Spike Lee
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Ryan Coogler on Black Panther: ‘It’s Definitely A Political Film’
Black Panther so political. Ryan Coogler and Spike Lee recently joined other leading directors for the Hollywood Reporter’s popular roundtable series to discuss their award-nominated films, their personal career journeys and directorial inspirations. Yes, Black Panther is within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but make no mistake about it—it’s not solely for entertainment. And the film’s…
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2019 Golden Globes: Regina King, Donald Glover, Spike Lee and More Secure Nominations
Before the sun rose over Hollywood, the industry was up and buzzing to announce the first major awards ceremony nominations: the 76th Annual Golden Globes. Terry Crews and Danai Gurira rattled off the names of stars in the running to secure that golden bag, via the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Let’s cut to the chase…
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Director Malcolm D. Lee on Breaking Out of the Limiting Label of 'Urban' Films
Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of director Malcolm D. Lee’s first major film, The Best Man, which hit theaters in October 1999. Since then, he has directed multiple movies with predominately African-American casts, including this year’s Night School and last year’s blockbuster comedy smash, Girls Trip. But does he get the respect he…
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British Vogue’s Edward Enninful Threw Spike Lee a Blacktastic Party, and Our Invite Got Lost in the Mail
Clearly, we need to remind Edward Enninful of our address. On Saturday, Oct. 20, the editor-in-chief of British Vogue hosted a dinner for filmmaker Spike Lee in London, in honor of the BlacKkKlansman director “who has given so much to the creative industry over the three-and-a-half decades he has been working within it,” as written…
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Spike Lee Responds to Boots Riley's Critique of BlacKkKlansman: 'We Need Police'
More than a week after director and musician Boots Riley delivered a pointed and detailed critique of BlacKkKlansman and its portrayal of police officers, filmmaker Spike Lee has a response. Riley shared the three-page criticism on Twitter (warning: it does contain spoilers) on Aug. 17, citing Lee as a “huge influence” on his own filmmaking…
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Spike Lee Compares David Duke’s Favorite President’s Administration to the KKK
BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee sees a lot of similarities between the Ku Klux Klan and today’s administration, specifically around fear-mongering and coded rhetoric (see: the origins of Trump’s popular slogan- “America first.”) “Historically, “America First” was used by the Klan in the 1920’s against immigrants,” said Lee. “This stuff is not new … it’s just…
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Spike Lee Unveils Previously Unreleased Prince Song, ‘Mary Don’t You Weep’ for BlacKkKlansman
It begins with piano riffs and drum. Prince’s dulcet falsetto pours out the first verse, then drops a register for verse two. It is, in a word, sublime. It is Prince at his most soulful, with the growls and runs that mark his genius. The song: “Mary Don’t You Weep,” a gospel standard, a Negro…
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Time Traveling: For BlacKkKlansman, Costume Designer Marci Rodgers Took a Full Circle Journey
If you ask Marci Rodgers how she became a costume designer, her answer is simple: “God.” To the believers, it’s a perfectly credible answer, while the more spiritually skeptical might raise an eyebrow. But there is something undeniably divine in Rodger’s career trajectory, which began as a style-obsessed teenager in Evanston, Ill., just north of…
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BlacKkKlansman Allows You to Laugh at the Ridiculousness of White Supremacy, Then and Now
“With the right white man, you can do anything,”John David Washington says as Ron Stallworth—the black Colorado Springs, Colo., police officer who went “undercover” in the Ku Klux Klan—in Spike Lee’s latest joint, BlacKkKlansman. This sentiment is also an entire mood. Oh, AmeriKKKa. Stallworth’s tale of infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan might be set in…
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Spike Lee Wants Us to Respect Our White Allies: 'White People Have Died For Justice'
Spike Lee is well-respected as one of Hollywood’s biggest and blackest directors. On Friday, his latest, BlacKkKlansman arrives in theaters; the movie tells the story of Colorado Springs undercover detective Ron Stallworth, a black man who joined the Klu Klux Klan in the 1970s. Lee admits that he had never heard of Stallworth’s story, much…