Spike Lee opened up about New York, Hollywood and politics in a sweeping interview with Variety.
The 63-year-old director, who has lived in New York since grade school, says of how New York is doing: “I got to give it up to [Governor] Cuomo. I think he did a great job because it easily could’ve gone the other way. I remember all those movies — Death Wish and Escape From New York — it was full of drug addicts and prostitutes and dope dealers and muggers. And then, later, I remember the summer of ’77, the blackout, 9/11. New York was dead. And they’re running that same narrative. New York has always gone through hard times and rebounded, so I’m not buying that.”
But he believes that people of color should also get credit. “But here’s the thing — it was the Black and Brown people of New York City that kept this motherf—er going. And we saw it [with] MTA buses, the subway, hospital workers, cops, firemen, nurses, first responders. And also, we paid the price. We didn’t have a choice. We had to work. A lot of these people, I think, wanted to work. They wanted to help. And then, we suffered the most because of the condition we live in. We’re just not healthy. We don’t have the health services that other people have. I don’t think you have to be a medical Einstein to see that we over-index Black and Brown people: hypertension, obesity, we can go down the line.”
POLITICS
Lee says he can’t call the Presidential election, but: “Nov. 3, who knows what the world’s going to be like. And they might not be able to declare a winner. This could be a civil war. And we got to come out and vote because this motherf—er is not going to leave, and he’ll say that the vote was invalid or rigged. He’s doing that s— already. He’s laying the groundwork to say the election is bogus.”
He adds that President Trump is “on the wrong side of history. And he should not even talk about Abraham Lincoln.”
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
He also opens up about Chadwick Boseman, who died at age 43 from cancer. He says of working with him on Da 5 Bloods: “He did not look well, but my mind never took that he had cancer. It was a very strenuous shoot. I mean, we all didn’t get to Vietnam until the end of the movie at Ho Chi Minh City. But that other stuff, the jungle stuff, was shot in Thailand. It was 100 degrees every day. It was also at that time the worst air pollution in the world. I understand why Chadwick didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to take it easy. If I had known, I wouldn’t have made him do the stuff. And I respect him for that.”
HOLLYWOOD
On the Academy’s new inclusivity standards: “A lot of loopholes. Hire a white publicist. I need to sit down with somebody from the Academy. Look, I think their heart is in the right place. I will say that. But the battlefield for me is the rarefied air of the gatekeepers. These are the people, individuals who decide what we’re making and what we’re not making, who’s going to write it, who’s going to direct it, who’s going to produce it, who’s a star in this. In speaking about the subject, I always go to Lin-Manuel’s Hamilton — You got to be in the motherf—ing room. You got to be in the room where it happens. If we’re not in the motherf—ing room where the motherf—er happens, ain’t no motherf—ing thing going to change. Quote that!”