New York Post [Page Six] - March 24, 2003
Bashing by Michael Moore
MICHAEL Moore, the director of "Bowling for Columbine," led his Hollywood colleagues in a Bush-bashing bonanza which showed why the Academy Awards almost were canceled. The Oscar organizers were afraid of exactly what happened Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards, where one star after another criticized President Bush and the U.S.-led liberation of Iraq. Wearing a badge that said, "Shoot movies, not Iraqis," Moore told the crowd of 1,000 lunching on Santa Monica Beach that Bush is a "fictitious president" waging "terrorism." He later told reporters at the indepentent film version of the Oscars that he had spoken to a number of Oscar nominees who were planning to make anti-war statements in their acceptance speeches. Julianne Moore, star of the Independent Spirits' big winner, "Far From Heaven," was also against war. "We're parents, and we teach our children not to fight. Fighting's not the answer." Most of the actors wore a lapel pin bearing the peace symbol from the '60s. "Secretary" star Maggie Gyllenhaal said the war was about "oil and imperialism." Singer/songwriter Elvis Costello set the anti-war tone, the Washington Post reports, by performing his cover of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" a Nick Lowe song conceived as a parody of peace anthems. But the irony was lost on the grim peaceniks.