Moore, Michael 1954–

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Moore, Michael 1954–

PERSONAL: Born April 23, 1954, in Davison, MI; son of Frank (an assembly line worker) and Veronica (a secretary) Moore; married Kathleen Glynn. Education: Attended University of Michigan, Flint.

ADDRESSES: Office—c/o Dog Eat Dog Films, P.O. Box 831, Radio City Station, New York, NY 10101-0831. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer, screenwriter, movie director, and movie producer. Became youngest public-school board member in U.S. at the age of eighteen, 1972; founded a crisis intervention center, 1976; Radio Free Flint (weekly radio show), founder and producer; Flint Voice (alternative newspaper; later called Michigan Voice), Flint, MI, founder and editor, 1976–85; All Things Considered, National Public Radio, commentator, 1985; Mother Jones magazine, San Francisco, CA, editor, 1986; Dog Eat Dog Films, founder, 1986–.

Director, producer, and actor in films, including Roger & Me, Warner Bros., 1989; Canadian Bacon, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1994; The Big One, BBC/Dog Eat Dog, 1997; and Bowling for Columbine, Dog Eat Dog, 2002. Also appeared in the film Blood in the Face, 1991. Director, executive producer, creator, and correspondent of the television series TV Nation, National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), 1994, Fox, beginning 1995. Director of television specials, including (also producer) Pets or Meat, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 1992; Rock the Vote, Fox, 1992; (also host) TV Nation: Year-in-Review Special, NBC, 1994; and The Michael Moore Pre-Election Special, In Demand, 2004.

MEMBER: Writers Guild, Directors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

AWARDS, HONORS: Best of show awards at Telluride Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival, Vancouver Film Festival, and Toronto Film Festival, Eddie Award for best-edited documentary, Berlin Film Festival Audience Award, National Society of Film Critics award for best documentary, National Board of Review award for best documentary, Los Angeles Society of Film Critics award for best documentary, and New York Film Critics Circle award for best documentary, all 1989, all for Roger & Me; Emmy Award for outstanding informational series, 1995, for TV Nation; Special 55th Anniversary Prize, Cannes film festival, 2002, and Academy Award for best documentary and Writers Guild of America award for best original screenplay, both 2003, both for Bowling for Columbine; British Book Award for Book of the Year for Stupid White Men, 2003; W.H. Smith Award, 2004, for Dude, Where's My Country?

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Downsize This!, Crown (New York, NY), 1996.

(Coauthor) Adventures in a TV Nation, HarperPerennial (New York, NY), 1998.

Stupid White Men: and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!, ReganBooks (New York, NY), 2002.

Dude, Where's My Country?, Warner (New York, NY), 2003.

The Official 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Reader, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Will They Ever Trust Us Again?, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

The World According to Michael Moore: An Unauthorized Portrait in His Own Words, edited and collected by Ken Lawrence, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 2004.

SCREENPLAYS

(And director and producer) Roger & Me, Warner Bros., 1989.

(And director and producer) Canadian Bacon, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1995.

(And director) The Big One, Dog Eat Dog Films, 1997.

(And director and producer) Bowling for Columbine, Dog Eat Dog Films, 2002.

(And director and producer) Fahrenheit 9/11, Lion's Gate Films, 2004.

Also screenwriter for the film A Brief History of the United States, 2002, Sicko, c. 2006, and Fahrenheit 9/11 1/2, c. 2007.

TELEPLAYS

(And director and producer) Pets or Meat, PBS, 1992.

(And director and producer) TV Nation: Year-in-Review Special, NBC, 1994.

(And director and producer) TV Nation, NBC, 1994, Fox, beginning 1995.

(And director and producer) The Awful Truth, Bravo Cable, 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Leftist gadfly, documentary filmmaker, and political humor author Michael Moore is "a hybrid of two Ralphs—Kramden and Nader," according to Ginia Bellafante in her Time review of Moore's series, TV Nation. That satirical news show, although not a commercial hit, made a resounding impact on the audience when it appeared on NBC in the summer of 1994; and it served as one more step in Moore's career as a controversial voice of blue-collar American dissent. Born in Flint, Michigan, to a working-class family, Moore early showed signs of political activism mixed with entertainment value when he became, in 1976, the nation's youngest elected member of a school board. Founding an alternative radio show, an alternative weekly newspaper, and a crisis intervention center were among the other civic activities that kept the future filmmaker too busy to complete college at the University of Michigan at Flint.

