{"id":4359,"date":"2014-02-10T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=4359"},"modified":"2014-02-11T22:59:50","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T03:59:50","slug":"an-interview-with-spike-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/an-interview-with-spike-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"An (Imaginary) Interview with Spike Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spikelee\"
\nI’ve also done an (imaginary) interview with Steven Spielberg<\/a>. \u00a0That one is cool too.<\/em><\/p>\n

White people hate Spike Lee and I have no idea why.\u00a0 When I was in film school, they brought in this huckster guy to talk to us about producing, and he mentioned Spike Lee, and then, as an aside, he made sure to tell us that he doesn’t think Mr. Lee is talented.\u00a0 Things like that happen all the time and I don’t get why.<\/p>\n

When I was seventeen, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing<\/a> was my favorite movie, if you can believe it.\u00a0 At that time I was exploring American independent and foreign \u2018cinema\u2019. They say the best way to be an atheist is to read the bible. Well, the best way to love real movies like Back to the Future<\/a> is to watch French movies and American indies. However, in small ways, Do the Right Thing holds up for me. It’s definitely Spike’s most complete movie\u2014it has arcs and a brilliant ensemble.\u00a0 The compositions and camera movements are mind-blowing, and it does a great job of making you feel like you’re on the block. It’s alive and adventurous\u2014it’s filled with music and color and jokes and fun\u2014not to mention, some very touching human moments. In fact, the only thing it really lacks is clarity. It’s so much of a hang-out movie<\/a> that you end up having to accuse it of loitering. But, I’ll always have an affection for it, and I’ll never call it a bad movie.
\n
\nDo The Right Thing lead me to watch all of his movies. Each one is great, and bad, in the same way. They\u2019re all about 30 minutes too long, crowded with excess material that drags the whole experience down. Their strengths lie in their individual scenes. Lee is a stylistic genius who’s pulled off some of the great moments in movies\u2014it’s just a shame that they always get lost in the shuffle.<\/p>\n

I could never say, \u2018Dude, you gotta watch Mo\u2019 Better Blues<\/a>!\u2019\u00a0 And that\u2019s a shame, because there’s a few scenes in it I’d love to show people. Take, for instance, the scene where Denzel is practicing.\u00a0 He’s on a rotating platform, his face center in the frame, humming and miming his music, really in the zone. You feel him practicing, you’re in his head.\u00a0 Or how about the introduction of Martin Lawrence in Do the Right Thing\u2014the bright colors and flashy dutch angels.\u00a0 Or the flames burning an X into the American flag in Malcolm X<\/a>.\u00a0 Or the drug addict with AIDS in Clockers<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s all brilliant.\u00a0 He has a way of getting actors to be so over-the-top that you can’t look away and believe every second of it.\u00a0 And his swooping crane shots, jagged cutting, and wide lenses are like a beautiful milkshake of Scorsese, Stone, and the Coens.<\/p>\n

His style is in your face because his movies are in your face and larger than life.\u00a0 He is jazz, and Brooklyn, and the stoops that he films, and his movies all reek of filmmaking passion.\u00a0 But they’re just too damn long.\u00a0 <\/i>For all of his advanced stylistic prowess, he has very little storytelling ability, and sometimes the ratio between the two is just dreadful.<\/p>\n

He’s also accused of being a rabble-rousing talking head.\u00a0 And he is!\u00a0 But, he’s not an asshole.\u00a0 He’s a funny guy.\u00a0 I saw Spike speak at the Apple Store once, back in 2005, and he was hilarious.\u00a0 Here are a few moments, from memory, from the Q&A:<\/p>\n

Twenty-Something Guy: I submitted my film to Sundance 16 times and I always get rejected…<\/b><\/p>\n

Spike: Dude, there’s other festivals.<\/p>\n

Woman: Have you ever considered making an animated film?<\/b><\/p>\n

Spike: No.<\/p>\n

Guy Wearing Beret: [Some pretentious gibberish]<\/b><\/p>\n

Spike: (Pauses) Only a dude wearing a beret, a scarf, and a striped shirt would ask that.<\/p>\n

It was great. Which is why I decided to sit down with him for an (imaginary) interview here at Smug Film:<\/p>\n

