This Sunday, C-SPAN is airing an interview with Kevin Leffler, the director of a film called “Shooting Michael Moore.” According to C-SPAN:
Mr. Leffler says he knew Michael Moore as a young adult and attended high school with him in Michigan. In his film, Mr. Leffler examines Michael Moore’s work while utilizing some of Moore’s well known production techniques.
Leffler appears to be a pathetic character who is consumed with envy that his high school chum has so far out-classed him. The credibility for which he grasps is built upon the claim that he knows the real Michael Moore. But even in his own trailer for the film, we see him re-introducing himself to Moore, who, at first, doesn’t seem to recognize Leffler. Then when pressed, Moore says, “Oh yeah, I remember you.” That doesn’t strike me as a greeting between two old friends who were ever very close. There goes the foundation for his credibility.
On a more humorous note, the web site for the homicidely-titled crockumentary includes a description of its contents. At one point it reads…
“Shooting Michael Moore is neither mean-spirited nor deceptive, like so much of the namesake’s work.”
That’s nice to hear. Unfortunately, in the very next paragraph, it says…
“Once we learn Iran and Osama Bin Laden praised Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, we also question his patriotism.”
I guess in the view of Leffler, saying that Bin Laden praised Fahrenheit 9/11 when that never happened isn’t considered deceptive, and questioning someone’s patriotism doesn’t qualify as mean-spirited.
Not having seen the film, I don’t really want to critique it because, unlike so many rightist pods, I don’t believe in judging something I haven’t seen. It’s not as if there hasn’t been opportunity, because the film is over two years old. In that time it has failed to either rise from obscurity or find corroboration. So I am curious as to why C-SPAN would drudge up this interview with a director of such an undistinguished film that is plainly biased and outdated. What’s up with that, C-SPAN?
In the trailer, Rhonda Britton (bunny lady) complains:
“Mike made three million dollars of his movie [Roger & Me] and he ain’t helped anybody. He ain’t the little people at all. He didn’t help me at all.”
However, in a recent web chat with Crooks & Liars, Moore shared this:
“I paid off all the bunny lady’s debts (she was in bankruptcy) and gave her the money to buy a new pick up truck. I don’t usually publish these things because, first, it’s about people’s private lives, and second, it really isn’t charity if you make a big deal about it. But i guess I need to start telling people these things cause i read so many lies about me i just don’t know where to start.” [1]
As Shawn Chittle correctly observes, Moore did give back to Flint. He just kept quiet about it. [2]
[1] http://tinyurl.com/3xnxeu
[2] http://tinyurl.com/24blt3
Excellent links! And they make the point perfectly.
I just saw a bit of the interview. It was pathetic. This filmmaker has no experience and works as a CPA or something. He’s just pissed that Michael has made it to the big time and that he’s using this piece of propaganda to release his frustrations for being the failure that Michael Moore refused to be.
Mr Leffler should just accept that fact that he will never be as relavent as Mr. Moore and take his right-wing propaganda elsewhere.
The ‘director’ of this ‘film’ offered $1,000 to a friend of mine to appear in this pile of garbage. He declined. This movie is a fraud and a fake. I think this guy is actually quite dangerous and a bit of a lunatic and should be monitored by local law enforcement.