Since the Al Gore global warming film, "An Inconvenient Truth," opened in the Bay Area five weeks ago, approving audiences have left the theater murmuring a similar refrain: "I hope the people who need to see it, see it."

In the region's politically blue vernacular, that translates as "red state audiences." And so far, those audiences are seeing it. The film is playing in the nation's top 185 markets, getting off-the-chart audience recommendations in conservative bastions like Plano, Texas, and Orange County. "Truth" is the third-highest-grossing political documentary of all time, behind Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" (which grossed $119 million) and "Bowling for Columbine" ($21 million).

And a key to making "An Inconvenient Truth" accessible to a wide range of audiences started with the first conversation Gore had last summer with director Davis Guggenheim in San Francisco's Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Each had a demand.

Gore wanted the science to be handled correctly, not trivialized. Guggenheim, director of Fox's breakneck TV hit "24," wanted to tell the story through Gore's life.

"He didn't want to do that," Guggenheim said in an interview this week from Los Angeles. "He thought people would think he was trying to politicize the issue and pick it apart."

Eventually, Guggenheim convinced Gore that the only way to make the film's tidal wave of charts and graphs appealing would be to humanize the ex-vice president's 30-year effort to warn of global warming's danger.

Gaining on Madonna

That approach seems to be working so far. While certainly not a summer blockbuster, "An Inconvenient Truth" has earned $13.8 million in the six weeks since it opened. By the time Monday's weekend box office takes roll in, Gore's "Truth" could overtake "Madonna: Truth or Dare" ($15 million) as the fourth-highest-grossing general interest documentary of all time.

Now playing in 562 theaters nationwide, "An Inconvenient Truth" no longer is doing strong business just in the "preach-to-the-choir cities like San Francisco and New York," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., a box office tracking company in Encino.

"It's been very impressive, especially for a documentary that is essentially a slide show," Dergarabedian said. "It's the kind of movie that people will continue to go to see because it's topical. It's the right movie at the right time. I foresee it playing for a while in the theaters."

Last month, Paramount Classics conducted what it called "extensive exit polling" of "Inconvenient Truth" audiences in conservative suburban markets like Plano and Irvine (Orange County), as well as Dallas and Long Island.

In a successful film, 60 percent of the audience rates it "excellent" or "very good." Among the poll respondents, 92 percent rated "Truth" highly, Paramount Classics Executive Vice President of Distribution Rob Schulze said Friday.

More critical to the film's continued theatrical run: 87 percent of the respondents said they'd recommend the film to a friend; the industry average for a successful film is 47 percent, he said.

"For people who are motivated to see the film, they're saying that it is entertaining and inspirational," Schulze said. "We're very enthused about its performance and see it staying in theaters all summer."

But last summer, Guggenheim and Gore realized the challenges behind the phrase "for people who are motivated to see the film" -- especially, as Guggenheim termed it, "a movie about a slide show on global warming that features a man who was at the center of a highly charged political election."

"We wanted to make a movie for that guy driving a pickup who is a little bit skeptical of what global warming is about," he said.

Political baggage

A key challenge to wooing that pickup driver would be overcoming any feelings he had for Gore, who carries a ton of political baggage for a movie star.

In an analysis of Gore's unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign, the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research firm found that many voters believed Gore could do a better job than George W. Bush on the economy, health issues and the environment. But many voters had "trust" issues with him, according to the study. Most were related to "his exaggerations and untruthfulness" and "his being too close to Bill Clinton," it said.

So far, the science in the movie has survived scrutiny. In June, as the film opened to a wider audience, 19 climate scientists who had seen the film or read the accompanying book told the Associated Press that "Truth's" depictions are accurate.

Artistically speaking, the Web site www.metacritic.com compiled the weighted average of 31 reviews from national critics and gave "An Inconvenient Truth" "generally favorable reviews" -- a score of 74 out of 100, 15th-highest among films in theaters.

The right tone

Not everybody's been a fan. The Boston Globe's Washington bureau chief criticized the film's inclusion of "gauzy biographical material that seems to have been culled from old Gore campaign commercials."

Yet the film's continued success in red states like Georgia and Texas shows that audiences seem not too put off that Gore appears in nearly every shot of the film, often in close-ups where his face consumes half the screen.

"Tone was very important in this film," Guggenheim said. "We didn't want to be blaming anyone. We wanted to convey the message that 'we're all in this together.' "

Guggenheim said he and the former vice president tried to depoliticize the movie by "not pointing fingers at anyone. I cut a lot of the politics out."

Yet early on in the film, Gore tosses off a one-liner that pokes fun at the Bush administration.

"I cut it out because I thought it would put people off," Guggenheim said. But some of the other producers persuaded him to restore it.

"And the truth of the matter is, it was such a great laugh, and you needed that early in this movie. I think the guy in the pickup would laugh," he said.

Too much Gore?

That still left the dilemma over how much of Gore's personal life to include. Political critics had blasted Gore in the past for politically exploiting the death of his sister to lung cancer and an accident that nearly killed his son. Plus, Gore has resisted interviewers wanting to probe his deepest feelings about the 2000 election.

Guggenheim waited until filming was nearly completed before approaching that terrain, which would be critical to the film. Finally, in a Los Angeles hotel room, the director did something "that most filmmakers would think was crazy": He spoke with Gore without any cameras. Just a microphone. Alone. When they started to talk, the sun was pouring into the room. Three hours later, they were sitting in darkness.

"As a filmmaker, you're always looking for a truth, but it's an 'emotional truth,' " Guggenheim said. "I wanted to go deep, deep, deep with him. That was what would resonate with a lot of people, no matter where they stood on global warming."

Copyright © 2006 San Francisco Chronicle

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