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Spike Lee
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Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
While African-American filmmakers
have been a staple of the cinematic landscape since the pioneering work
of Oscar Micheaux during the 1920s, none have had the same cultural or
artistic impact as Spike Lee. As a writer-director, actor, producer, author
and entrepreneur, Lee has revolutionized the role of black talent in Hollywood,
tearing away decades of stereotypes and marginalized portrayals to establish
a new arena for Afro-American voices to be heard. His movies -- a series
of outspoken and provocative socio-political critiques informed by an
unwavering commitment towards challenging cultural assumptions not only
about race but also class and gender identity -- both solidified his own
standing as one of contemporary cinema's most influential figures and
furthered the careers of actors including Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes,
Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. Along the way,
Lee even cleared a path for up-and-coming black filmmakers such as John
Singleton, Matty Rich, Darnell Martin, Ernest Dickerson (Lee's onetime
cinematographer) and Albert Hughes & Allen Hughes.
Born Shelton Jackson Lee in Atlanta, Georgia on March 20, 1957, he was raised in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. The son of jazz musician Bill Lee, his first love was sports; an obsessive fan of the New York Knicks basketball club, his initial goal was to become a major league baseball player. Only while attending Atlanta's prestigious Morehouse College did Lee's affection for film begin to surface, and while earning a degree in mass communications he returned to New York to make his first movie, 1977's Last Hustle in Brooklyn, a portrait of the area's Black and Puerto Rican communities shot with a Super-8 camera during the height of the disco craze. Upon graduating from Morehouse, he enrolled in New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, earning his Master of Fine Arts Degree in film production. His senior feature, 1982's Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, was the first student effort ever showcased in Lincoln Center's "New Directors, New Films" series, and also garnered the Student Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The success of Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop encouraged Lee to hire representation
at the William Morris Agency, but when no studio contracts were forthcoming,
he began exploring alternate means of independent financing. After a series
of setbacks, he managed to secure $125,000 to produce the stylish and
sexy 1986 comedy She's Gotta Have It, which took the Prix de Jeunesse
Award at Cannes and earned close to $9 million at the box office. Hollywood
soon came calling, and in 1988 he released his major studio debut School
Daze. However, it was his third film, 1989's Do the Right Thing, which
launched Lee to the forefront of the American filmmaking community. A
provocative, insightful meditation on simmering racial tension, it was
among the year's most controversial and talked-about films and went on
to net an Oscar nomination for "Best Screenplay" (although not
a nod for "Best Picture," a slight in and of itself the subject
of much outcry).
The jazz world was the subject of 1990's Mo' Better Blues, which opened
to lukewarm press. However, with his next effort, the following year's
Jungle Fever, Lee was again at the center of controversy over the picture's
subject matter, interracial romance. Upon the movie's completion, he began
work on his long-awaited dream project, 1992's Malcolm X. Shot at various
points across the globe (including Mecca), the three-hour biopic of the
slain civil rights leader reached theaters in its intended form only after
celebrities including Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and Prince
helped defray financing costs in the wake of Warner Bros. mandate that
Lee trim the film's running time by half an hour. After so many politically-charged
pictures, Lee next shot the change-of-pace Crooklyn, a relatively light
serio-comedy based largely on his own experiences growing up in Brooklyn
in the early 1970s and written in tandem with his sisters Joie and Cinque.
