Michael Moore explores America's health care system in his documentary SICKO.
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When I'm shooting a movie, I'm always in an invisible theater seat. I respect the fact that people have worked hard all week and want to go to the movies on the weekend and be entertained. But the struggle for me does not come between politics and entertainment, because I know that if I succeed in making an entertaining and funny or sad film, that the things I want to say politically will come through very strong. If there ever is a struggle, making a good movie will always supersede the need to be noble.
Yet you don't shy from showing some pretty stark scenes in your movies. Anything you've ever decided to cut because it was just too unsettling?
In Bowling for Columbine, we used the videotape in the cafeteria, but I'm not going to show students being killed. In Fahrenheit 9/11, I felt that the media had shown the images of the planes flying into the towers more than enough, so the screen goes black for over a minute during the attack. So I'm always thinking about this sort of thing.
After taking aim at so many big targets, who do you plan to go after next?
I don't know. I'm going to wait and see how people respond to this. After that, I think it's time for a romantic comedy.