Michael Moore offers new election-centric doc for free

Given that we’re headed into the final leg of the longest election cycle in recent history, it’s actually a small miracle we haven’t heard more from Michael Moore. Yes, he’s popped up every now and then to push some of the requisite buttons, but he’s been mostly quiet following the release of his heath-care treatise Sicko last summer—no small contrast from the previous election, in 2004, when he commanded record crowds for his blistering doc Fahrenheit 9/11.

Of course, as history has taught us, extended silences from hot-button spitfires rarely last. Moore’s latest self-made headline is that he will release his new documentary, Slacker Uprising, for free on the Internet. The movie, in which Moore travels the country during the 2004 election to encourage so-called “slackers” to vote, will be available for three weeks beginning Sept. 23 at SlackerUprising.com with a DVD release to follow in October.

The move marks the first major American movie to have a first-run release on the Web and comes as Hollywood looks for new ways to capitalize on digital trends, includeding equipping some new DVDs with simultaneous “digital copies” of select films.

For his part, Moore says the new release is his show of gratitude for fans—not, naturally, the latest of his well-orchestrated ploys for press attention. He touts Slacker Uprising with a classic caveat: “People who are not fans of mine will not like this movie,” he wrote on his website. “This movie has way too much of me in it, and way too many tens of thousands of people liking what I’m saying.”

Get into the right-baiting spirit with the trailer:



Related links:
News: Michael Moore to release Guide to 2008 election
News: Michael Moore to start work on Fahrenheit 9/11 sequel
Review: Sicko

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