Filmmaker Michael Moore and actress Susan Sarandon spoke Sunday in New York City at a Tribeca Film Festival event.
The two discussed US domestic surveillance and whether the UK phone hacking scandal would spread to the US media.
Michael Moore:
"I'm interested to see what happens with Fox News and phone hacking. I really can't believe it just happens in Great Britain. Because really, who cares about just hacking phones over there? I'll make a prediction about something -- I think the phone-hacking thing Murdoch is involved in ... is going to be investigated, and it will be found that it's been going on here too. I just have a gut feeling." And on US domestic surveillance he added: "I never think about it. It would unwind me. I assume everything I'm saying in an email or saying on the telephone is being looked at."
Susan Sarandon:
"I've gotten my [FBI] file twice. I know my phone was tapped. If they're not surveilling you, then everyone else has cameras on phones. I was denied security clearance to go to the White House [next week], and I don't know why."
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The Guardianreports:
"I'm interested to see what happens with Fox News and phone hacking," said Moore during an onstage conversation with actor Susan Sarandon at the Tribeca film festival on Sunday. "I really can't believe it just happens in Great Britain. Because really, who cares about just hacking phones over there?
"I'll make a prediction about something -- I think the phone-hacking thing Murdoch is involved in ...it's been going on here too""I'll make a prediction about something -- I think the phone-hacking thing Murdoch is involved in ... is going to be investigated, and it will be found that it's been going on here too," said the documentary film-maker. "I just have a gut feeling."
So far there is no evidence to suggest that the phone-hacking scandal has spread to News International's US businesses, and Moore did not offer any to back up his claims. British prosecutors have raised the prospect of bringing legal proceedings in the US if British citizens' phones are found to have been hacked while they were on American soil, and several US politicians have called for investigations into suggestions that the company hacked the phones of 9/11 victims.
Moore and Sarandon, who is also known for her liberal leanings, both said they believed themselves to be under surveillance by US government agencies.
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The Los Angeles Timesreports:
"I've gotten my [FBI] file twice," Sarandon said. "I know my phone was tapped. If they're not surveilling you, then everyone else has cameras on phones." She added, "I was denied security clearance to go to the White House [next week], and I don't know why."
"I assume everything I'm saying in an email or saying on the telephone is being looked at."Moore chimed in. "I never think about it," he said. "It would unwind me," before going on to say, "I assume everything I'm saying in an email or saying on the telephone is being looked at."
Never shy about voicing his feelings toward the right, Moore took aim at a host of other targets, particularly those who he said played on fear to boost the Republicans' presidential chances this year.
"[Look at] the fact that Mitt Romney can be dead [even] with Obama in the polls ... even though his approval rating is at 35%," Moore said. "It's amazing that that many people who don't like him will still vote for him because not" -- Moore paused -- "him," referring to Obama.
But Moore also went after some liberal sacred cows, notably Davis Guggenheim, whose "Waiting for Superman" is often regarded as a liberal-friendly cri de coeur about the state of the public-education system. "I hated that film," Moore said. "The point I was left with was that teachers and unions are the problem. And that is not the problem."
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