David Zucker, the man behind Hollywood spoof classics such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has his sights set on bringing another epic spoof to the silver screen, this time aimed squarely at liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.
"The low-budget indie co-stars Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer with Oscar-winner Jon Voight, cinema icon Dennis Hopper, model-heiress Paris Hilton and frequent Zucker stooge Leslie Nielsen in minor roles," reports Politico's Jeffrey Ressner. "Release is planned sometime by year’s end; the director suggested Friday, Sept. 12, to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."
The film, to be titled An American Carol for its loose parallels with "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, will follow the exploits of a stand-in Michael Moore ("Michael Malone," he's called) as he unwittingly aids terrorists, travels through time, gets beat up inside a toilet stall by a real-life Bill O'Reilly, and finally learns the wonder that is being a patriotic American.
"Malone is played by Kevin Farley, the younger brother of late 'Saturday Night Live' cast member Chris Farley," writes Ressner. "Critics will surely debate the film’s humor and its politics, but one fact is indisputable: Farley is a devastating doppelganger for Michael Moore. As with Michael Chiklis playing John Belushi in the film version of 'Wired,' however, it’s a performance that walks a Flying Wallenda-esque tightrope, balancing between uncanny impersonation and possible career suicide."
Zucker is a longtime supporter of the GOP -- a self proclaimed "9/11 Republican" -- who dabbled in filmed political satire during the 2004 campaign. In an ad which the GOP requested he make, then later declined to release because of its shocking content, Zucker lampooned what the world would be like if Democrats came to power and Sen. John Kerry were elected.
WATCH:
The clip was leaked onto the Internet by reporter Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, drawing an angry letter from Zucker and numerous views on YouTube.
And he isn't the only member of Hollywood's Republican crowd. Oscar-winner and American Carol co-star Jon Voight, whose politics were laid out in a July 28 Washington Times op-ed, believes that if Sen. Barack Obama is elected in November, "we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way."
Voight elaborated in the Times article: "The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America."
Speaking of An American Carol: "It outdoes any movie I have ever done in tasteless, offensive, un-PC humor,” claimed Zucker in a published report. So, perhaps it isn't geared towards the values voter wing of the GOP. But does it have a chance of succeeding?
"It’s possible the film might reach a generally underserved audience, especially if pumped up by Fox, talk radio and other media," writes Ressner. "But it also faces at least a couple of hotly anticipated August comedies, 'Pineapple Express' and 'Tropic Thunder,' which will set the ha-ha bar higher for any future competitors.
The only thing that remains unclear is whether 2008 will go down as the year of Batman VS Joker in Gotham City, or Moore VS O'Reilly in a toilet.
David Zucker, the man behind Hollywood spoof classics such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has his sights set on bringing another epic spoof to the silver screen, this time aimed squarely at liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.