Next up was 1995's Clockers, a highly regarded urban crime drama based
on the novel by Richard Price. In 1996, Lee released two very different
features. The first, Girl 6, looked at the world of a young actress forced
to accept work as a phone sex operator, while the other, Get on the Bus,
paid tribute to the historic Million Man March on its one-year anniversary,
with financing courtesy of figures including Danny Glover, Wesley Snipes,
and Johnnie Cochran. While a long-planned biography of baseball great
Jackie Robinson continued to languish in limbo, in 1997 Lee did realize
another dream with 4 Little Girls, a documentary about the racially motivated
bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama church which killed four pre-teens in
1963. Upon signing a three-year, first-look production contract with Columbia,
he then began work on He Got Game, a study of the politics of high-school
basketball starring his frequent leading man Denzel Washington. The film
opened to mixed reviews, which did little to diminish the anticipation
surrounding Lee's next film, Summer of Sam. Set in Brooklyn during the
long, hot summer of 1977 when serial killer David "Son of Sam"
Berkowitz terrorized the city, the film looks at the murders through the
eyes of various borough inhabitants, played in part by Adrian Brody, Jennifer
Esposito, Mira Sorvino, and John Leguizamo. The film generated a mixed
response, eliciting the love-it or hate-it reactions so common among critics
when reviewing Lee's work. The director's subsequent project, Bamboozled
(2000), incurred a similar reaction: an excoriating satire on the images
of blacks in (predominately white) popular culture, the film won over
a number of critics even as it alienated others, yet another testament
to Lee's status as one of the most complex and divisive filmmakers of
both the late 20th century and the early 21st century.
In addition to his primary work as a filmmaker, Lee has also written a
number of books about filmmaking, as well as the 1997 Best Seat in the
House: A Basketball Memoir, which documented his high-profile obsession
with the Knicks. To support his idealistic brand of movie-making, Lee
also turned to outside sources of income. Most profitable was a retail
outlet, dubbed Spike's Joint, which sold apparel related to his films
-- during 1992, gear from Malcolm X was a widespread fashion statement
among the nation's youth. Additionally, he directed a number of commercials,
most famously a series of Nike spots in which he appeared (in the guise
of his She's Gotta Have It character Mars Blackmon) alongside basketball
superstar Michael Jordan, as well as music videos for the likes of Stevie
Wonder, Miles Davis, and Prince. To aid aspiring filmmakers, Lee also
founded the 40 Acres and a Mule Film Institute on the campus of Brooklyn's
Long Island University. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
New York at the Movies (2002) (TV)
.... Himself
Who is Alan Smithee? (2002) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family', The (2002) .... Himself
... aka We Are Family (2002) (USA: short title)
Making of 'Bamboozled', The (2001) (V)
3 A.M. (2001) .... Filmmaker
Directors: Spike Lee, The (2000) (V) .... Himself
... aka AFI's the Directors: Spike Lee (2000) (V) (USA: complete title)
Famous (2000) .... Himself
... aka Lisa Picard Is Famous (2001) (USA)
Michael Jordan to the Max (2000) .... Himself
Film-Fest DVD: Issue 2 - Cannes (1999) (V) .... Himself
Summer of Sam (1999) .... Reporter John Jeffries
4 Little Girls (1997) (uncredited) (voice) .... Interviewer
Girl 6 (1996) .... Jimmy
When We Were Kings (1996) .... Himself
Lumière et compagnie (1995) .... Himself (segment "Sarah Moon")
... aka Lumière and Company (1995)
... aka Lumiere y compañía (1996) (Spain)
Clockers (1995) .... Chucky
"American Cinema" (1995) TV Series .... Himself
Century of Cinema, A (1994) .... Himself
Drop Squad (1994) .... Himself
Crooklyn (1994) .... Snuffy
Hoop Dreams (1994) .... Himself (Film director)
Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993)
Last Party, The (1993) .... Himself
Abbey Lincoln: You Gotta Pay the Band (1993) (TV) .... Himself
Our Hollywood Education (1992) .... Himself
Malcolm X (1992) .... Shorty
64th Annual Academy Awards, The (1992) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Jungle Fever (1991) .... Cyrus
Lonely in America (1991) .... Himself
Mo' Better Blues (1990) .... Giant
Decade (1989) .... Himself
Making 'Do the Right Thing' (1989) (TV) .... Himself
Do the Right Thing (1989) .... Mookie
School Daze (1988) .... Half-Pint
She's Gotta Have It (1986) .... Mars Blackmon
Spike Lee - Ultimate resources for pictures, wallpapers and biography
c/o 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks
124 Dekalb #2
Brooklyn, NY 11217
