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Spike Lee: Movie Studios Know Nothing About Black People Or Red Hook
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 23, 2012
Modified Jan 23, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 23, 2012
Modified Jan 23, 2012
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Spike Lee, New York sports fan, premiered his new feature film, Red Hook Summer (his not-a-sequel to Do the Right Thing), at Sundance last night and he was his usual, straight-talking self during a Q&A. So much so that he apologized to the audience, "Sorry for that mother----ing tirade."
Chris Rock was the one posing questions to Lee, and he asked Lee about self-financing Red Hook Summer. According to Indiewire, that set him off:
We never went to the studios with this film...I bought a camera and said we're gonna do this motherfucking ourselves. We're gonna ignore the studios. The plan was to make the film, bring it to Sundance... So this whole thing was planned out. Do the film independently! I didn't need a motherfucking studio telling me about Red Hook! They know nothing about black people! Nothing! And they're gonna give me notes about what a 13-year-old black boy and girl do in Red Hook? Fuck no! So we've been able to do it ourselves. We didn't have any notes. What else can you do? We had to do it ourselves! We shot motherfucking 'She's Gotta Have It' for 12 days back in 1986. And I'm now waiting for Universal to do the sequel to 'Inside Man,' my biggest hit ever! I can't wait anymore! We had to do it ourselves!
Also, Indiewire liked the film, calling it "not just Spike Lee’s most authentically 'Spike Lee' film in more than a decade, but a remarkable display of a filmmaker reconnecting with his artistic voice."
In spite of his frustration last night, Lee was pretty happy, "GREAT NIGHT.RED HOOK SUMMER PREMIERE IS MAGNIFICO AND NY FOOTBALL GIANTS ARE GOING TO SUPER BOWL.YA-DIG?SHO-NUFF.BOSTON SUCKS YO.GO BIG BLUE"
Tagged
film
indie filimmaking
inside man
movie studios
red hook summer
spike lee
Sundance
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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