MOVIES

Michael Moore Pushes Equal Rights Amendment With Meryl Streep

10:00 AM PDT 9/25/2015 by Chris Gardner

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Meryl Streep

While promoting his new film, 'Where to Invade Next,' at TIFF, the filmmaker tried to draw attention to the long-dormant ERA bill by highlighting its big-name supporters, including Patricia Arquette. "I believe change is a-coming in America," he tells THR.

A version of this story first appeared in the Oct. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

When Michael Moore addressed the audience inside the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto before the world premiere of his new documentary, Where to Invade Next, he named dropped Meryl Streep with good intentions by helping draw attention to the actress’s plea to help push through the long-dormant Equal Rights Amendment, which calls for equal pay for women in the U.S. (Streep already had mentioned it during a Telluride Film Fest panel for Suffragette, saying how her letters to all 535 members of Congress were ignored)

In doing so, Moore received attention from another actress, one who made waves with her 2015 best actress Oscar speech calling for wage equality. "I got a lovely email from Patricia Arquette," Moore tells THR, hinting at a future endeavor. "I can't say any more about it right now. I will just say that I believe change is a-coming in America. When change happens for women, one of the big beneficiaries of it are you and I. I’m very optimistic and very hopeful.”

The director also has a positive perspective on his relationship with Streep. "We are friendly and she has been a fan and a supporter, that’s safe to say. When I was booed at the Oscars in 2003 when I won (for Bowling for Columbine), I remember her, she was down front. When the booing started up in the balcony — from the sponsors mostly — she whipped around like, ‘Who is doing that?’ I can still see her face.
 
"I talked to her like a year later, and I asked her what she was doing that night? She said that she wanted to know who was booing. I have a total admiration for her. She’s the real deal."