It is known that Spike prematurely ends any interview or speaking engagement if asked whether Mookie ‘did the right thing\u2019.\u00a0 He claims that only white people have ever asked this question.<\/i><\/p>\n

Did Mookie ‘do the right thing’?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, that’s the point. Mookie is a character, he’s not me. Mookie did what he thought<\/i> was the right thing\u2014that’s the point.\u00a0 I thought it was pretty obvious.\u00a0 So did Roger Ebert.\u00a0 Dude had my back, he loved that movie.\u00a0 Also, it’s a fucking joke that it\u2019s not on the AFI 100 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why do white people hate you?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

You tell me.<\/p>\n

I don’t know, racism? To be honest, I don’t know why, because your movies are better than most of the other indie movies that have ever come out in this country. I honestly don’t get it. White people I’ve known seem to make a point to talk about how you suck. But whatever, fuck those assholes. Anyway, before we start with real questions\u2014you hate Robert Zemeckis right? (Spike has criticized Back to the Future and <\/b>Forrest Gump<\/a> for putting forth that white people started rock n’ roll by influencing Chuck Berry and Elvis, which is stupid, because those are obviously jokes.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I was just being a rabble rouser. It keeps my name out there. Maybe that’s why white people hate me. Actually, Back to the Future is awesome. The only movie better than that is Signs<\/a>. Everything you say Greg is perfect and I’d like to have you direct my next movie.<\/p>\n

Cool!\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m 100% serious too.<\/p>\n

She’s Gotta Have It<\/a> is a great title, and that movie really epitomizes the 80s\/90s indie movie\u2014<\/b><\/p>\n

Fuck yeah.<\/p>\n

Right, but what I was going to say is, why did you make it so boring?<\/b><\/p>\n

What the fuck are you talkin\u2019 about?<\/p>\n

Well, like, it’s cool, like Mars Blackmon not being able to tie his sneakers is genius, but the movie itself is slow and nothing.<\/b><\/p>\n

Fuck you.<\/p>\n

Well, I guess we won’t discuss School Daze<\/a> then?<\/b><\/p>\n

What about <\/i>School Daze?<\/p>\n

Well, I’ve tried to watch it a few times, and I don’t even get what the point is.\u00a0 I mean, they’re starting college, and there’s like a frat, but then it’s a musical?\u00a0 The whole thing is a stylistic mess.<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah, I mean, that’s true, but fuck you.<\/p>\n

Do the Right Thing is a badass movie though. You \u2018killed it\u2019.\u00a0 I feel like I’m speaking with slang because you’re black, but I mean, you do call your movies ‘joints’ and your end titles says \u2018sho nuff\u2019 on them and stuff. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah that’s fine you racist honky motha fucka.<\/p>\n

Glad we agree.\u00a0 So, with Do the Right Thing, I read your notes on it and it’s amazing\u2014it’s almost exactly the kind of movie I would always dream of making.\u00a0 It has this great feel of just hanging out on the block. You’re right there in the atmosphere, but these story arcs slowly start to percolate and emerge and it’s beautiful.<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah, it was a great time back then and it was a fun movie to make. Hard, but fun.\u00a0 You can achieve a lot with wide lenses, because when you do medium shots and close ups on a wide lens, two things happen\u2014one, the character in the foreground is morphed slightly, which gives them this bombastic, larger-than-life feeling, and two, you see the whole block behind them, so you see all the busy goings-on in the streets.\u00a0 The problem with a lot of movies nowadays is everything is dead\u2014even when they’re out on the streets shit is dead. \u00a0Movies are too static and locked down. Light moves, people move, the world is happening and alive. \u00a0Push that camera in their face, whip it around and let’s see the color in the back.<\/p>\n

That’s perfect. And you use these amazing dutch angels too, and you also have some really tender moments.\u00a0 There’s that great scene where father and son, Aiello and Turturro, are talking, and the camera just slowly tracks forward up to them. It’s a really, really long scene too.<\/b><\/p>\n

