Theatre owner receives death threat for Fahrenheit 9/11
Michael Moore We're a week away from the nationwide opening of Fahrenheit 9/11 and not a day goes by where we don't have some new battle to fight thanks to those who are still working overtime to keep people from seeing this film. What's their problem? Are they worried about something? A Republican PR firm has formed a fake grassroots front group called "Move America Forward" to harass and intimidate theatre owners into not showing Fahrenheit 9/11. These are the same people who successfully badgered CBS into cancelling the Reagan mini-series a few months ago. And they are spending a ton of money this week to threaten movie theatres who even think about showing our movie. As of this morning [June 17], a little over 500 theatres have agreed to show the movie beginning next Friday, June 25. There are three national/regional theatre chains who, as of today, have not booked the movie in their theatres. One theatre owner in Illinois has reported receiving death threats. The right wing usually wins these battles. Their basic belief system is built on censorship, repression, and keeping people ignorant. They want to limit or snuff out any debate or dissension. They also don't like pets and are mean to small children. Too many of them are named "Fred". This new nut group is the Right's last hope in limiting how many people can see this movie. All of their other efforts have failed. Let's recap: 1. Roger Friedman at FOX News reported that the head of the company which first agreed to fund our film "got calls from Republican friends" pressuring them to back out. And they did. But... Miramax immediately picked up the film! Except... 2. Michael Eisner, the chairman of Disney, then blocked Miramax (a company owned by Disney) from releasing the film once it was finished. But... public attention and embarrassment forced Disney to let the Weinstein brothers of Miramax find another distributor! But... 3. Instead of a new distributor stepping right in — as all the media predicted would happen — it took another month to find distributors who would take on this movie. A number of other distributors, thanks to various pressures, were afraid to get involved. It looked for a while that we would be distributing this ourselves. But then Lions Gate and IFC Films rode in to the rescue! So, we have beaten back all attempts to kill this movie, and the only thing in the way of you now seeing Fahrenheit 9/11 is this Republican big-money front group trying to force theatres not to show the movie. Please, contact your local theatres and let them know you want to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Tell them that some people don't know that this is America and that we believe in freedom of speech and the importance of ALL voices being heard. If a theatre in your area is planning to show the film, just give them a call and thank them for standing up for the freedom of speech. If your local theatre isn't showing the film, call them and let them know that you would like to see it and you'd like them to show it. The White House and their minions in our media have presented one distorted version of the truth after another for the past four years. All we are asking for is the right to show what they HAVEN'T shown us, the real truth. The truth that ain't pretty (and is, sadly, damningly hilarious). On top of all this, the MPAA gave the film an "R" rating. [An "R" rating in the USA means children under 17 must be accompanied by an adult — ED.] I want all teenagers to see this film. There is nothing in the film in terms of violence that we didn't see on TV every night at the dinner hour during the Vietnam War. Of course, that's the point, isn't it? The media have given the real footage from Iraq a "cleansing" — made it look nice, easy to digest. Mario Cuomo has offered to be our lawyer in appealing this ruling by the MPAA. Frankly, I would like to think the MPAA is saying that the actions by the Bush administration are so abhorrent and revolting, we need to protect our children from seeing what they have done. In that case, the film should be rated NC-17! However it turns out, I trust all of you teenagers out there will find your way into a theatre to see this movie. If the government believes it is OK to send slightly older teenagers to their deaths in Iraq, I think at the very least you should be allowed to see what they are going to draft you for in a couple of years. Finally, some very sophisticated individuals have been hacking into and shutting down our website. It is an hourly fight to keep it up. We are going to find out who is doing this and we are going to pursue a criminal prosecution. I'm preparing lots of cool stuff for the site so watch for new items on it next week http://www.fahrenheit911.com/and http://www.michaelmoore.com/). Thanks again for your support and I hope to see you at the movies on opening night, June 25.