July 15, 2020 • 64 mins
This week Spike Lee returns to Questlove Supreme to break down his first feature length film released on Netflix, Da 5 Bloods. Listen as Quest and Team Supreme catch up with Spike about the deep connection of Da 5 Bloods to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, life post Oscar (and Covid), mortality, his family legacy and if it's time for us to all circle back on his critically acclaimed film, Bamboozled.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio people,
Citizens of the World. What's up, um, Quest Love, Welcome
to a special Friday QLs Live. UM, I guess we're
doing it in tandem. This will also be archives on
(00:20):
our I Heart podcast, our special with Spike Lee today. Um.
We we haven't done this in a minute. We haven't
done this in the last two weeks. Um long nths.
A lot of less happened when you when you let
wait two months, it's been that feels like two months.
(00:40):
It Yeah, thanks, I you know time this I used
to laugh at. Uh. There's there's always two uh quotes
that come from movies that deal with jail street jail
Uh you know the one. The one cliche is like,
you know, they take your body, but not take your mind.
(01:00):
Your mind, that's what you always here. And number two
is there's always two days you come in and there
you walk out, but they walk out. So yeah, I
just lose track of time. You said, that's kind of true,
Like you, I said, what movie is there every day
(01:21):
you walk in? That's from what I heard. I know
it from the wire that you only do two days
that you come in and the day you walk out.
The wire. I'm sorry. That was our friend David Chappelle
Coltons speaking of the last two weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
a lot, a lot has well, we have not spoken since.
(01:44):
Uh the what are we calling it? Are we calling
the uprising? I like the uprising? The uprising. I like uprising.
I like that better than riot because, you know, protests,
it's just something more progressive about it. Just yeah, and
more act rich, you know what I'm saying. I mean,
because just because riot sounds like or protests, riot sounds like,
(02:05):
it's just it sounds reckless, you know what I'm saying.
Like these people are just out here rioting and being
stupid for no reason whatsoever, you know what I mean?
So I like uprising. There's people that nobody wants to
be what al Right, Well, yeah I didn't even I
don't watch him, but I got you. I'm with you? Literally,
(02:26):
who's that? Yeah? So are we gonna do another episode
on election night like we did it four years ago?
Looking at the results we got from election Night, I'd
say hopefully not, because like, do we do we you know,
do we go through that again or do we try
(02:47):
and break the jinks by not doing a show that night?
I think it was Russia and the white ladies. They're
voted for Trump, but that's that's us. Uh. Yeah. Who
was our guest that night? I forgot Stephen Hill. That
was Stephen. It was also the same night my uncle
(03:10):
got shot and subsequently died like a couple of weeks later.
He got shot that night. It was like that was
like the eighth I want to say, and then he
died on Thanksgiving Day. Ship that was it was just
that was just a day. And I remember, like with
with up Front, with with up selling out right, that
(03:32):
was the weirdness about it. It was like the life
and the funniest day of my life, like up selling
up what do you call it when you talk over
music on the radio? Yeah, yes, I forgot. I remember
doing that interview when we were all sitting there and
everybody had like their laptops of their phones or whatever,
(03:54):
and we're all trying to keep it cool, and you
just see the ship flipping red. Yeah, And by the
end of the interview, as it was crazy, literally in
a three hour interview, the world changed because that in
the beginning we were all like word up inside and
then by the end of that ship and by the
end it was a rat. It was that's not happening
(04:16):
this time, y'all. That's not happening, So we should we
should re reair that episode with Stephen Hill. Well no longer.
At the time Stephen Hill was there and at that time,
and then that's right after that. Oh wow, A lot
(04:37):
a lot of happened on that show DJ and a
hell of a set on I G Live. Hey Stephen,
I've been there, Yeah, Stephen, he DJ. He does. It's
a little it's it's about eleven people watching. But you
know me and uh old boy news, uh dude from
TV one, Uh listen, it's all a battle told Martin, Yeah,
(05:00):
Rolling Martin, Yeah, oh yeah, I ain't going to that ship.
Rolling law and blocked me for calling him on Twitter.
So I don't don't know, you're with notable people would
blocked you Twitter the we want to know of I know,
I remember Roland Martin did and this was years ago
because he was like we need he just I don't
(05:21):
have a list like you. I just say things and
people listen. I don't I don't try to, you know,
provoke anyone. But no, he was just on Twitter and
this was years ago. This was before I found Christ.
But he was just like, look, we need to ban
the in word and all this, and I was like Nick,
and that was it, and and and he just you know,
he banned me. And he's still bamed me and still
(05:43):
is blocked me, which I mean, fine, whatever, But then
um mc hammer has me blocked and I don't know why.
