Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Leeis an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth20 March 1957
CityAtlanta, GA
CountryUnited States of America
finals cost bottles
I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit.
thinking interesting people
I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.
names people african-american
We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who determines what is black?
thinking want surprise
Surprises are good. I'm not of the thinking where you tell the audience everything. Sometimes I don't even want to see the trailers. You see the trailer, you've seen the movie.
fighting
Fight the power that be. Fight the power.
art cocoons three
I wouldn't be doing motherfu**ing films for almost three decades if every time I did something that someone didn't like I went in a fu**ing cocoon and just hid there and didn't make my art.
people black identity
It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.
character thinking voice
As a writer I want everybody to get a chance to voice their opinions. If each character thinks that they're telling the truth, then it's valid. Then at the end of the film, I leave it up to the audience to decide who did the right thing.
powerful thinking people
I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.
people choices way
A spine to my films that's become more evident to me is that many are about the choices people make, and the reverberations of those choices. You go this way, or that way, and either way, there's going to be consequences.
people dangerous allowing
It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work...
sleep night thinking
Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.
thinking people important
I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.
film endeavor hardest
Making films has got to be one of the hardest endeavors known to humankind.