Editing Roger & Me (section)

==Production==
Moore decided to make the film after losing his job as the editor of ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' and moving back to his former home town of [[Flint, Michigan]], as it was suffering from [[deindustrialization]] due to [[General Motors]]' layoffs. After his attempt to restart his [[Flint Voice]] newspaper faltered, Moore decided to make a documentary on the city's economic crisis. Initially, he intended to make it under the title ''The Moores and the Motts,'' contrasting his working-class family with the upper-class family descended from [[Charles Stewart Mott]], but later shifted focus to the current [[Automotive industry in the United States|U.S. automobile industry]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Thorne |first=Blake |date=2014-12-03 |title=Michael Moore and Flint: An oral history of 'Roger & Me' after 25 years |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2014/12/an_oral_history_of_roger_and_m.html |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=mlive |language=en}}</ref> Moore intended the film as a personal statement condemning not just GM but also the economic policies and social attitudes of the [[Reagan Era|Reagan era]], which he felt allowed corporations to remove the largest source of income from an entire town.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Roger & Me |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58258-ROGER--ME?cxt=filmography |access-date=2022-08-26 |website=AFI Catalog}}</ref>

At the time Moore decided to make the documentary in 1984, he had no experience in filmmaking or funds to produce the film. To get the money, he filed a successful [[Wrongful dismissal|wrongful termination]] lawsuit against ''Mother Jones'' for $160,000. He also mortgaged his house, sold most of his belongings, and arranged a three-year series of weekly bingo games to raise the remainder of the film's $200,000 budget. He also began teaching himself film technique, spending hours at local cinemas. Eventually Moore received grant awards from the [[J. Roderick MacArthur|J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation]], the [[Channel Four Television Corporation]], the Michigan Council for the Arts, and [[Ralph Nader]]. The [[Mackinac Center for Public Policy|Mackinac Center]] donated $5,000 to the film but later requested it to be refunded.<ref name=":1" /> Nader also requested that the $30,000 he donated to the production be returned. He claimed that the nonprofit group Essential Information had donated the funds with the understanding that Moore would start a newsletter that never operated, and an associate of Nader's accused Moore of drawing ideas for ''Roger & Me'' from Nader's book ''The Big Boys''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levin |first=Doron P. |date=1990-01-19 |title=Maker of Documentary That Attacks G.M. Alienates His Allies |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/19/movies/maker-of-documentary-that-attacks-gm-alienates-his-allies.html |access-date=2022-08-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

''Roger & Me'' was filmed under the working title ''A Humorous Look at How General Motors Destroyed Flint, Michigan''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pierson |first=John |title=Spike Mike Reloaded |publisher=Miramax |year=2004 |page=137 |isbn=978-1401359508}}</ref> Moore and his crew decided after viewing a 15-minute bumper from the film that the depiction of mass unemployment would be too depressing for mainstream audiences, and decided to give it a humorous slant.<ref name=":0" /> Production began on February 11, 1987, on the 50th anniversary of the [[Flint sit-down strike]]. A large proportion of the filming was done in a 60-day period during the summer of 1988. Moore obtained interviews by pretending to be filming [[University of Michigan]] videos on poverty or booster films promoting the city. The production concluded in August 1989.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Moore was mentored during the production by documentarians Christopher Beaver, Anne Bohlen, [[Judy Irving]], and [[Kevin Rafferty]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Collins |first=Glenn |date=September 28, 1989 |title=A Self-Taught Film Maker Creates a Comic Hit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/28/movies/a-self-taught-film-maker-creates-a-comic-hit.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Moore had previously assisted on Bohlen and Rafferty's film ''[[Blood in the Face]]''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |date=July 7, 2020 |title=Kevin Rafferty, 'Atomic Cafe' Co-Director, Dies at 73 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/movies/kevin-rafferty-atomic-cafe-dead.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=White Supremacist In Livingston County Focus Of New Film {{!}} Ann Arbor District Library |url=https://aadl.org/aa_news_19910305-white_supremacist_in_livingston_county_focus_of_new_film |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=aadl.org}}</ref>

===Release===
The film had its worldwide premiere at the [[Toronto International Film Festival]] in September 1989.  It was well received by the Canadian audience with it winning the coveted TIFF People's Choice Award. Coincidentally, only a few weeks later, GM would announce the closing of their [[Scarborough Van Assembly|Toronto truck assembly plant]], moving vehicle production to a plant in Flint, Michigan.