And that was like like Hammer, like yo, Hammer, if
you see this Hammer, bro, I don't know what I said.
It could have been a joke or but look, man,
I saw the two legit to quit tour, so please
haven'tn't hurt him tour. Uh. When I was in like
seventh grade, it was you boys and men and Joe
(06:05):
to see and should changed my life? Like Hammer, please,
all is forgiven, bro, Like, come on the show man,
let's see. Please don't hurt him, right, please hurt I
would love to have y'all come to Jesus moment on
this show, much like we had your Solange come to
Jesus moment on this show. Yeah. Would you even think
that Hammer was even remotely aware of who he blocked
(06:27):
or what the situation was? He probably had no funt.
I'm sure he doesn't have any clue. I mean it
could have I don't know what it could have been.
It could have been a joke, it could have been whatever.
But the bottom line is I was following mc hammer like,
I mean, you know, I fun with him hammer legend.
But so we get him on the show, we straighten
it out, get him on the show. I don't even
know why. Okay, I would like the other guy on too,
(06:50):
please from Roland, Martin rolland Martin. Yeah, let's get him on.
Oh yeah, time you can't because he listen, I'm I'm
not ducking no smoke from nobody. I just don't think
because he's very he has very specific views about uh,
about the inn word and like coon and stuff and
(07:13):
I don't use that word, but yeah, he's like very
big on those words. And that is yes, I use
like nigga is nown adjective verbs? Ain't that verb? So listen,
stand you're you're doing. Yeah, I'm like, come on, you
ain't about to tell me what I can't say on
on the show. We're doing so yeah, yeah, Um, if
we could work in with Spike about the way Bamboozo
(07:36):
kinda is relevant to I mean, our ways, but especially
to what's going on like literally today, like cream of
Wheat is changing their logo, and and Washington and the
Washington Red are yet the Redskin is considering as well. Yeah. Yeah,
(07:58):
everybody is considering it now. You know, Like but Bamboozl
was kind of like specifically about that symbolism stuff. You
know that that was a good pool. I didn't. I
didn't think about it. Yeah, I know that. Uh that
Netflix did their whole Black Lives Matter of section for Spike,
(08:22):
you know, like get on the bus and Rodney King
thing and some other stuff he did. Django is jango. Uh,
Django was done by I do know that. That's what
I was making. I was just saying black lead because
the Netflix section is no, no no no. I just meant like,
Spike has his own wing in the he has his
(08:43):
own suite in the Black Lives Matter hotel on Netflix.
Netflix is going above and beyond. You know, the president
just gave all this money to HBC use but most notably,
the riches of HBC used more houses. Spelman. I'm not mad.
I'm just a right right yeahnte. Before we get Spike one,
I need somebody to translate something for me because I don't,
(09:06):
you know, I don't want to be tone deaf and
say I don't speak millennial. And on top of that,
you know, I'm pals with this particular person. Okay, dude, damn,
I'm gen X. He's gen X. Man, look it up. Okay,
(09:27):
I'm not gonna I'm just gonna look it up and
go ahead. And I look at up. I was born.
I was born in seven eight and forty one years old.
I'm I'm like, he's gen X. He's us. I'm like, yeah,
I'm like the youngest and but yeah, I'm like right there.
But can someone translate this? Can you give me a
movie in the minute version of this J Cole no
name thing? Never mind too much? No, no, no, no no,
(09:51):
it's not too much. It's okay, So moving a minute.
J Cole no name, Okay, no name, and I'm just
giving context. No name. Uh did a talk which I
did not see. I just saw kind of the the out,
the the out, you know, the fallout of it. She
did a talk with Boots Riley on Live I think,
(10:13):
and they were just talking about I guess socialism and
police abolition, like they were just having a conversation. I
didn't see the entire thing in context, but the fallout,
the what I saw the fall out was that oh
he was over talking her and he was it just
it went left right. Then J Cole puts out a
song and he's saying, yo, it was his sister on
(10:37):
the timeline. Uh, she don't like the crackers, she don't
like the police. You don't like this, and you know
it was something about her tone that's bothering me. Now,
at no point in this song did he ever say
no name. At no point in No Names tweets or
in her talk with Boots Riley. As I understood, um,
she had said something about you know, all these rappers,
(11:01):
these rich rappers or something. You know, they ain't said nothing,
and but she never said his name or anyone's name.
So Cod puts out this song saying this, this girl
online saying this that in the third I don't like
her tone. I saw another site put up and they
were saying yo. Uh. J Cole is saying it's talking
(11:22):
about no name in his new verse. Now, at no
point in time and any of this that he ever
say her name in the verse, and to my knowledge,
at no point that she ever say his name. So
as far as what I'm sitting, all this ship is
just fucking conjectured to start right, It's just y'all. It's
all fucking speculation. So the song comes out, people say
(11:43):
it's to meet about No Name. Everybody loses their ship.
