Filmmaker Spike Lee had some harsh words for democratic presidential nominee, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, during an interview with him last week at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel as he was about to be honored by Chrysler with the "Behind the Lens" Award. Spike talked up politics, making films in Hollywood and his moment of delusion.
Q: Do you still have more sports films in you?
Spike: Yeah. So far I'm 0 for 3. I haven't been able to get money for Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson and also James Brown so I'm 0 for 3 for the black biopics.
Q: Why has it been so hard for you to get the films made?
Spike: I think all of these men made a great contribution to America and the world and I don't want to do the small version of their life. And its not that they say I can't get the money, they don't want to give me the money I need to shoot the vision I want. That's what happened to "Malcolm X" and I had to turn to other people to bail me out. I can't make those calls again. That was really tough making those phone calls.
Like my man Obama has said, progress has been made. When I first started, and I was in film school there was the only one African American filmmaker working in Hollywood and that was Michael Shultz. It’s hard to make a film, black or white, unless you're Spielberg or Lucas or James Cameron. Its just hard. For example, the studios they tell you this and that, so "Inside Man" was my most commercial film ever. Worldwide including DVD sales, over $200 million dollars. So when you're told all the time, 'well you haven’t had a hit over $100 million dollars,' and once you reach that, which is a huge hit and only cost $49. Usually Denzel gets $20 million for a film alone. So you get him Jodie Foster, and Clyde Owens and it’s made for $49 million, they're getting a bargain. So, that success put me in a delusional state (chuckling) where I thought, 'Oh yeah I'm in there now.' But, I couldn't get the money for James Brown. I want to do a film about the L.A. Riots that was written by John Ridley, couldn't get that money. I was pissed and got on the plane to Italy and that’s how we got the money for this new film called "Miracle at St. Anna," a WWII film. Disney Touchstone is the American distributor but the bulk of the money is coming from Europe.
Q: Why is it so hard to get wealthy African American doctors, lawyers and the like to invest in black films?
Spike: It's risky. It's gonna take time, It's gonna be evolutionary. You can get films made with black themes but most of the money is gonna go the comedies or hip hop, drug, shoot-em-ups and that’s not something I want to do. After "Inside Man" I got sent like twenty scripts about black heists. I think that demonstrates how creative Hollywood is -- 'Oh you got a heist film, send it to Spike.' It shows you the breath of their intelligence. If i were going to go the buffonery coonery route I'd get money for that. But there is just some things I'm not going to do.
Q: You said 'your man Obama,' you're obviously supporting Obama. Can you comment on that?
Spike: I just think that the Çlintons are bad people, they will do anything to win, and they keep demonstrating that. This last thing when she said she was under fire and my man Sinbad straightened that out real quick. That’s not something you just, you know, 'oh I thought it was Tuesday' and its Wednesday. No, that was complete fabrication -- just fabricating stuff. Then the stuff Bill Clinton has been saying ... Maybe it went to his [Bill Clinton] head when Toni Morrison said he’s the first black president but its been back firing because of the stuff he said about Obama, South Carolina, and all that stuff.
And then this whole thing with Florida and Michigan, each one of those democratic nominees understood the rules. Howard Dean laid it out. Florida and Michigan cannot be counted and Hilary Clinton was thinking like the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, 'It’s in the bag. F$%# Florida and Michigan, I’m not gonna need them anyway because by that time I'm rollin.'" But it didn’t work out like that, so now its like, oh this is un-American if the voices of Florida and Michigan are not heard. She wasn’t saying that stuff when she signed the thing. It’s a complete flip flop and I really think that Americans are getting more sophisticated. Some of us are not going for the okey doke.
But I will say this ... my Grandma, she put me through Morehouse and NY Film School. She lived to be 100 years old. She’s died Christmas Eve 2006, the day after James Brown died, both in Atlanta. Her mother was a slave so I’m only four generations from slavery and I think the mistake we make as African Americans is we talk about former years, but to get former years we have to talk about the day it ended, 1865. We talk about history, 1865 was like yesterday. And she [grandma] went to the grave for sure not thinking that a black man would ever be, or have the chance to be, President of the United States. So we living in an amazing exciting time.
When asked if he though Obama wass going to win the democratic nomination and the presidency, Spike said yes. He added, "there's gonna be a lot of people who are going to have to explain themselves." He specifically mentioned BET founder Robert L. Johnson and Congressman Charles B. Rangel. Johnson, a Clinton supporter, came under fire for making a reference to Obama's admitted teenage drug use while campaigning for Clinton in South Carolina back in January. He later apologized. While announcing his support for Clinton’s presidential, Rep. Rangel, who represents Harlem, said Obama had no chance and claimed the people who enthusiastically backed him were motivated by “Black pride.” Rangel later reassessed his outlook.
"I think its gonna be tight and once I think he is gonna win the democratic nomination. But McCain, its not going to be a walk," Spike added.
Next up for Spike is "Miracle at St. Anna" which chronicles the story of four black American soldiers who are members of the US Army as part of the all-black 92nd “Buffalo Soldier” Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy in 1944 during World War II. They experience the tragedy and triumph of the war as they find themselves trapped behind enemy lines and separated from their unit after one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy. Directed by Spike Lee from a screenplay written by James McBride, the author of the acclaimed novel of the same name, the film stars Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller, Matteo Sciabordi, John Leguizamo, Joseph Gordon Levitt and James Gandolfini.
The film will be released October 10, 2008 by Touchstone Pictures.
