Michael Moore has announced that his proposed follow-up to to Fahrenheit 9/11, which was to focus on foreign affairs, is now switching tack to concentrate on the state of the world financial crisis and the US economy - topical, much?
Of course, examining the U.S. economy was a central theme in the provocative documentarian's 1989 Roger & Me, and Moore himself says that the new project is more like a bookend to his first documentary than it is a direct follow-up to Fahrenheit 9/11.
The change in America’s political climate around the election and in the wake of the global economic crisis has meant that Moore’s impetus for the film has shifted away from "what's going on in the world and America's place in it," as discussed by Paramount Vantage chief Nick Meyer in May, and on to fiscal policy.
But now that George W. Bush is on his way out, will Moore find a target for his usual polemic tone? Sources close to the project say that the film will focus around an “end-of-the-empire” outlook rather than his usual attack dog tactics - which will be harder to make work in an Obama-led country. Moore will also struggle to keep the project relevant, as the financial situation is ever changing; rendering any film devoted to the subject merely a momentary snapshot. It is also felt that Weinstein Co. refused to back the film because the belligerently anti-Bush standpoint that made Moore popular may not work under the reign of a new and very different President.
Moore continues to work on the as-yet untitled film however, which is expected to be set for release as early as spring, no doubt in the hope that its time-sensitivity will help it to cash in on the post-inauguration political awareness and keep it as close as possible to the current financial crisis. Let's hope we can still afford tickets by then.