Oh he's policing a woman. He's talk about her tone
police and all this ship and it just becomes a
ship show. So then the next morning, Cole put out
a series of tweets and he was just like, look
I said what I said, Um, you know all of
the No Name you know? He you know, he was like,
(12:04):
you know, she's doing the work. I'm not a dude
to be reading like that and this this is his word.
He's like, I don't be reading like that like that. Yeah,
he's like, he's like, I don't you know, J Cole,
But he says it in his verse. He's like, YO,
don't let my degree fool you. You know you can
have you know, just because I went to college doesn't
mean I'm is up on these issues everyone else. So um,
(12:27):
So that was so that was that, and I mean
that was it to me. Yeah, it was just a
ship show for a day. And I mean I came
in the middle of it and didn't you know, I
was Donald Glever walking too in the apartment on fire,
like exactly, that's exactly. I was like, what in the hell,
just say one more thing before we bring thee spiking
(12:49):
because he's here. Um. I just wanted to say congratulations
to o girl who created you about to lose your
job because I don't know if y'all heard, but she
found her family and they got her off the streets.
I was just really excited ab out that story. Are
you serious? And she was like, y'all have no idea
what that did for me. So I wish I had
(13:10):
her name in front of me, but I don't, but
I stories I had. Now I will say this just
to tap out big ups to the girl that um
that with that coin that you're about to lose, you
lose your job anthem. The best tweet of the J
Cole No Name debacle goes to my man Al Shipley
and he won Twitter. It's only like eight of us
(13:30):
that like got it, but it was a great tweet.
He goes, and I quote the J cole lyric is
something about the queen tone that's bothering me. It's problematic
because nobody questions Brian May's pedal board and amp settings
and I'm bringing in Frank like that's it. I mean,
come on, that's all you need to know, Like, that's
(13:55):
that's it, That's what it is, and figure out that
joke because that was a total like musical type it was.
That was that. It was made for me and the people,
all the people. Brian May was the guitarist and queen
and so the pedal board is the Uh, Ladies and gentlemen.
We are joined by friends of the show, newly bestowed
(14:16):
Academy Award winner storyteller Our tour African American Grit and
always the cinematic provocateur, one of the last original storytellers
we have today. Please welcome back to QLs Live and
course left Supreme Uh for a second appearance, our pal
(14:37):
and friend, Mr Spike Lee. How you h how's everyone doing?
Everybody's safe? We are right now now that's my office
hearing the People's Republic of Book of New York for
Green Baby. Ye, that same I visited with the baseball
mint in the in the room. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah,
(14:58):
but just want to editing rooms. Okay, I took it.
Nappened everyone once I forgot what I was there for.
You you had a Super Bowl party or something, and
I finished it. Where is everybody? I'm at home in
North Carolina, Ley, Los Angeles. I'm in Manhattan. Uh, and
(15:20):
I'm in a ranch somewhere in in Westchester on a
friend's farm. But I just closed him on my house,
uh yesterday, So yes, thank you. What can I ask
for Burrow? Uh? This is in in Palisades, so yeah,
(15:43):
I have to say Spike. Um, I believe that the
last time I physically saw you, I saw you twice. Uh.
You were flying on your way I believe, somewhere in
Africa or somewhere overseas where you told me that it
was the first day of of of scouting wherever. I
(16:03):
don't know where you shot at the film, but I
was going to I was going to Thailand, Okay, maybe
I thought Africa. Okay, I remember you telling me that
you were going somewhere and far off to to shoot.
I saw you there and then coincidentally Jay Z's party
after the Oscars. No, no, no, no, I saw you
(16:24):
in the airport. Well, I forget where it was, but
it was you were on your way to to scout
for locations. And then I saw you on the way
back home oh, coming from it, so police Circle exactly.
You gave me a synopsis on the way home, and
I was like, I'm trying to figure that out and
(16:47):
quest people still trying to figure it out. Yeah, yeah,
let's talk about it. Let's talk about Okay. Look, okay,
So I got a question for you. What was the
idea of naming all the soldiers after the Temptations and
Norman Whitfield like being storming Norman? You caught that one.
(17:11):
I didn't catch that, man. I didn't catch what happened
the five and when You're a good thing though a
great happy of the day. Otis Lewis called me, wow, okay,
the last living member of the Temptations, and he says,
he told me, I'm speaking behlf all. My brothers aren't here.
(17:32):
Thank you for doing that. That's what's uping, man. It
is out of nowhere, so out of nowhere. One one
question I wanted to ask you the last time we
spoke that I didn't what is for this movie specifically?
