Possible Titles for Michael Moore’s Next Film: ‘Bowling for Bit Torrent,’ ‘Farenheit Port 139,’ ‘The Pirate Bay and Me’
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 18, 2007 at 10:15 AM PT
I don’t agree with the copyright laws and I don’t have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people, as long as they’re not trying to make a profit off my labor. I would oppose that. I do well enough already, and I made this film because I want the world to change. The more people who see it the better, so I’m happy this is happening. Is it wrong for someone who’s bought a film on DVD to let a friend watch it for free? Of course it’s not. It never has been and never will be. I think information, art and ideas should be shared.”
Good thing Michael Moore has a lenient attitude toward file-sharing, otherwise the leak of a pristine copy of his new documentary, “Sicko,” to the Internet–two weeks before its June 29 release–might chafe a bit. Certainly, it’s got to be vexing to the film’s distributors, Weinstein Co. and Lionsgate, that moviegoers interested in seeing Moore’s U.S. health-care exposé can find it pretty easily not just on torrent indexes, but on YouTube as well.
That said, they did their best to spin the leak in a positive light. “We are responding aggressively to protect our film … but from our research it is clear that people interested in the [health-care] movement are excited to go to the theater so they can be part of the experience and fight to reform health care,” Weinstein Co. spokeswoman Sarah Rothman said in a statement. “Health care impacts everybody right in their homes, and it is not surprising that people are eager to see ‘Sicko.’ “
Not at all. I’d guess it’d be about as surprising as how difficult it might be to persuade the public to go buy tickets to see a film that’s available free on the Internet …
