From
Moore Watch via Lee's site
Right Thinking From The Left Coast we have this
AP article announcing that Michael Moore will submit
Fahrenheit 9/11 for
Best Picture and not for
Best Documentary.
In the midst of the presidential campaign, Moore's announcement is a strategic move for his Oscar campaign. Documentaries and animated films have their own categories, but the conventional wisdom in Hollywood is that those niche awards can limit a film's appeal in the overall best picture class.
Moore said he and his producing partner, Harvey Weinstein, agreed "Fahrenheit 9/11" would stand a better chance if they focused solely on the top Oscar.
He also said he wanted to be "supportive of my teammates in nonfiction film."
...
"It's not that I want to be disrespectful and say I don't ever want to win a (documentary) Oscar again," Moore said. "This just seems like the right thing to do. ... I don't want to take away from the other nominees and the attention that they richly deserve."
Sure Michael, we believe that one. There's also this nice little snippet in there:
Moore also hinted in a recent interview in Rolling Stone he would like the movie to play on television before the presidential election. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, playing on TV would invalidate its contention in the documentary category, but not for best picture. With the movie coming out on DVD Oct. 5, it's not clear whether the TV deal would happen.
By not going for
Best Documentary he also avoids the whole
Cuba fiasco, even though it was ruled that the film wouldn't be invalidated for Oscar contention because
it was a "pirated copy" (
or so they would have you believe).
You can read my take on the movie under my entry "Fahrenheit & Hot Pussy" from back in June.
I don't think this movie should even make it as a final nominee. It's not technically brilliant and there are much better films out that deserve the nod. It does contain a lot of fiction though. *smirk*
My Traffic Jam Of The Day
Update:
Per comments below here is a link to "Fifty-Nine Deceits in 'Fahrenheit 9/11'" from Jefferey Skelly over at The Political Edge.