And I think the last time we spoke to you,
you were just about the Lawrence. She's got to have
(17:52):
it on Netflix. So this is even before Black Klansman.
Even though you were still working on it. Okay, So
I guess I can start with now, like now that
this is in the can, what what is what is
your what is your daily or weekly process when it
comes to conceptualizing? What do you want to add next
(18:12):
to your cannon? Like I don't know the name of
whatever movie you're about to do, but like, does the
idea start in that room that you're in right now?
Do you sit for silence? Do you do you have
a notepad where you I'm open, you know, I think
that I've learned. I'm quest I think you might forgot.
I'm sixty three years old. I'm in my fourth decade.
(18:40):
M So I've learned that I gotta be open when
the news comes. I just can't like, wait now I'm
gonna now, I gotta think of an idea. M m hmmm.
He doesn't for me. It doesn't work like that. So
I just gotta be open to the muse. I trusted,
(19:02):
you know, I trust the muse. So where did it
start for this film? Like? What was the when he
was we were interviewing him, when we interviewed you, an
electric lady, you were telling us seeing the praises of
nineteen seventeen. Right, that was a movie. There's a movie
that was the war movie that yeah, right, so that
that's the question. Just being back on the mirrors question,
I was like, didn't it start all the way back
(19:23):
then when you were talking to No No, But let
me let me tell you the story. H this is.
I did not write the original script for this. The
original script was written by Danny Billson and Paul the Mail.
Pauled the Mail has since died. Since he died before
we started to shoot the film of the Illness, they
(19:45):
produced a Lloyd Levin options script. It was called The
Last Tour and it was about white vieing on events.
It's that one. The automatically brought it to Alur Stone.
Alas Stone sat on it for two years and walked away.
Lloyd Levin just happened to read an article in The
(20:07):
Guardian where I talked about one of my favorite films,
which is a Treasure Saramandre starring Humphrey Bogard mhm. And
to take there's a gold that the whole golding in
this film was came directly from the trust Saramandre. He
called me up to seven, you know, seven meeting. We
get right to get me getting ready to go go
(20:29):
right into like Klansman. So we met with my co
writer Ken Wilmant and we told I told, look, I
like it. It's a great script, but I want to
change it. For me to be involved, we have to
change the viewpoint. This has to be told to the
viewpoint of African American Vietnam debts. And Karen and I
(20:53):
we wrote it, you know, twisted it and put some
funk on it, and uh marm and Gaye and you know,
everybody and the world has seen a result now on Netflix. Yeah.
I love the way you used the barbed gate acapellas
in the joint man that was on There was only
one though, there was only one. Yeah, yeah, that was beautiful. Man.
(21:15):
And you said you filmed this in Thailand, not Vietnam, right, No,
mostly in Thailand. We ended in Vietnam, So can you
talk about this. I was talking to another filmmaker about
filming in Vietnam and they were talking about since it's
a communist country, how sometimes challenging it could be, like
sometimes they have people following people to make sure you're
doing what you say you're gonna do. And what was that?
We never had that but we had to have the
(21:38):
script passed through it a censure, so we didn't know.
And we were up there last week in Thailand and
we still not gotten the green light to shoot in Vietnam.
But once we got the green light, no one was
following us. It was all love. It's also number one
(21:58):
in Vietnam too, Do you prefer is this? Is this
an adjustment to you? Like, I know, I would imagine
the same way for it is for me making records,
Like I miss the sort of the romantic view of
(22:21):
like having a tangible piece of wax with an album
cover or whatever format I mean CDs and cassettes are
no longer there, but still, like you know, for movie makers,
I would imagine that they still dream of you know, yeah,
like looking under mark keys and seeing their names and
sort of. I mean, does I know Netflix doesn't have
(22:44):
the same cash as going straight to video and you
actually see bigger results. But is that at least an
ego adjustment that this is now the new normal for
filmmakers where you you go straight to streaming as apposed
to inside of movie theaters, Like does it feel different
for you? Or Netflix was the last place I had
(23:08):
to go and this, every other students said no, coming
off black class, even even coming off of an Oscar Win. Well,
that did not happened. But we were nominated sixth nominations.
Everyone's turns down. So God bless Netflix. Now, of course,
(23:29):
no one knew the world's gonna change. M hm. So
a lot of people have films ready, but their studios
which they made it for, does not have the streaming service.
So because of that, and this was next six film.
This film debuted all around the world at the same time,
(23:51):
before the world changed BC, not before christ but before Corona.
I was gonna be the president of the Jury, the
first black president ever. And the con films. Yeah, and
this is you can't hear that, and this is in
the world and the world premiere of the Five Bloods
(24:14):
are gonna be in come out of competition. The world changed.