In that scene, you have this tender moment of explanation between a father and son and then it explodes at the end when Turturro freaks out on Smiley. \u00a0That one scene is kind of a metaphor for the whole movie.\u00a0 It slowly ramps up and there’s built-in conflict and then the tension simmers and then BAM it explodes in the end.<\/p>\n

No doubt.\u00a0 Now, you followed that up with one of your lesser seen movies but also one of your diamonds in the rough, Mo’ Better Blues. You followed that quickly with Malcolm X which overtook that and also propelled you from celebrity to superstar, but I want to talk about Mo Better Blues.<\/b><\/p>\n

What about it?<\/p>\n

Well, your Dad was a musician and did a ton of amazing work on a lot of your movies. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes, that’s true.<\/p>\n

Well, I think you do a great job exploring the stamina and process of a musician. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I know.\u00a0 What do you think of Malcom X?<\/p>\n

It’s too long dude, all of your movies are too long but that one is like three hours. \u00a0There’s good stuff in there but it’s just too much.\u00a0 I only have one real question about Crooklyn<\/a>, which I like portions of, but it’s, again, very uneven, and there’s too much nostalgia.\u00a0 But my question is, what the fuck is up with the squished scene?\u00a0 I thought my TV was busted. [There’s a sequence where an effect makes the image looked squished top-wise.]\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

She was in Virginia or something and she wasn’t happy.<\/p>\n

Yeah but why does the audience have to suffer?<\/b><\/p>\n

Because she<\/em> was. \u00a0The character felt that way.<\/p>\n

That’s such a shitty reason to do something that’s gross looking.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because we already know she’s unhappy and out of place and uncomfortable. Having a visual effect tell us that is condescending because we don’t need to be told\u2014you’re doing a good enough job telling us with the performances.\u00a0 You’re a wonderful stylist, but that sequence was too far.<\/b><\/p>\n

That’s why you’re directing my next movie Greg!\u00a0 You know your shit.<\/p>\n

Of course I am.\u00a0 But we gotta talk about Clockers because that movie is awesome!\u00a0 The drug deal stuff in the beginning is great. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah the long lenses really makes it look like a stake out. \u00a0Not many people had really done that before.\u00a0 And there’s this great moment in that scene where we suddenly go really wide.\u00a0 I took a page from the Scorsese book in my visual construction as far as varied lens sizes and composition.<\/p>\n

You did, but you ran with it in a way he never did.\u00a0 You go way wider and it’s jarring in a really refreshing and effective way.\u00a0 Clockers is a weird movie because it’s a very, very complex murder mystery.\u00a0 In fact, you’re kind of left never really feeling confident that you know what happened.<\/b><\/p>\n

Thanks. \u00a0You know, that was a tough one to pull off because we were juggling so many narrative balls.\u00a0 To be honest, I don’t think it all works but it was very fun to try.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t work but you can see the fun you were having and I think it’s one of your strongest efforts. You really lazied-out on the Lumiere Project<\/a> though. \u00a0You just filmed your baby’s face<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Who gives a shit, I don’t care about some old ass camera that was probably used by D.W. Griffith or something.<\/p>\n

Did you see Lynch’s though?<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah, he did good.<\/p>\n

What’s the deal with Girl 6<\/a>?<\/b><\/p>\n

Don’t ask. \u00a0I wasn’t that good around that time.<\/p>\n

He Got Game<\/a> is a weird one.\u00a0 Like, the movie itself is kinda awesome, but the basic premise is downright silly.\u00a0 Did that really happen or something?\u00a0 And the problem is it’s a great father son story with some amazing scenes.\u00a0 The opening credits are mind-blowingly beautiful\u2014truly one of the great sports-as-visual-poetry sequences.\u00a0 Your use of music, especially that southern, slavery sounding, operatic stuff, over the slow-motion basketball shots\u2014brilliant!\u00a0 But why the insane premise, and why all that extraneous stuff with Denzel and the hooker?\u00a0 And why keep repeating the same scene over and over with Jesus. \u00a0Each one is good, but cut all but one of them.<\/b><\/p>\n

