Moore aims for best-picture Oscar

Michael Moore says he won’t submit “Fahrenheit 9/11” for consideration as best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards. Instead, he’s going for the bigger prize: best picture.

Moore’s announcement is a strategic move for his Oscar campaign. Documentaries and animated films have their own categories, but the conventional wisdom in Hollywood is that those niche awards can limit a film’s appeal in the overall best picture class.

Moore said he and his producing partner, Harvey Weinstein, agreed “Fahrenheit 9/11” — which slams President Bush’s war on terror as ill-advised and corrupt — would stand a better chance if they focused solely on the top Oscar.

He also said he wanted to be “supportive of my teammates in nonfiction film.”

So many documentaries — such as the gonzo fast-food satire “Super Size Me” and the sober look at Arab television news in “Control Room” — have made the rounds in theaters recently that Moore, who won the best documentary Oscar for “Bowling for Columbine,” said he wanted to give others a chance.

Whatever happens, he added: “For me the real Oscar would be Bush’s defeat on Nov. 2.”