But the answer give you a more a deeper answer
that you know, plans change, and a lot of everybody
died had plans. Over twenty New Yorkers had plans. Over
(24:39):
a hundred thousand Americans had plans. All these people had plans.
So for me, I'm just I said, God bless, I'm
alive and my family is you know. That's where I've
taken and I don't even mean I didn't mean to
get any deep spiritual thing but for me, And how
can I complain that my movie didn't come out the
(25:01):
way it did? You know, when when people everybody had
plans and the world has changed, you know, and the
ones that are here for screaming Black Lives matter all
over the world? Right facts at the time, the timing
couldn't have been more uncanny. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then
(25:22):
another thing, another thing. I know you have questions for me,
but I don't say something right away to not to
get it people asking me, friends and journalists. Spike, didn't you, well,
all this ship happened, didn't you run back and shoot
that Black Lives Matter scene? Wrong? That's the first thing
(25:45):
we shot. Wow, really, this is the slate of a camera.
The first day of Christopher Tokley was March and we
went to May nine. So again, the first day of
Princi Photography was March, a full year before we shot
(26:11):
The Black Lives Madasee and pre production. Wow. So anyway, Yeah,
a lot of things to happen in this film. There's
awesome spiritual level had nothing to do with that's happened
with a lot of your films though. We were we
(26:31):
were talking to before, like before you came on about
how bamboozoo and like how now we're seeing like they're
getting you know, Uncle Ben and not Jemima and like
getting all that out of paint. You know what I'm saying.
And you were showing that you know that was you
know twenty years ago? Are there? You know you leave
it out and you leave it out something, do the
(26:52):
right thing. We were we were talking about global warming,
you were you were talking about global you don't you
know what my friends called me dollars like you were
talking about it before should even happen? You did. Wait,
(27:14):
that's okay, So I'll say like every other month I
might bug you with the text asking why your entire
film uh, your film collection is it in one space?
I mean right now is do you not think? Now?
Is is? Uh? And it's twenty and it's twenty anniversary.
(27:34):
Now is the time for Bambooze to to come out again?
Because I can't find it anywhere and I need to
see it. It just came out. Criterion just put on
a great new blue rail, restored picture, sound, everything, Bamboozo
is a Criterion Collection film. When a man is like,
(27:58):
two months ago, this is a very the sweet like
in my mind, I'm such a film nerd. I'm like, wow,
I wish one day I could be a Criterion film.
And now I will say that. All right. So, living
on a tour bus for like the last twenty five years,
you know, you just buy any and every DVD that
to keep your mind occupied. So Criterion Collection is basically
(28:20):
like it's it's it's the it's the upper echelon. Yeah,
it's the upper echelon of film releases. Is like a
committee that decides that this particular film, regardless of of
his stature and the box office whatever um, deserves the
royal treatment. I mean, now you know companies are doing
(28:43):
that now that you know there's Anniversary this and anniversary
or Purple Rain and that. But like back in the day,
when Criterion approaches you and says we would like to
re release, it would be like an independent label deciding, Okay,
I'm gonna take fonta'es for a record, the first Little
Brother record, the Listening and give it the royal treatment.
(29:04):
Remaster it you out cover great analogy, great analogy. Yeah,
and so uh wow, that's funny. It's always been my
dream to be in a criterion. Be careful. Wait, can
I just ask this question, Spike, because you more than me,
but like you said, you are Negro damas And what
(29:25):
does it feel like present day? Because we were just
talking about this before you came on where Number one,
we have protests, including all kinds of people outside of us.
Number two we wake up to no more Uncle Ben normal,
ain't your mama? Twitter says Juneteenth is a holiday. New
York says Juneteenth is a state holiday. Like I feel overwhelmed.
(29:46):
What does it feel like? It's a lot In the
other words, how many calls did you get? How many
calls did you get the last two weeks to explain
stuff to them? And how many have been explained? Any
rough drafts did you had to read to make sure
that this tweet was okay? And there's my answer, they barely.
(30:10):
Motherfucker Uncle Ben alone, Uncle Ben? Right, you can with ada, mama,
she got a whole new look. So no, the story. Actually,
(30:33):
you know what, um, I just read that. I didn't
realize that similar to the family that one that settlement
for the line sleeps tonight. The South African family from
writing it um. For the last thirty seven years, the
family of the woman who was the original and jew
(30:59):
Maama logo Um, who was also instrumental in them getting
the recipe together, has been trying to like she's basically
owed the minimum is at least a two billion dollars
settlement for the last so let's let's see what happens.
