MichaelMoore.com

Michael Moore debuts 'Slacker Uprising' before a packed house at the Michigan Theater

By Tom Gantert / Ann Arbor News

Filmmaker Michael Moore received a rock star's reception Thursday when he came to Ann Arbor to debut his new movie, "Slacker Uprising."

The movie chronicles his tour of college campuses in several states to get youth to vote for John Kerry in 2004. It's generating buzz because Moore is offering the film online for free.

The Flint native said he doesn't want a dime of the profits from the movie, which he said cost $2 million to make. Moore told reporters that film industry experts warned him he was giving up as much as $40 million in gross sales.

But Moore said he owed it to his audiences, which have allowed him artistic freedom.

Moore, who called Ann Arbor a "good luck charm," has chosen the city for the world premiere of his last three movies.

"I've been here before, easy to find," Moore joked with reporters during a press conference before the movie premier. "I love the Michigan Theater. ... Ann Arbor is a great town. We are lucky to have it here in Michigan."

And thousands of fans clearly felt lucky to have Moore in town, lining up before the doors opened and packing the theater.

Moore - wearing a dark T-shirt with an unbuttoned shirt over it, baggy blue jeans, tennis shoes and a University of Michigan cap - announced that there would be a second showing so the hundreds left out of the first screening could see the movie.

The filmmaker was scheduled to give a 30-minute talk - it went 90 minutes.

The audience cheered at his punch lines and even some revealing moments.

Early in the talk, a rotund Moore took off his second shirt once the heat of the spotlight set in.

A few women hooted.

"Yeah, right," he said.

Moore's talk covered many topics, all tied by his belief that Republicans are the root of most of the country's problems.

Moore said, "Communism has won!" After the federal bailout of Wall Street, he said, the government now owns the largest insurance company, most of the mortgages in the country, and "we even own a bank or two."

"The millions of people who have lost their homes? No help for you," he said.

He got angry over talks about Iran being a threat to the U.S.

"I don't want to hear one word about Iran," he said. He questioned why people would be surprised by Iran's response after the U.S. invaded nearby countries.

"I think some people might starting building some bombs," he said.

He said the Bush administration has lost credibility, and he won't believe what they report on Iran.

"Not a single word! Not a single word!" he stressed.

In Moore's view, everything is political - even the high-fructose corn syrup in Coke.

Moore told reporters that President Nixon made a deal with agricultural growers in the 1970s to switch from sugar to high-fructose corn syrup. Moore said the country was healthier when sugar was more prevalent.

"Just about everything is a political decision," Moore said.

And Moore talked about his belief in the American people, just not a smaller segment - the 30 million adult Americans he called "stone cold idiots." He described them as people who believed the "earth was created in six days" and thought Adam and Eve were riding dinosaurs.

But on the plus side, Moore said there's up to 180 million adult Americans who aren't stupid.

His messages struck a chord with the audience.

"I definitely enjoyed it," said Arthur Edge, a U-M student. "I didn't know what to expect. I thought it would be a brief lecture. That wasn't it. He surprised me."

Alex Kramer of Ann Arbor said Moore reminded him just how bad the Bush administration has messed up the country.

"It was a very effective reminder of everything that has gone wrong in the last eight years," Kramer said. "He is very good at giving biting, comedic lines about Republicans. Somewhere in America, there is a comedy bar that is empty and missing him."