I made the movie the way I wanted it to be. \u00a0Fuck you.<\/p>\n

You then did a bunch of miscellaneous junk that nobody cares about, including The Original Kings of Comedy<\/a>, which you looked at as a black pride championing thing because that tour was like the biggest tour on the planet and nobody cared until you filmed it.\u00a0 Although those guys are dreadfully unfunny besides Bernie Mac, so I guess my question is, why are so many black comedians not funny?<\/b><\/p>\n

I knew you were racist.<\/p>\n

Bamboozled<\/a> is one of the earliest movies shot on DV.<\/b><\/p>\n

That’s true.<\/p>\n

People fucking loved 25th Hour<\/a>. \u00a0Why?<\/b><\/p>\n

Because it’s good.<\/p>\n

No it’s not. \u00a0In fact, it sucks, and that scene everybody likes is awful, where the dude is yelling into the mirror about New York.\u00a0 It’s over the top garbage.\u00a0 Also, what the fuck happened with She Hate Me<\/a>?<\/b><\/p>\n

You’re an asshole.<\/p>\n

After that we kind of return to you making movies with Inside Man<\/a>, which is by far your most ‘Hollywood’ of all your movies.\u00a0 Inside Man is interesting. \u00a0It’s the kind of movie my Dad can watch and get into.\u00a0 It’s a twisty caper picture, with an always wonderful Denzel.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah, that was an interesting project that came to me.\u00a0 People are stupid, they think Hollywood hates me or something. \u00a0I know I’m an asshole, and I say shit to be incendiary\u2014it’s fun, it’s my nature. \u00a0You do it too, that’s why we love each other.\u00a0 The truth is, I’m a good guy, and I’m happy with my movies, and I have fans and friends in Hollywood.\u00a0 It was just that a project never came my way that I wanted to do.\u00a0 People think I’m just this crazy, bitter, black asshole with a chip on my shoulder, but I like living in NY and teaching at NYU and doing my projects.\u00a0 Inside Man was actually a pretty small movie that I could make in NY that they would let me make my way, so I did. \u00a0End of story.<\/p>\n

Fair enough.<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s like all this jive lately with me taking heat for using Kickstarter.\u00a0 Fuck you, it’s a way to promote your movie, and you aren’t just taking free money, you’re giving people tickets and rewards and shit.\u00a0 That’s shit that they’d have to pay for anyway, but now they can not only get stuff they would’ve bought anyway, they can feel like they’re a part of something, and they are.<\/em>\u00a0 So fuck y’all.<\/p>\n

With that, Spike stormed out and said Mookie did the right thing\u2014but not before hugging me and telling me how much he looks forward to Hectic Knife<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"spikelee\"
\nI’ve also done an (imaginary) interview with Steven Spielberg<\/a>. \u00a0That one is cool too.<\/em><\/p>\n

White people hate Spike Lee and I have no idea why.\u00a0 When I was in film school, they brought in this huckster guy to talk to us about producing, and he mentioned Spike Lee, and then, as an aside, he made sure to tell us that he doesn’t think Mr. Lee is talented.\u00a0 Things like that happen all the time and I don’t get why.<\/p>\n

When I was seventeen, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing<\/a> was my favorite movie, if you can believe it.\u00a0 At that time I was exploring American independent and foreign \u2018cinema\u2019. They say the best way to be an atheist is to read the bible. Well, the best way to love real movies like Back to the Future<\/a> is to watch French movies and American indies. However, in small ways, Do the Right Thing holds up for me. It’s definitely Spike’s most complete movie\u2014it has arcs and a brilliant ensemble.\u00a0 The compositions and camera movements are mind-blowing, and it does a great job of making you feel like you’re on the block. It’s alive and adventurous\u2014it’s filled with music and color and jokes and fun\u2014not to mention, some very touching human moments. In fact, the only thing it really lacks is clarity. It’s so much of a hang-out movie<\/a> that you end up having to accuse it of loitering. But, I’ll always have an affection for it, and I’ll never call it a bad movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,17,21],"tags":[37,104,185,2777,3519],"class_list":["post-4359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts","category-gregsessays","category-gregsinterviews","tag-greg-deliso","tag-smug-film-2","tag-smugfilm","tag-spike-lee","tag-spike-lee-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4359"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4369,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions\/4369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}