May 5, 2004
BROWN: Michael Moore is with us. Nice to see you, sir.
MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER/AUTHOR: Good to see you.
BROWN: Another fine mess you've gotten us into, or they've gotten you into. Don't tell me what you think or what you suspect, but tell me what you know about why Disney is withholding the film.
MOORE: What I know is, is that Michael Eisner went and had a meeting with my agent, Ari Emanuel at Endeavor, and told him at this meeting that there is no way he will allow Miramax to distribute Michael Moore's film, because, in doing so, it will anger Jeb Bush and put Disney at risk in Florida. They were up for millions of dollars of task abatements, tax incentives, whatever.
BROWN: They deny -- they don't deny the meeting, obviously, with the agent. They deny that they said that. No doubt in your mind that was said?
MOORE: No, no doubt at all.
BROWN: OK.
MOORE: Oh, absolutely not. In fact, I got a phone call immediately after the meeting. I was told this. And we decided, along with Miramax, to do our best to try and convince Disney to do the right thing. And we have spent months trying to do that. We have been very quiet about this.
BROWN: This has gone on pretty much a year, hasn't it?
MOORE: Yes, that's right.
BROWN: Why not a year ago just go find another way to get the movie out there?
MOORE: Because a year ago, we were already making the film. We already had a deal. We had a contract with Miramax to distribute the film. And this happened all after we did this deal. And Miramax felt very confident that Disney, once they saw the film, would distribute it.
BROWN: Let me argue the Disney side for a second.
MOORE: Yes, sure.
BROWN: They're a private company. They have private interests. Do they not have every right in the world, for whatever reasons they so choose, to distribute what they want to distribute and not distribute what they don't?
MOORE: Well, they're a public company.
BROWN: A public -- they are absolutely a public company.
MOORE: Not a private company. And they do. They do have that right. But, Aaron, we live in a country now where the control of our media is in fewer and fewer hands. We're down to just a few studios now. If the few remaining studios decide that dissenting voices shouldn't be heard, that we don't have to provide all the information to the people, just some of the information, are we better off as a society, as a free, open, democratic society? I don't think so.
BROWN: Listen, I will never argue that. Of course not. I'm one of those who says get it all out there, all of it out there, your films, their films, anybody's films.
MOORE: Right.
BROWN: Figure out a way to get it out there. And when all is said and done, will this get out there, this movie?
MOORE: Well, I hope so.
BROWN: Do you doubt it will get out there?
MOORE: I don't doubt it because I know -- I made this film. I believe in this. This film is so great, it has already has been accepted by the Cannes Film Festival. It's tested through the roof when we've shown it to audiences across the country. This film will be seen because I'll make sure it is seen.
BROWN: I don't understand the business that well. But you to need a major distributor do this? Is this something -- you obviously can't go theater to theater with a DVD and stick it in there.
MOORE: Well, I would do that. I'll stick it in the back of the van and drive it around the country if I have to. I don't think I'm going to have to do that. Ever since the news broke this morning, there has been quite a bit of interest.
BROWN: Funny how that happens.
MOORE: In the film. So I think we're going to be OK. We're in good hands with Miramax. And they've stuck behind us with this. And it is just -- it is disappointing that Disney doesn't want people to see this. There are no bad things in it. There is no sex and violence. It is just some truth about what is happening to this country and, you know, it is my way of looking at it.
BROWN: It is -- on days when we agree and on days when we don't, it's always nice to see you.
MOORE: Thank you. Which day is this, by the way?
BROWN: This is somewhere in between.
(LAUGHTER) MOORE: But you oppose censorship.
BROWN: At every turn.
MOORE: There we go.
Oops, what was that?
MOORE: But you oppose censorship.
BROWN: At every turn.
MOORE: There we go.
MOORE: But you oppose censorship.
BROWN: At every turn.
MOORE: There we go.
MOORE: But you oppose censorship.
BROWN: At every turn.
MOORE: There we go.
(CROSSTALK) BROWN: Thank you, Michael. Thank you. Good luck. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, there are all kinds of battles in a war. The soldiers you're about to meet are fighting to get the wounded back home and alive. Their story after the break. This is NEWSNIGHT.
LITTLE did Aaron Brown realize how prophetic those words would be as Michael Moore began to take on the CAUSE of the wounded and maimed soldiers coming home from Iraq in droves. No one to date has yet to honor the dead at Dover Air Force Base.