Moore ran the Flint Voice, which later became the Michigan Voice, from 1976 to 1985, by which time he was established enough in the world of alternative journalism to find posts as a commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and on the editorial staff of Mother Jones magazine. His firing from the liberal Mother Jones, reportedly for political radicalism, raised something of a publicity stir. Soon afterward, Moore surfaced as an independent documentary filmmaker with his own production company, Dog Eat Dog Productions.

This began the second, more public, phase of his career. He spent the next two-and-a-half years working on his documentary feature, Roger & Me, which deals with the effects of the closing of a major General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan. Flint is the birthplace of General Motors as well as Moore's hometown; his father had worked for GM. In the late 1980s, the auto company opened eleven plants in Mexico and closed the Flint plant in an effort to reduce labor costs. Moore's strategy for the movie was to attempt to get an interview with GM chief executive Roger Smith, the "Roger" of the film's title (Moore was the "Me"). When he was unable to reach Smith, he made his unsuccessful attempts to do so a major thread of the film's comedy. Viewers saw Moore in humorous situations repeatedly being blocked by security guards or secretaries, and in the end, fleetingly brushed off by Smith himself; such scenes were interwoven with interviews with Flint citizens.

Moore's first film, released in 1989, was successful both critically and commercially. After only six days of a four-screen, limited-run engagement, it had grossed eighty thousand dollars, placing it in a league with successful Hollywood features of that season; eventually, it became the largest-grossing documentary of all time. Moore's persona, much in evidence on the screen, gave the movie much of its appeal: he was overweight and long-haired and sported a baseball cap, making him seem like an ordinary American guy.

Moore often asks questions of celebrities and executives in his film that challenge them to defend themselves on the spot; in the opinion of New Republic contributor Stanley Kauffmann, however, Moore generally "lets the facts and people speak for themselves" rather than overstating. Wrote Kauffmann, "doubtless GM has its own version of the events in Flint; doubtless too they have the means to publicize it. Meanwhile, Moore, with somewhat smaller means, has presented in a sardonic film the plight of those with even smaller means." Bruce Bawer of the American Spectator, commented: "Moore makes his viewers feel sensitive to the problems of Flint even as he panders to their insensitivity."

Moore followed Roger & Me with a short film, Pets or Meat. Then, in 1994, Moore wrote, produced and directed Canadian Bacon, a feature film starring John Candy, Alan Alda, Rhea Perlman, and other celebrity names. In this satirical comedy, the president, played by Alda, attempts to boost his failing career and the sagging economy by creating a nationwide Cold War-type animosity and paranoia towards Canada and then declaring war on the neighboring country.

Moore ventured into the world of network television with a satirical weekly newsmagazine, TV Nation. The series aired for seven weeks in the summer of 1994 and returned for the summer of 1995. The approach was similar to that of Roger & Me, except that now Moore and his staff took their video cameras to investigate a diverse set of issues, each for a segment of a few minutes. In one much-noted segment, he challenged chief executives of major corporations to perform the manual tasks their workers performed; the only one who took up the challenge was Ford's Alex Trotman, who successfully changed the oil in a jeep. Stories were also done on such subjects as pets who took Prozac, AIDS profiteers, the American invasion of Iraq, and the tendency of cab drivers to refuse black passengers.

According to Ginia Bellafante in Time: "The comedian and the reformer lurk within Moore, and just as he did with Roger & Me, he winningly manages to express both these sides of himself on TV Nation." Calling the show "television with a point of view," Bellafante admitted that it sometimes "veer[s] from satire toward simpleminded didacticism." However, she approvingly quoted Moore's own statement of his aim for the show: "I want people to be angry; I want them to get up and do something."

James Wolcott of the New Yorker commented: "No question, television needs journalism with a point of view, a committed punch. TV Nation does plug a gap." Wolcott also called TV Nation a "blatant shotgun wedding of David Letterman put-on and Studs Terkel populism."