(31:20):
But white corporations, they're like the money way, like it's
all right, yeah, I don't know. I'm shot. I don't
know whether to take people on their word, Like is
this gonna change in a week? I don't want to
get used to it. It's very it's you know what
it is like, it's it's cool, but it's like I
don't I feel like this is more like a get
(31:42):
out of discussions, free card and away. Yeah. Yeah, and
it's not just gonna be you know. It's like this
is sort of like with the I voted for Obama,
so now racism is over, and it's like, okay, well
I donated Amazons, like I'll give you two dred million
dollars to this particular Dadada, So now racism is over,
(32:05):
there's there's still a bigger conversation a half for real change.
So I mean, yeah, like it's it's it's cool now,
but I still feel as though that's that's kind of
a get out of discussions free card, and that's the
deeper that's the deeper conversation that needs to be had.
(32:25):
So I mean it's cute, but I'm I'm watching very
skeptically right now. Yeah it Spike. I always wanted to
ask you after, um, you one for Black Klansmen, being
the director that one you know, finally got an oscar
like later in your career. Um, what changes was it
because or or were there changes? Um? You know we've
(32:46):
seen people that went them early and they kind of
you know, it changes them. But you have been putting
in the work for so long, and your track record
al race book for itself. Any times a question you'll
see a question between Black Class and the Five Bloods
that you think that affected Keammy would affected the Five Bloods.
But so but you said, had you wind Oh we
(33:09):
just fact you were nominated. You were nominated, but then
they still passed but you didn't And you want I
guess it was after was the five blo was already
in production when you won No the morning after, the
morning after, I was on a plane in Thailand, Bangkok. Okay, okay,
I got even after you want. It was still a
fight to get your stuff, but out now the deal
(33:32):
was done. I'm just saying that Netflix was the last
one I had. It was doing else to go to too,
you know. So we won the Oscar. We partied that night.
That morning I never went to bed, packed my bags
and was on a plane the Bangkok, Thailand. It was
L A X. Now I'm sorry, okay, and so my production,
(33:54):
my great productions, not to Wyn Thomas, whose first film
was She's Gonna Have It nine, the eighties X climber
talker Tom Siegel. They had been in Bangkok for four
weeks already, the exact who had to do the Oscar ship.
So I had to catch up. So minute I landed
him Bangkok and that hundred degrees hit me upside the head,
(34:18):
that Oscar stuff out the window. I had the cash
up because we can read you the movie. So all
the Octar stuff between L A X and Bangkok was gone.
I guess it would be more apt to ask an actor,
what kind of director are you? Are you the director
(34:39):
that well, no, no, no, Okay, so I can answer that.
I can answer that I asked. I asked. Paul Thomas
answers to this question, like he Paul Thomas P. T.
Anderson is the type of guy that will do twenty
takes of the same scene because he knows, by like
(34:59):
the third team time, there will be a certain rhythm
that feels natural. But the level of intensity that you
got Delroy Lindo did really give you in this film. Um,
his most dominated, his most, So like how many takes
does it take to to get him to that level?
(35:20):
Like was this just take one? He was one? Or
it took a few times. I mean, I would give
it more to one take. But here's the thing. This
is my fourth film with Delroy, but it's been twenty
five years between this and the last one. Del Roy
first worked for me played Western Archie. Yeah, Malcolm x
(35:44):
Y played the drug king. Payn also played my actual
father he forgot about so he played my father. And
all you guys, ladies and gemy, you all notice that
you can have great talent, but sometimes you get lost
in the sauce. Putting in work, putting in work, But
(36:05):
you get that that vehicle mm hm, you get that
role that was been putting work w r K for
the get people been here. Sorry you fight in the air.
(36:28):
Delroy did not fall off the truck. He's been putting
in work and this role he had the vehicle. He
took it to another level and he was in his
own Can we talk about casting, because I was gonna say,
how did you in your mind? Like, how did you
(36:49):
how did you decide that this was the right ensemble
for you. I've broken them three other times. I know
I know what he could do first ten experience, But Spike,
in all fairness, you've done so many movies with such
a large collective of actors that you have a vat
that you could have picked out of I mean, you
know from Lawrence Fishburn could have Nah. We were we
(37:14):
me and my wife, we were talking to other night
and last night we were watching I think they've been
showing Sheet. They've been showing He Got Game a lot
on h VO now like they've been showing that a lot.
