What happens when pugnacious filmmaker Michael Moore, incendiary documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Oscar gunslinger Harvey Weinstein team up for an Academy Award run? An explosive, and extremely risky, decision to pull "Fahrenheit" out of the documentary race to fight for consideration as best picture.
Moore said he got the idea -- it represents a first in Academy Awards history -- from veteran Oscar campaigner Weinstein, the Miramax co-chairman who is also an executive producer on the documentary.
While Moore's gambit has definitely raised eyebrows around town, the filmmaker, last seen chuckling at Sen. John McCain's barbs at the Republican National Convention in New York, insists that should he win he would leave politics alone, unlike two years ago. While accepting the best documentary Oscar for his film "Bowling for Columbine," Moore drew loud boos -- and some cheers -- when he complained about President Bush as a "fictitious president" waging a war in Iraq for "fictitious reasons."
"I promised Harvey that if this chance ever happens again, I would behave myself," Moore insisted Tuesday. "And my having to promise someone like Harvey to behave myself means a lot."
Bruce Davis, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' executive director, confirmed that no documentary has ever been nominated for best picture.
In the internecine world of Oscar campaigning, the sniping has already started.
An Oscar strategist for another studio who asked not to be identified criticized the move, saying "Fahrenheit 9/11" might be popular with some writers and directors who want to make a political statement, but no actors will vote for it because there are no actors in the film, likewise, the crafts unions.
"It's silly and egotistical but take the ego out of academy campaigning and what do you have left?" he said.
How Oscar voters will react to a brazen attempt by Moore and Weinstein to barge their way into the hallowed sanctum of best picture remains to be seen, but documentarians are happy to have their profile raised even if it's by the burly, bearded Moore.
"['Fahrenheit 9/11'] certainly has gotten a lot of acclaim," said Mitchell Block, a documentary filmmaker and Oscar voter, "but Michael Moore is a controversial figure even within the documentary world. There is criticism that he plays fast and loose with the facts and does not treat subjects as ethically as he could."