Moore's book, Downsize This!, was published in 1996. In print, his approach is much the same as on camera: he wisecracks about the injustices and follies of corporate America, suggesting that the United States rename itself USAWorld and move its capital to Tijuana to save money. Moore's targets now include not only corporations but also unions and Democrats as well as Republicans. Wrote Anita Gates in the New York Times Book Review: "If the collection of tirades is here to stay as a publishing genre,… Downsize This! is at least an entertaining example." Gates went on to note, "Mr. Moore has a real talent for cutting through the garbage, digging out the important points and serving them up in delightful, outrageous, sometimes irrefutable ways." A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the work "a scathing, funny book packed with facts" and "a mordant satire that will leave both conservatives and liberals reeling with embarrassment." Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper commented: "Moore's wit is as dry as a martini and as outrageous as, well." Cooper also wrote: "This is a book that makes you think as hard as you laugh."

Indeed, the book as a sales phenomenon made people think, too, for during his publicity tour, Moore weighed in on the side of a campaign to unionize the chain bookstore Borders. He also kept a crew on hand to make a documentary of the tour itself. Around the same time, during the fall of 1996, Moore began work on another feature documentary about a large corporation. This time, his target was Nike, the maker of sports shoes, a company often criticized for its labor practices. The documentary, titled The Big One, received a positive response on the film festival circuit in the fall of 1997.

In his book Stupid White Men: and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!, Moore once again takes a critical look at American politics and society and the "white men" who overwhelming lead business and government in the United States. Robert Lexier, writing in Briarpatch, noted: "Moore examines topics ranging from the environment to the education system, from the corporatization of the United States to the illegal occupation of the White House." Lexier went on to write that the "book offers an honest and critical examination of the problems facing, and caused by, the American Empire." Writing in the New Internationalist, David Ranson, commented: "This truly wonderful book occasionally misfires but even then the noise adds to the overall effect of a direct, humane, deeply serious and joyfully hilarious assault."

Bowling for Columbine is a film by Moore that examines the issues of guns and violence in the United States. In addition to interviews with such seemingly polar opposites as conservative actor Charlton Heston and outrageous musician Marilyn Manson, Moore leads viewers through a wide range of encounters, including an episode in which he is given a gun by a Michigan bank for opening up an account with them. Writing in the Humanist, Erika Waak commented that the film "offers stimulating opinions about the possible contributing factors as to why the United States suffers from so much violence." Chicago Sun-Times contributor Roger Ebert called the documentary "both hilarious and sorrowful." Writing on the Plume-Noire Web site, Sandrine Marques noted that "Moore draws up an uncompromising portrait of his contemporaries, haunted by a desire for security that pushes them to be surrounded by weapons."

Moore examines power in America following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in his book Dude, Where's My Country? This time he focuses on such issues as terrorism and America's invasion of Iraq as he raises questions about the decision to go to war. Arthur Paul Boers, writing in the Christian Century, noted that the author "challenges a national policy of fear and steadily debunks untruths told to justify the war in Iraq." The reviewer went on to note: "If all Moore did was to 'pour contempt' on others, he would be tiresome. But he also critiques liberals for a host of weaknesses." Book contributor Patrick Beach called Dude, Where's My Country? an "entertaining rant."

While Moore has garnered increasingly widespread recognition for his books and films, his next documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, made him a central media figure during the 2004 U.S. presidential elections. The film scathingly attacks the Bush administration, which Moore perceives as a failure both on the domestic and foreign front. Most critics noted that the film was not a fair-minded, evidence-based look at Bush and his colleagues but rather was made to emphasize the author's and other liberal American's opinions. Nevertheless, many found humor in the film, as well as moving moments such as an interview with a mother who lost her son in Iraq. David Denby, writing in the New Yorker, noted that "this is Moore's most powerful movie—the largest in scope, the most resourceful and skillful in means—and the best things in it have little to do with his usual ideological take on American power and George Bush." In a review in Official U.S. Playstation Magazine, a contributor noted that "as one man's cinematic howl against the powers that be …, Fahrenheit 9/11 is unprecedented and powerful."

Fahrenheit 9/11 eclipsed Roger & Me as the most commercially successful documentary ever made, and the author followed the film's success with his book The Official 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Reader, which includes a chapter titled "The Backup and the Evidence." The author carried on his antiwar focus with Will They Ever Trust Us Again?, which features letters from U.S. troops in Iraq and their families. Moore leaves Bush and the Iraq war behind to examine the health system in America in his film Sicko. National Review contributor Mark Steyn called the film "a savage indictment of U.S. health care."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 14, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Newsmakers, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.

