Moore expects plenty of backing for next film

The success of "Fahrenheit 9/11" is making Michael Moore's life a bit easier on his next film.

With "Fahrenheit 9/11" becoming the first documentary to cross the $100 million mark at the domestic box office, director Moore expects a smooth path on raising money to make "Sicko," his critique of health-maintenance organizations.

Moore would not provide details but said financing of his next movie was in the works, thanks to "Fahrenheit 9/11," which cost just $6 million to make.

"Clearly, if you make a movie that has this ratio of how much it costs to its gross, you're going to find an easy time making your next film," Moore said in a conference call with reporters over the weekend.

The idea for "Sicko" stems from a segment Moore did on his "The Awful Truth" TV show, in which he staged a mock funeral at an HMO for a patient denied an organ transplant he needed to survive. The HMO relented and paid for the transplant.

Moore, an Academy Award winner for "Bowling for Columbine," said he would have plowed ahead with "Sicko" even if "Fahrenheit 9/11" had not given him new commercial clout to raise money.

"I've never let that get in the way, anyway," Moore said. "Even if this movie hadn't done as well, that movie was going to get made, because I think the American people are clamoring to see the HMOs punished."