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Print This StoryMoore Film To Claim Ties Between Bush, Bin Laden Clans
'Fahrenheit 911' To Be Financed Through Gibson's Company
POSTED: 1:04 p.m. EST March 28, 2003
UPDATED: 9:28 p.m. EST March 28, 2003
While he caused a big furor at the Oscars Sunday with his controversial remarks about President George W. Bush, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is hardly finished with taking the commander in chief to task.
According to Variety online, Moore is putting together a deal with actor Mel Gibson's production company to finance "Fahrenheit 911," a documentary that will trace the roots of terrorism against the United States.
But perhaps most shockingly, Moore will also spell out alleged dealings between two generations of the Bush and bin Laden clans, according to Variety.
"The primary thrust of the new film is what has happened to the country since Sept. 11, and how the Bush administration used this tragic event to push its agenda," Moore said in the Variety report.
Moore said the film "certainly does deal with the Bush and bin Laden ties," and "asks a number of questions that I don't have the answers to yet, but which I intend to find out." The trade paper said Moore has done research for the film for a year.
Described as a "circumstantial" tie, the Variety report said that the business relationship began with former President George Bush and Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden, the father of Osama -- a relationship that endured.
"The senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after Sept. 11," Moore said.
Moore plans to release "Fahrenheit 911" in time for France's Cannes Film Festival in 2004 -- a release timed to come before the presidential election that fall.
Variety said that Gibson's Icon Productions acquired the rights to back Moore's film by laying out an eight-figure bid in upfront cash. Moore's recent Oscar-winning documentary about the American gun culture -- "Bowling for Columbine" -- was shot for $3 million and has earned nearly $40 million worldwide.
The filmmaker received a standing ovation as he marched toward the podium for his "Columbine" win Sunday night in Hollywood, Calif. However, the atmosphere changed as Moore's defiant acceptance speech progressed.
Moore, who invited his fellow documentary nominees onstage in a show of "solidarity," said, "We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time when we have fictitious election results that elect fictitious presidents."
The crowd half-cheered and half-jeered with his remarks, but the sounds turned to mostly boos as he went on: "We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape, or the fiction of orange alerts -- we are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you Mr. Bush, shame on you."
The jeers drowned out the remainder of Moore's speech, as he said, "Any time you have the pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up!"
According to Variety online, Moore is putting together a deal with actor Mel Gibson's production company to finance "Fahrenheit 911," a documentary that will trace the roots of terrorism against the United States.
But perhaps most shockingly, Moore will also spell out alleged dealings between two generations of the Bush and bin Laden clans, according to Variety.
"The primary thrust of the new film is what has happened to the country since Sept. 11, and how the Bush administration used this tragic event to push its agenda," Moore said in the Variety report.
Moore said the film "certainly does deal with the Bush and bin Laden ties," and "asks a number of questions that I don't have the answers to yet, but which I intend to find out." The trade paper said Moore has done research for the film for a year.
Described as a "circumstantial" tie, the Variety report said that the business relationship began with former President George Bush and Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden, the father of Osama -- a relationship that endured.
"The senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after Sept. 11," Moore said.
Moore plans to release "Fahrenheit 911" in time for France's Cannes Film Festival in 2004 -- a release timed to come before the presidential election that fall.
Variety said that Gibson's Icon Productions acquired the rights to back Moore's film by laying out an eight-figure bid in upfront cash. Moore's recent Oscar-winning documentary about the American gun culture -- "Bowling for Columbine" -- was shot for $3 million and has earned nearly $40 million worldwide.
The filmmaker received a standing ovation as he marched toward the podium for his "Columbine" win Sunday night in Hollywood, Calif. However, the atmosphere changed as Moore's defiant acceptance speech progressed.
Moore, who invited his fellow documentary nominees onstage in a show of "solidarity," said, "We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time when we have fictitious election results that elect fictitious presidents."
The crowd half-cheered and half-jeered with his remarks, but the sounds turned to mostly boos as he went on: "We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape, or the fiction of orange alerts -- we are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you Mr. Bush, shame on you."
The jeers drowned out the remainder of Moore's speech, as he said, "Any time you have the pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up!"Copyright 2003 by KFOXTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
