The BV Q&A: Spike Lee
By Ken Gibbs, AOL BlackVoices
There are few filmmakers, black or white, who can say they have made an impact on Hollywood as significant as Spike Lee. Up-and-comers like F. Gary Gray and John Singleton may have eclipsed Lee's recent films at the box office, but Lee has maintained his position as the most progressive of Hollywood's black directors. But feature films are not Spike's primary concern these days -- television is.
This month, Lee attempts to, as he puts it, "crack the television nut' by bringing three programs to the small screen: the urban-drama film'Sucker Free City' and two episodes of the miniseries 'Miracle's Boys.' He's also re-releasing special edition DVDs of 'Malcolm X' and 'School Daze,' the latter of which may be due for an update.
BV stopped by Lee's office to talk about TV, Black History Month and his upcoming projects.
I thought 'Sucker Free City' was going to be a series.
We thought so, too. That's the reason why I did it, because I've still not really cracked this television nut, and it was proposed to me that this was going to be a good opportunity. Of course, they didn't make any guarantees, but we felt it was good enough to warrant a series and the gatekeepers at Showtime felt otherwise. So, it's now just become a one-off, and it's something for them just to show through Black History Month.
Have they been holding on to it for some time?
They could have put it out before, but they got a lot of black people that watch Showtime and they ram it home in Black History Month.
It's interesting that a classic New Yorker like yourself chose to base 'Sucker Free City' in San Francisco.
I love San Francisco. San Francisco -- for me, being a true New Yorker -- is very similar to New York. Very cosmopolitan, a lot of great culture there, very diverse, and we had a great time shooting there. I would love to go back there to shoot.
Besides 'Sucker Free City,' you've also directed two episodes of 'Miracle's Boys,' which will air later this month on The N. How did you become involved in that?
My wife became a part of this production, as producer. She asked me to be a part of it. I read the script, I liked it. I read the novel, I liked it. So I signed on to do the first one, and I liked it so much that they were kind enough to let me shoot the sixth and final episode.
You say you haven't cracked the television nut, but this month alone you've got three things airing. That's not cracking it to you?
Yeah, but it's not dramatic. I want to do something dramatic. ESPN turned down the script, we were trying to make 'He Got Game' into an episodic series.
Wow, I hadn't heard about that. What other pitches have you had rejected?
There've been some other things, I've just forgotten about them.
After 17 years you're re-releasing 'School Daze.' Tell me about that.
I just came back from Atlanta. I must've signed 15 copies of the DVD, old ones. People are going to really flip when the new one comes out. We've also included in the DVD the original soundtrack to 'School Daze,' which has been out of print for years. And Sony Pictures has been gracious enough to give a party on the [Atlanta University] campus, just for the students, to launch the release of the special edition DVD.
I also just signed a deal with Sony to write the sequel to 'School Daze.' It will be the same school, Mission College, but many years later. Over the years a whole lot of people have come up and said how much 'School Daze' meant to them. They went to an HBCU because of 'School Daze.' They didn't even know there were black schools.
A 'School Daze' sequel? How did this happen?
Last summer I went and I met with Amy Pasquale and I pitched it to them. I said let's revisit 'School Daze' and they said bet. The film has really achieved a cult status. I was on the Spelman campus and these girls were mimicking the ways [breaks into G-Phi-G chant]. Who knows, maybe Dap -- played by Larry Fishburne, who was a radical -- maybe he's the college president.
What I'm doing now is just doing research, spending a lot of time at the AU Center. That script was based on when I was in Morehouse, and that was way back in '75 to '79, that's a minute ago. So I'm really trying to get in tune with what's happening in the AUC so that it'll be contemporary.
Why re-release 'Malcolm X' this year?
It's been 10 years, and the first release didn't have any extra features at all. Nowadays, people are not going to buy a DVD unless you've got extra stuff on it. That's why I think that people are gonna freak when they see that they get the soundtrack to 'School Daze,' with 'The Butt' and 'Be Alone With Me Tonite,' all that stuff.
Feb. 10, 2005