Thursday, October 24, 1996 09:05
MIcHAEL Moore Is Lost. He was

supposed to be picked up from his
hotel room at 09:00, but according
to the front desk, Mr. Moore has
not checked in. (According to him
later, “I knew where I was,” but
that is getting ahead of the story.)

A flurry of panic ensues as the
publicist for the Writer’s Fest puts
all of Moore’s live and taped radio
and TV spots on hold. I arrived at
the lovely Georgian Courts Hotel
moments before, and, apparently,
everything was going wonderfully.
But within the space of five
minutes, everything has gone to
hell.

In exchange for an interview
with Moore, I have agreed to act as
the publicist’s assistant for the
day. Michael Moore is the
author of Downsize This!,
his latest in a series of
public blasts
against what

ther

January 6 1997 best before 1976 Volume 21

 

he percieves to be the evil right-
wing in American politics. But
Moore is probably best known
(especially up here) for writing and
directing Canadian Bacon, a
satirical look at the way the
American government invents
enemies. Though the movie gained
him popular acclaim, the movie
pales in comparision to the biting
wit and scathing commentary of
the feature documentary Roger and
Me or the go-for-the-balls satire of
TV Nation. Downsize This! again
captures the near-vitriolic satire
that makes Moore the voice of a
downsized generation.

09:30

The publicist

  
   
  
  
   
   
  
   
   
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Press

is getting desperate.

“Tf I were a dishonest PR guy, I
could work with this.” He pulls out
a copy of Downsize This! and
holds it next to my head. “Look at
that face. If we were to shave the
beard and give you a ball cap....” I
don’t know whether to be flattered
or offended at being compared to
the rotund Moore. Either way, I
decline. I like my beard, thanks.
09:45
Panic. Moments before we discov-
ered that Moore’s publisher booked
the author into the wrong hotel.
The publicist and I burst from the

hotel and jump into a
waiting cab.

 

   

- Issue 8

From the cab, the publicist makes a
rash of phone calls, resurrecting
canceled interviews. We are in the
studio when he finally figures out
exactly what happens. He calls a
cab and sends me off to fetch
Moore. I reflect that this apparently
is a publicist’s life—long patches
of boredom interspersed with
moments of terror and panic.
10:05
After a bit more confusion at the
hotel (I called up to Moore’s room
and waited for five minutes for him
to get off the phone, only to
discover that he had left the phone
off the hook and was wandering
around the lobby), Michael Moore
is at CKNW. I never do catch what
program he is taping for, all I know
is that it’s not CKNW poster boy
and rabid right-winger Raif Mair.
“That would have been interest-
ing,” says the publicist, as we
sit in the lobby waiting for
Moore to finish his
interview. “Here, and
with the rest of the
interviews he has
booked, it’s preach-
ing to the con-
verted. Mair

Jezabel thrown to the dogs «2
Budget leaves faculty cold +3
Our view on Sunset Boulevard ¢ 5

 

would have been something.”

While sitting at CKNW, the
publicist receives a call from
CBC-TV. They want to interview
Moore. “Absolutely not. If you
would have got back to me two
weeks ago, I might have been able
to arrange something.” But the
CBC crew is desperate. “How
desperate? Well, I’m going to have
him at UTV at 11:30. If you’re
waiting outside afterwards, you
might get five minutes, but I'll
have to okay it with Michael.” The
publicist hangs up his cell phone
and sighs. “How stupid can some
people be? I sent over 500 media
packages out, and they all said to
reply by the twelfth. But some
people just call up the day of the
event and hope that they can
interview Michael.” CBC is lucky.
The publicist is in a good mood,
and he finds the idea of CBC doing
an interview outside the competi-
tor’s studio amusing.

Everybody wants a piece of
Moore, it seems. The book tour
that he is on, 47 cities in 50 days,
is the largest book tour Random
House has ever put on. “It’s bigger
than KISS,” says Moore.

11:20

We drive across the Robson bridge
past General Moters Place. The
publicist points it out to Moore, who
just arches an eyebrow and sighs.

Moore gained fame and infamy
for 1989’s Roger and Me, which
documented the decline and fall of
Moore’s hometown, Flint, Michi-
gan after General Moters closed 11
factories and laid off 30 000 of
Moore’s fellow citizens. In his now
trademark style of persistance,
humour and confrontation, Moore
pursues GM’s CEO Roger Smith
(the Roger of the film’s title)
around the Eastern seaboard.
Moore’s quest is simply to talk to
Smith and invite him to come to
Flint for a day or two, to see the
devestation left in the wake of the
closures. While searching for
Smith, Moore introduces us to an
eclectic cast of characters, includ-
ing a Flint woman who supple-
ments her income by raising
rabbits (“pets or meat” the sign
reads.), the host of The Love
Connection, an ex-Flint native who
has come back to show his moral
support, and spends his time on
camera cracking off-colour jokes
about Jews and women, and a GM
spokesperson who defends the
closures in Flint as valid (and is
eventually laid-off himself).

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