Michael Moore to Focus on Economy

Published by Jeff Leins on November 18, 2008

Back in May of this year, documentary filmmaker and left-wing spokesman Michael Moore started shopping around a sequel of sorts to his explosive doc Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore had already started work on the film, which would pick up where the original had left off and was intended to focus on “the decline of President Bush’s popularity, the war in Iraq, and the faltering economy.”

Who knew that the economy would tank even further after his summer announcement? I’m sure Big Mike will claim he did. Like I said before, expect this untitled movie to be a lot of “I told you so” comments.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Moore has been reworking the focus from foreign policy to the global financial crisis. It will have an “end-of-an-empire” tone, according to those close to the production.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is the highest grossing documentary of all-time and the winner of the prestigious Palm d’Or at Cannes, so it’s only natural that Moore wants to return to the topic. But the question is how relevant will this sort of material be in six months?

The economy may be on the upswing with the help of the multi-billion dollar bailout, the troops on their way home from Iraq, and the country seems to be focused on positive change in their government. None of those topics will fit with Moore’s generally pessimistic view. Will audiences really want to relive the negativity surrounding Bush’s presidency or a critical look at former foreign policy?

At the end of the article it mentions Moore’s first feature doc in 1989, Roger & Me, which focused on downsizing within General Motors. If it’s possible to shift focus this late in the production, the fall of GM might be the direction Moore is headed once again.