"No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." - - - William Blum

June 21, 2004

Moore Questionable Behavior

Moore Film Title Angers Author Bradbury
Sat Jun 19, 5:08 PM ET - By PAUL CHAVEZ, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Ray Bradbury is demanding an apology from filmmaker Michael Moore (news) for lifting the title from his classic science-fiction novel "Fahrenheit 451" without permission and wants the new documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" to be renamed. "He didn't ask my permission," Bradbury, 83, told The Associated Press on Friday. "That's not his novel, that's not his title, so he shouldn't have done it." The 1953 novel, widely considered Bradbury's masterpiece, portrays an ugly futuristic society in which firemen burn homes and libraries in order to destroy the books inside and keep people from thinking independently. "Fahrenheit 451" takes its title from the temperature at which books burn. Moore has called "Fahrenheit 9/11" the "temperature at which freedom burns." ....

We all saw this one coming, didn't we? I'm betting that Moore let his request for permission from Bradbury purposely slide just to stoke even more controversy and garner even more (Moore?) attention.

UPDATE: Dan Gillmor has additional thoughts about this.

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