PERIODICALS

American Spectator, March, 1990, Bruce Bawer, review of Roger & Me, pp. 29-30.

Australian Screen Education, autumn, 2004, Jane Levin, review of Fahrenheit 9/11, p. 26; summer, 2005, Peter Wilshire, "Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and the US Election: A Case of Missed Opportunity," p. 129.

Book, November-December, 2003, Patrick Beach, review of Dude, Where's My Country?, p. 77.

Booklist, August, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of Downsize This!, p. 1851; January, 1997, review of Downsize This!, p. 763; April 15, 2003, Sue-Ellen Beauregard, review of Bowling for Columbine, p. 1480.

Briarpatch, September, 2002, Robert Lexier, review of Stupid White Men: And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!, p. 30.

British Medical Journal, November 23, 2002, Trevor Jackson, review of Bowling for Columbine, p. 1247.

Business Week, September 9, 1996, Aaron Bernstein, review of Downsize This!, p. 15.

Chicago Sun-Times, October 18, 2002, Roger Ebert, review of Bowling for Columbine.

Christian Century, March 23, 2004, Arthur Paul Boers, review of Dude, Where's My Country?, p. 34.

Christian Science Monitor, November 7, 1996, review of Downsize This!, p. 14.

Cineaste, spring, 2003, Christopher Sharrett and William Luhr, review of Bowling for Columbine, p. 36.

Daily Variety, May 18, 2004, review of Fahrenheit 9/11, p. 2; October 8, 2004, Robert Koehler, "Michael Moore Hates America," p. 6.

Entertainment Weekly, October 11, 1996, Megan Harlan, review of Downsize This!, p. 86.

Film Comment, November-December, 1989, Harlan Jacobson, "Michael & Me," p. 16.

Guardian (London, England), May 17, 2002, Stuart Jeffries, review of Bowling for Columbine.

Humanist, March-April, 2003, Erika Waak, review of Bowling for Columbine, p. 41.

Insight on the News, June 3, 2002, Rex Roberts, review of Stupid White Men, p. 29.

Intelligence Wire, October 9, 2002, review of Bowling for Columbine.

Maclean's, November 25, 1996, Jennifer Wells, review of Downsize This, p. 126.

Metro Magazine, fall, 2004, Dave Hoskin, review of Fahrenheit 9/11, p. 118.

National Review, July 4, 2005, Mark Steyn, review of Sicko, p. 52.

New Internationalist, June, 2002, David Ransom, review of Stupid White Men, p. 31; January-February, 2003, review of Stupid White Men, p. 37; September, 2004, review of Fahrenheit 9/11, p. 30.

New Republic, January 22, 1990, Stanley Kauffmann, review of Roger & Me, pp. 26-28; March 12, 1990, Stanley Kauffmann, review of Roger & Me, p. 28.

Newsweek, October 5, 1992, Jolie Solomon, "'Roger and Me' Redux; Michael Moore Returns to the Scene of the Crime," interview with author, p. 79; July 25, 1994, Cheech Marin, review of TV Nation, p. 59.

New Yorker, January 8, 1990, Pauline Kael, review of Roger & Me, p. 90-93; September 5, 1994, James Wolcott, review of TV Nation, pp. 108-110; June 28, 2004, David Denby, review of Fahrenheit 9/11, p. 108.

New York Times Book Review, December 29, 1996, Anita Gates, review of Downsize This!, p. 11.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine, November 1, 2004, review of Fahrenheit 9/11.

People, October 7, 1996, Mark Bautz, review of Downsize This!, p. 39; July 5, 2004, J.D. Heyman, review of Fahrenheit 9/11, p. 69.

Psychiatric Times, August 1, 2003, review of Bowling for Columbine, p. 88.

Publishers Weekly, July 29, 1996, review of Downsize This!, p. 77; November 25, 1996, p. 12; October 6, 2003, review of Dude, Where's My Country, p. 75.

Spectator, November 27, 2004, Graham Stewart, review of The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader and Will They Ever Trust Us Again?, p. 47.

Time, July 25, 1994, Ginia Bellafante, review of TV Nation, p. 64.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), February 2, 1997, review of Downsize This!, p. 6.

Video Business, May 26, 2003, Laurence Lerman, review of Bowling for Columbine (video version), p. 6.