medication to children and
teenagers, directed by Gary Null a proponent
of Alternative Medicine. In the film Moore
agrees with Gary Null that Ritalin and other
similar drugs are over-prescribed, saying
that they are seen as a "pacifier."
Moore appeared on fellow Flint natives Grand
Funk Railroad's edition of Behind The Music.
Moore appeared as an off-camera interviewer
in Blood in the Face, a 1991 documentary about
white supremacy groups. At the center of the
film is a neo-Nazi gathering in Michigan.
Moore appeared in the 2001 documovie The Party's
Over discussing Democrats and Republicans.
Moore appeared in The Yes Men, a 2003 documentary
about two men who pose as the World Trade
Organization. He appears during a segment
concerning working conditions in Mexico and
Latin America.
Moore briefly appears in Alex Jones's documentary
Martial Law 9/11: Rise of the Police State.
Jones criticises Moore for not going into
more depth about the World Trade Center attacks
in Fahrenheit 9/11, particularly about NORAD
standing down, and for portraying George W.
Bush as an unassuming frontman instead of
an active conspirator in 9/11. Jones manages
to ask Moore why he didn't mention NORAD standing
down, and Moore swiftly answers that "it would
be un-American."
Moore was interviewed for the 2004 documentary,
The Corporation. One of his highlighted quotes
was: "The problem is the profit motive: for
corporations, there's no such thing as enough."
Moore appeared in the 2006 documentary I'm
Going to Tell You a Secret, which chronicles
Madonna's 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. Moore
attended her show in New York City at Madison
Square Garden.
Political views
Although Moore has been noted for his political
activism, he rejects being labeled as a "political
activist" saying such a description is redundant
as a citizen of a democracy: "I and you and
everyone else has to be a political activist.
If we're not politically active, it ceases
to be a democracy." According to John Flesher
of the Associated Press, Moore is known for
his "fiery left-wing populism," and publications
such as the Socialist Worker Online have hailed
him as the "new Tom Paine."
Moore was a high-profile guest at both the
2004 Democratic National Convention and the
2004 Republican National Convention, chronicling
his impressions in USA Today. He was criticized
in a speech by Republican Senator John McCain
as "a disingenuous film-maker." Moore laughed
and waved as Republican attendees jeered,
later chanting "four more years." Moore gestured
his thumb and finger at the crowd, which translates
into "loser."
During September and October 2004, Moore spoke
at universities and colleges in swing states
during his "Slacker Uprising Tour". The tour
gave away ramen and underwear to students
who promised to vote. One stop during the
tour was Utah Valley State College. A fight
for his right to speak resulted in massive
public debates and a media blitz. The Utah
event was chronicled in the documentary film
This Divided State.
Despite having supported Ralph Nader in the
2000 presidential election, Moore urged Nader
not to run in 2004 so as not to split the
left vote. On Real Time with Bill Maher, Moore
and Maher knelt before Nader to plead with
him to stay out of the race.
Moore drew attention in 2004 when he used
the term "deserter" when he introduced Retired
Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark at a Democratic
Presidential debate in New Hampshire. Noting
that Clark had been a champion debater at
West Point, Moore told a laughing crowd, "I
know what you're thinking. I want to see that
debate" between Clark and [George W.] Bush
– "the general versus the deserter." Moore
said he was referring to published reports
in several media outlets including The Boston
Globe which had reported that "there is strong
evidence that Bush performed no military service
as required when he moved from Houston to
Alabama to work on a U.S. Senate campaign
from May to November 1972."
In 2007 Moore became a contributing journalist
at OpEdNews, and by May 2014 had authored
over 70 articles published on their website.
On April 21, 2008, Moore endorsed Barack Obama
for President, stating that Hillary Clinton's
recent actions had been "disgusting." Moore
was an active supporter of the Occupy Wall
Street protest in New York City and spoke
with the OWS protesters on September 26, 2011.