And we were just talking like how you you're kind
of like the Miles Davis of in terms of like
a talent scout, like what Miles Davis was the jazz
and being able to see Herbie to see Coltrane like
(37:37):
the dudes that and the actresses and actors that you pick,
you know, the stuff that they go on to do
after working with you, and you know what I mean,
it's incredible. And one actor that you chose for The
Five Bloods that I love is Jonathan Major's who plays
the son. How how did you pick him? And what
was what was the thing you saw in him that
(37:58):
was like, yo, he's the one old Delroy. No Jonathan
Major the son San Francisco. Yeah, I have I didn't
see him in that film after you you audition, Oh
that's why I thought you chose him. No, Mike, Casting
(38:18):
director Kim Coleman, Wow, I just wanted to, you know,
let's talk. But but but the talk about you, I mean,
here's the thing. Do the right thing was Rosie Present's
first film, had the late Great Robert Hash's first film,
Martin Lawrence's first film, Jungle Fee was Howard Berry's first film,
(38:42):
Queenly Keep his first film, and we can go on
and on and Barry Glory yeah but that was that
was his first one. But yeah, but still so I
just have when I get the vibe, you know, I
know that's somebody want to work with and work with again,
(39:05):
I would like to know what's the barometer? Four? I
mean I would think that having a two in Rotten Tomatoes,
I mean it doesn't doesn't hurt at all. But what
is what is the barometer? Now that there isn't a
box office listing per se to determine if a film
(39:26):
does well or not does well? Like, how do you
what's what's the what's the new standard or the number?
Well this is I heard that are opening box offer?
If you could make analogy from the people saw it
a Netflix, two people buying a ticket, we all went
(39:50):
up like a hundred twenty five million dollar weekend. M
very good. I just want to but is it good
enough for Netflix to say? Are you just say one
at a time? No, no, no, I mean it's there's
love again. I said before no one else wanted to
(40:12):
do this film in light of his new studio in Atlanta?
Did you take it down to No, there was no
and and that's no direspect to my brother, because no, no, no, no,
no quest It's all loved baby. And I just want
(40:32):
to say something that you know, I mean, necessarily showed
me entitler a mad cool. That beat was squashed. Years ago.
I called him up out of the blue. He said,
I said, we gotta talk. I jumped, put my ass
my black mother on a plane from LaGuardia, Atlanta, went
(40:53):
out to his mansion. We sat down talk brother to brother,
black Man of black Man gave me to the hub
and for nothing but love ever since to get remember this,
he did not, you know that all that big complex
he has, he did not had to put my name
(41:14):
on a studio, one of the studios, one of those stages.
He had to do that, so because there would be
no Tyler, not for you. But he did. But it
wasn't even about that. I know, it's it's just it's love.
I did not want to put Tyler in the position
and you're like, come on my life. Yeah, but I
(41:37):
would think my thing is that if you if you're
I mean okay, so establishing the thing when I when
I answer that, and let me if I can adjust
that answer m I was. I was only asking because
I know that he has the complex up and he's
(41:58):
open for business. But then I was kind of wondering,
like what step two is? Step two now? Like for
future for directors and screenwriters, like do they Is it
a studio in the terms of like MGM, like do
you is he an option to take it to or
is Georgia is just Georgia stop you from wanting to
go down there because of their laws and what they
(42:19):
do on the women's suppression on their bodies and whatnot.
Because some people are considering that too. I'm just saying
it is that they true. The only thing I don't
I can't ask that question. I don't know if you know,
is the studio in the centuries also financing films or
is it that? Is it just a place to shoot?
(42:42):
That's my question. I don't know if he was the
studio in terms of Warner Brothers or MGM. That's what
I was trying to ask. I think he was. I
didn't think he was yet. So that's just the place
to shoot if you want to shoot him now, I mean,
I don't know what his his his the end game
of it all, Okay, I want that when you did
(43:04):
um kind of following up on that question, when you
did X and you know, as we talked last time,
and he was like you called called folks up, like yo,
it's station time, let's get it, you know, what I mean, Uh,
was there ever consideration after that of saying, well, if
we can come together to do this, why don't we
keep going? What are some of the challenges in self
(43:24):
funding and put doing stuff like that? The challenge? It's
really most people lose money when you invest in the film, okay,
and very few of us have disposable income where they
could just right a check and like not even be
you know, hurt, just take them losses. Yeah, so it's
(43:46):
it's Look, it's not this thing's been a struggle since
sixteen nineteen when that first ship landed James thom McGr
and if history has tossed anything, you know, it's the
struggle continues. We take any by day by day. It
was like, you're not gonna chop down a redwood tree
with that first wing. We gotta be done like a
motherfucker at all. Right, Can I ask you that the
(44:10):
Five bloods real quick? It's a in the movie. It's
a picture of Delroy that show and it looked like
he was actually he actually served in the military. Is
that the case? Yeah? That was from American fi too. Wow,
I didn't know if there was an American graffiti. Say
what we found it, there are such a thing. Yes, come,
(44:37):
I don't know about this because I've never heard of
Americ graffiti too. Google Google, I am dB sugar computer
to computer, but he's not talking. Let him do it.
