Despite Michael Moore’s loud and outspoken criticism of “American Sniper,” it became the year’s highest-grossing film. Moore’s complaints about the film didn’t seem to have any effect on the public, so he is trying another angle of attack by going after its director, Clint Eastwood. Since Eastwood has not taken the bait and responded to Moore’s criticism of his film or personal insults, Moore dredged up a ten year old incident, taken out of context and “misremembered.”
“Ten years ago,” Moore said, “Clint Eastwood stood up in front of the National Board of Review Awards Dinner and announced to me and to the crowd that he would kill me. ‘I’ll kill you,’ he declared.”
Few were surprised to learn that that’s not quite exactly what happened. At a convention, Clint Eastwood told the crowd, “Everyone is saying I threatened to kill Michael Moore- that’s not true.” He paused for a moment before jokingly adding, “But it isn’t a bad idea.”
The non-incident Moore was referring to occurred in 2005, while Eastwood was answering questions for a group. One person asked him what he would do if someone like Michael Moore simply showed up at his house with a camera and started filming without permission while refusing to leave. (Note that Moore did exactly that to Charlton Heston, who was ill at the time.)
Eastwood simply replied, jokingly, “Well, I guess if they’re on your property you could shoot them.”
Which you can.