Not only is producer Gavin Polone beating Michael Moore about the head and face as a hypocritical blowhard in public, he’s doing so in the pages of one of the industry’s biggest trade publications. This is not a small development. To have a respected and successful producer in both television and film comfortable enough to completely dismantle Moore in both the online and print edition of the Hollywood Reporter tells me something’s up.
God love him, Polone also rips those in the media like Piers Morgan who let Mr. Moore get away with the ongoing charade of not being Mr. Wall Street.
My guess is that Polone speaks for many:
One of the many things that bug me about the industry in which I work is the large population of phonies who claim to be liberal, caring, green and unaffected by their wealth and fame but in reality are just as self-centered and addicted to their huge, over-air-conditioned living spaces and private planes as those at whom they point their fingers. And none is more phony and finger-pointing than Michael Moore.
The rub:
In 2005, the Weinstein Co. set up financing of about $500 million to fund production and distribution. The investment vehicle was created and syndicated by a little firm called Goldman Sachs. One of the films that was produced by TWC using funds from that investment was Moore’s documentary Sicko. Given the success of his previous film, Fahrenheit 9/11, which he made with Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Moore was able to command a terrific deal for himself.
By 2010, TWC had burned through the capital raised in the Goldman Sachs deal. Investors were forced to restructure their arrangement, meaning some suffered a devaluation of their investment. Goldman also lost some money it put in TWC, but it could handle the loss in part because it was a recipient of the government’s TARP bailout. Some unlucky investors might never get back the money they put into funding TWC.
Not unlike other bad investments set up by Goldman Sachs and others during this period, some people did make out quite well, while others, often lower on the food chain, suffered. One of those who did quite well using the TWC funds was Moore.
The closer:
There are many reasons our country is in financial trouble, and some do relate to misdeeds by Wall Street executives. Calling attention to such misdeeds and issues of income inequality is a good thing. But the true fault of what put us in this situation resides with the government that gave leeway to those who contributed to political campaigns and provided jobs to those who ran between the various administrations and the private sector. Having a hypocrite blowing hard about groups of people in whose number he himself should be counted diminishes the impact and validity of the message.
You’ll definitely want to read the whole thing.
Has Moore finally outlived his usefulness in Hollywood? After all, his last few movies didn’t make a whole lot of money, at least not enough to make it worthwhile to those embarrassed by the fact that he’s become the face of Hollywood’s limousine liberalism and hypocrisy.
Sounds to me as though Michael Moore’s become a liability.