On October 29, 2011, he spoke at the Occupy
Oakland protest site to express his support.
Moore praised Django Unchained, tweeting that
the movie "is one of the best film satires
ever. A rare American movie on slavery and
the origins of our sick racist history."
Moore's 2011 claims that "Four hundred obscenely
wealthy individuals, 400 little Mubaraks – most
of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion-dollar
taxpayer bailout of 2008 – now have more
cash, stock and property than the assets of
155 million Americans combined" and that these
400 Americans "have more wealth than half
of all Americans combined" was found to be
true by PolitiFact and others.
In an op-ed piece for The New York Times published
on December 31, 2013, Moore assessed the Affordable
Care Act, calling it “awful” and adding
that, “Obamacare’s rocky start ... is
a result of one fatal flaw: The Affordable
Care Act is a pro-insurance-industry plan
implemented by a president who knew in his
heart that a single-payer, Medicare-for-all
model was the true way to go.” Despite his
strong critique, however, Moore wrote that
he still considers the plan a “godsend”
because it provides a start "to get what we
deserve: universal quality health care.”
Personal life
Moore married movie producer Kathleen Glynn
on October 19, 1991. He filed for divorce
on June 17, 2013. At the time of his divorce,
he was estimated to have a net worth of $50
million. On July 22, 2014, the divorce was
finalized.
Moore is a Catholic, but has said he disagrees
with church teaching on subjects such as abortion
and same-sex marriage.
Following the Columbine High School massacre,
Moore acquired a lifetime membership to the
National Rifle Association. Moore said that
he initially intended to become the NRA's
president to dismantle the organization, but
he soon dismissed the plan as too difficult.
Gun rights supporters such as Dave Kopel claimed
that there was no chance of that happening;
David T. Hardy and Jason Clarke wrote that
Moore failed to discover that the NRA selects
a president not by membership vote but by
a vote of the board of directors.
In 2005 Time magazine named Moore one of the
world's 100 most influential people. Later
in 2005, Moore founded the Traverse City Film
Festival held annually in Traverse City, Michigan.
In 2009, he co-founded the Traverse City Comedy
Festival, also held annually in Traverse City,
where Moore helped spearhead the renovation
of the historic downtown State Theater.
Published work
Bibliography
Moore, Michael. Downsize This! Random Threats
from an Unarmed American. New York: HarperPerennial.
ISBN 0-06-097733-7. 
Moore, Michael; Glynn, Kathleen. Adventures
in a TV Nation. New York: HarperPerennial.
ISBN 0-06-098809-6. 
Moore, Michael. Stupid White Men ...and Other
Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!.
New York: Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-039245-2. 
Moore, Michael. Dude, Where's My Country?.
New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-53223-1. 
Moore, Michael. Will They Ever Trust Us Again?.
New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-7152-1. 
Moore, Michael. The Official Fahrenheit 9/11
Reader. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-7292-7. 
Moore, Michael. Mike's Election Guide 2008.
New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-54627-5. 
Moore, Michael. Here Comes Trouble: Stories
from My Life. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
ISBN 0-446-53224-X. 
Filmography
Roger & Me
Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint
Canadian Bacon
The Big One
EDtv
Lucky Numbers
The Party's Over
Bowling for Columbine
Fahrenheit 9/11
Sicko
Captain Mike Across America
Slacker Uprising
Capitalism: A Love Story
Television series
TV Nation
The Awful Truth
Michael Moore Live
References
External links
General
Official website
Michael Moore at the Internet Movie Database
The Populist: Michael Moore Can Make You Cry
/ New Yorker
America's Teacher by Naomi Klein, The Nation,
September 23, 2009
Interviews
A 2007 NOW on PBS interview with Michael Moore
Michael Moore on His Life, His Films and His
Activism – video interview by Democracy
Now!
Michael Moore on 2010 Midterm Elections, the
Tea Party, and the Future of the Democratic
Party
In Depth interview with Moore, October 2,
2011
