You don't appear on screen until 40 minutes into Sicko.
That's right.
That's a real departure. And it seemed like a very conscious decision — one of the biggest criticisms of your work is that you're on the screen way too much.
I know. For some reason I'm not very watchable! [Gestures at his face and laughs] Well, look, I start with the stories of all these Americans who had to suffer for no good reason and I felt it would be much stronger to not have me in the way.
Looking back, do you regret that you put yourself on screen so much in the earlier movies?
That's a good question. [Pause] No. In Roger & Me I was an unknown. But I have to recognize the fact that Michael Moore is not just that guy down the street anymore. As much as I wish I could live my life that way, I have to accept that that isn't how it is. [The Weinstein Co. reportedly paid Moore $25 million for Sicko.] And so I try to be very aware now of how my presence affects the situation and the scene. I also think a little bit of me goes a long way.
Do you consider yourself a journalist?
Are the editorial pages of The New York Times journalism? Yes. But they're opinion. They're opinion based on fact. In my case, it's going to take somebody 20 or 30 years to figure out what I came up with, because while it's journalism, it's also satire coupled with a large sprinkling of opinion to create a work of art.
You don't go banging on doors in this movie. Did you even try to get an interview with the insurance companies?
No. I had no intention of doing that, so it was funny to watch the insurance companies make all these preparations for [my health-care film]. All these internal memos and training sessions in the companies for how to handle Michael Moore: ''Get him talking about any Detroit sports team or compliment him on how much weight he's lost recently.'' [Laughs] The frightening thing about that is they clearly knew what they were talking about. I was up at 5 a.m. the other night watching the Pistons play the Bulls.
Don't you have an obligation to at least give the insurance companies the chance to say no to you? Don't you owe them a call?
Absolutely not. They already have their forum. It's called the nightly news. Their story is told over and over again. You never hear the other side.
NEXT PAGE: ''What I'm suggesting is the elimination of private health insurance, which is a much bigger thing. I don't know any politicians who are going to take that stand, which is too bad.''
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