Moore briefly entered negotiations with [[Disney]] to distribute the film, meeting with CEO [[Michael Eisner]]. [[Warner Bros.]] gave Moore $3 million for distribution license, a very large amount for a first-time filmmaker and (at the time) unprecedented for any documentary. Part of the distribution deal required [[Warner Bros.]] to pay $25,000 in rent for two years for the families evicted in the film. Moore also donated 20,000 free tickets to unemployed Americans, stipulated that between 30 and 40 percent of his and the producers' profits would be donated to a new non-profit foundation supporting similar political documentaries.<ref name=":1" /><ref>"Roger & Me," commentary by Michael Moore in special features added in 2003 to the DVD. December 2003</ref>

To promote the film's planned national release in 965 theaters, Moore and the film's crew toured 65 GM plants around the country making demands such as a visit by Smith to Flint. During the film's marketing campaign, GM and some commentators challenged the veracity of the film's claims. GM refused to allow advertisements to its automobiles to play during television programs promoting the film, including an episode of ''[[The Phil Donahue Show]]'' filmed live at the [[Whiting Auditorium]] and an episode of ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'' featuring Moore as a guest. After Moore's appearance, GM's media relations chief Bill Ott mailed guest host [[Jay Leno]] a packet of news articles challenging his claims.<ref name=":1" />

The film premiered in Flint on December 19, 1989, and was released in New York City and Los Angeles one day later.<ref name=":1" /> It went on to become America's most successful documentary in its theatrical run and enjoyed wide critical acclaim, earning $12 million. Moore used $1 million of the film's gross to donate to charities such as the [[National Union of the Homeless]], [[Earth First!]], the Jewish Women's Coalition to End the Occupation, and the [[United Auto Workers]] faction New Directions. He also allocated $10,000 to rent payments or homeless shelters around Flint, and $20,000 to revive the Flint Voice.

Despite its success, the film was not nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film|Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/festivals/oscar-and-roger-and-me|title=Oscar and "Roger & Me"|last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=February 25, 1990|access-date=December 1, 2013}}</ref> The film's lack of a nomination was controversial; on the night of the [[62nd Academy Awards]], Moore attended a ceremony arranged by homelessness activists across the street which presented him with a "People's Award." Three years later, an anonymous member of the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] confirmed to ''[[Los Angeles Times|The Los Angeles Times]]'' that the film was deliberately not nominated because the documentary committee believed it was "dishonest and unfair to its subjects."<ref name=":1" />

===Reaction to the film===
Despite the company's public opposition to the film, its humorous and out-of-touch portrayal of Smith made it widely popular inside GM. By the time of the film's release, GM had lost 8% of its market share and was taking on significant financial losses, leading many employees and executives to become disillusioned with Smith's leadership.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

By the time the film was released, Flint was making a slight economic recovery in which unemployment, violent crime, and the local government's budget deficit declined. As a result, many commentators questioned the veracity of the film, accusing Moore of falsifying or embellishing details.<ref name=":0" />

Larry Stecco, a lifetime Flint area resident and personal injury lawyer, discussed positive aspects of Flint (such as the local ballet and hockey) at a [[The Great Gatsby|Great Gatsby]]-themed fundraiser. Stecco, who was filmed in front of two African-Americans posing as human statues, alleged that the film's unflattering portrayal of him had been unfair. Stecco filed a lawsuit against Moore and Warner Bros, claiming that Moore had falsely told him he was making a booster film for Flint's local [[PBS]] affiliate. After reviewing outtakes from the film, a jury sided with Stecco and ordered Moore to pay $6,250. Moore later expressed satisfaction with the decision since the slander charges were dismissed and because the settlement was less than the sought-after $50,000.<ref name=":1" />

===Legacy===
Moore allowed the film to be aired on television for the first time as part of the PBS series ''[[POV (TV series)|P.O.V.]]'' in 1992. The broadcast included a new short documentary by Moore called ''[[Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint]]'' (1992), which served as a new epilogue.<ref name=":1" /> In this film, Moore returns to Flint two years after the release of ''Roger & Me'' to see what changes have taken place. Moore revisits Flint and its economic decline again in later films, including ''[[The Big One (film)|The Big One]]'', ''[[Bowling for Columbine]]'', ''[[Fahrenheit 9/11]]'', ''[[Fahrenheit 11/9]]'', and ''[[Capitalism: A Love Story]]''. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."<ref name="LOC"/>