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About
The Film
Frequently Asked Questions
By Michael Moore
Q.
Why is the movie called “Bowling for Columbine”?
A. First off, let me make it clear that this is not a bowling movie.
Bowling fans will be disappointed if they come expecting to see
a number of exciting bowling maneuvers.
It
is also not a movie about the Columbine tragedy, although that sad
event is revisited briefly in the film.
The
title is taken from the little-known fact that the two killers,
Dylan and Eric, were supposed to be in bowling class at Columbine
High School on the morning of the murders. At least five witnesses,
including their teacher, told the police that they saw one or both
boys that morning at the bowling alley for their first hour class.
Some school and law enforcement officials later maintained that
the two boys skipped that class that morning yet no other witness
has come forward to say they saw Eric and Dylan anywhere else that
morning.
One
reason the film is called “Bowling For Columbine” is that,
after the massacre, all the pundits and experts started blaming
all the usual suspects that are wheeled out for blame whenever a
school shooting occurs—evil rock music (in this case Marilyn
Manson), violent video games, and bad parenting.
My
point is that those scapegoats make about as much sense as blaming
bowling. After all, Eric and Dylan were bowlers, they took bowling
class at Columbine—was bowling responsible for their evil deeds?
If they bowled that morning, did the bowling trigger their desire
to commit mass murder? Or, if they skipped their bowling class that
morning, did that bring on the massacre? Had they bowled, that may
have altered their mood and prevented them from picking up their
guns. As you can see, this is all nonsense, just as it is nonsense
to blame Marilyn Manson.
The
title suggests other metaphors for the state of the nation which
are best left to the viewers and their imagination.
Q.
Is that bank that hands out guns for real?
A. Yes. North Country Bank (with branches throughout Northern Michigan)
offers you a wide choice of guns when you open up a certificate
of deposit account. In effect , they are giving you all of the interest
the account will earn in advance in the form of a gun. The bank
is also an authorized federal arms dealer so they can do the quick
background check right there at the bank. I put $1,000 in a long-term
account and, within an hour, walked out with my new Weatherby. (I
did have a choice of getting a pair of golf clubs or a grandfather
clock, but they didn't have either of those hanging on the wall
like they did those three sniper rifles). I learned about the bank's
gun offer from an ad in the local paper that showed a gun across
the top with the heading, “More Bang for Your Buck” from
North Country Bank.
Q.
Are you really a member of the NRA?
A. Yes. I currently hold a “Life Membership.” I was a
junior member and won the NRA Marksman Award when I was a teenager
(back when the NRA was known as a gun safety and sportsman organization).
I went hunting with the neighborhood kids but there were never any
guns in our house. After Columbine, I decided that I would run against
Charlton Heston for the presidency of the NRA. If elected, my plan
was to try to return the NRA to a gun safety organization, instead
of its current agenda of gun fanaticism. The rules said that to
run for president, you had to be a member for the past five years
or buy a lifetime membership for $750. And that's what I did. But
after a while I realized this endeavor was going to take too much
time, so I decided to focus all my attention on the movie I was
making.
Q.
When you went into he bedroom with James Nichols and he cocked his
gun, what were you thinking?
A. That this was really a bad decision on my part and that the gun
could go off any second.
Q.
How did you convince Lockheed to let you in their missile factory
in Littleton?
A. Well, first of all, the Lockheed PR people would disagree with
your use of the term, “missile.” They now call their Tital
and Atlas missiles on which 40,000 nuclear warheads were once (and
still are but in less numbers) attached, “rockets.” That's
because the Lockheed rockets now take satellites into outer space.
Some of them are weather satellites, some are telecommunications
satellites, and some are top secret Pentagon projects (like the
ones that are launched as spy satellites and others which are used
to direct the launching of the nuclear missiles should the USA ever
decide to use them).
Lockheed
Martin is the largest defense contractor in the United States. They
gave us the MX missile and are now heavily involved in developing
the nutty Star Wars missile defense shield. They have five facilities
in and around the Littleton and Denver area and they are the #1
private employer in the school district that contains Columbine
High School.
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