I haven't I haven't seen that. I haven't seen that movie,
but I have the soundtrack for it. So if there's
a soundtrack for it in my period, I'm looking because really,
(45:01):
did you use any Vietnamese actors? Wow, a more American compete?
You're right, everybody was Vietnamese. So then okay, So this
is this leads to my next question and the scene
on the boat with del Roy and that the guys
sell on the chickens. Right, it seemed to me did
you ever have to have a off camera come to
Jesus moment with the cast because history is so deep
(45:22):
in that way, and y'all were shooting in Vietnam and
some of these being to me actors do have a
history with this war in that way because it was
it was so you know, it's so emotional. Part about
you killed my father and my mother body stuck a chicken.
I told I told my brother to use that because
he didn't speak that much English, But I said, black
g I black g I right where there are real
(45:46):
moments father, mother, he because this history. Yeah. And then
one of the key lines everybody in the film is
a war never ends. And we had a Vietnamese brother,
Vina say that line. People in America in Vietnam is
(46:07):
still deal when this war is coming on fifth years
from now, fifty years ago. Another thing that I learned
very quickly that if you're Vietnam and you say that
Vietnam War, they say no, no, no, no, we call
it their American war. We did not go the motherfucker
United States America. You motherfucker's came here, got your ass kicked.
(46:31):
And before that, the French came here and got the
ask kick you did. Mention that was mentioned in the
movie by they was yes, speaking the French, the French
colonized Vietnam. Yeah, if you, I mean, if you look,
when you get a chance, will get a chance. Get
good to your globe, globe that's cute. I'm looking or
(46:54):
are you just go to your Google a world map.
Look how big Vietnam is. I'm looking? Wow? Okay, what
do you think? What's the question? You got it? What's
that you think it's comfortable in size to Vietnam. Guess
(47:18):
by the looks of it, Sex I mean not Texas.
Texas bigger in Vietnam. I'm looking at one of the
smallest states. Yeah, this is This could be up in
New England somewhere, mm hmm. So just say, like four guests,
maybe it's the side of the Rhode Island or New Hampshire, Vermont.
(47:45):
That is the size of Vietnam. They kicked motherfucking as
to see you. Did they know when you came to
viet Noma like Spike Lee something some did. But we
made a conscious effort in this film not to de
humanized being these people, not to make them villains. We
(48:10):
we treat him with love, respect, and we got that
in return. Uh. One question I have about your because
you say, you know war that was the theme, you know,
war never ends? Was that a part of the decision
to keep the main actors the same age and the flashbacks? Uh?
You know what I mean? And the only one that
was young was was Chad you know Norman. It was
(48:34):
a thank you good question. Again, that's a question. No,
I've been asking a question a million times already now,
so I have the correct As I said earlier, everybody.
Netflix was the last person who stayed do the film,
but they said, we're doing it for a price, a price,
(49:00):
a price. If I to add the dude to do
the age that at the d age actors would added
another hundred million dollars to a film I have to
do it? Was that a hundred million dollars that's more
the whole the whole film card another another part of
this answer complicated answers that we had very two days
(49:24):
where the temperature was not over a hundred degrees. We
were shooting in the jungles of Thailand. Makeup aesthetics would
have melted right and for the right cameras. So with
all those things I just said, combined with my confidence
in the telligence of the movie, the movie going to audience,
(49:49):
that the first time they see it, they will be
jarn but then like that, the light bulb will go
and you know, off over the head and like I
get it that this is a memory. So that is
the answer to your question. Yeah. Yeah. My good friend
Sarah McDonald who writes for The Undefeated, and she gave
(50:12):
the Five Bloods good review. She was the one that
kind of made that point of just how that was
the way, even though it was you know, it may
have been a budgetary strips or whatever, but that was
just a way to show that they never left the war,
like they're still there. And what what did Marvin Gay
sing Warriors help? But when it and I'm not gonna
(50:35):
sing it when we start getting back together again. So
I know the question is coming about Marvin Gate. Marvin
Gate had older brother named Franklin. He did three tours
in Vietnam, three tours. He was a radio operator, and
he was righting his brother every week. And Marvin never
(50:59):
answered one of those of us. And I think a
lot of ways that album is an answer. It was
a Letty never wrote. So Marvin is getting the first
hand account from his brother's doing three tours of Vietnam.
Plus Marvin is in Detroit Motown, so we're seeing the
buds come back main fucked up, strung on heroin. So
(51:23):
all those things it might look, I might be wrong.
I think those are the things that all came together
that he gave the world the gift of one of
the greatest albums ever in my opinion. What's going on?
So Marvin is a character in this movie. Did you
know from the game that you were going to use
(51:44):
that album, that entire record as yes, because it introduces
an you had another generation to an album that's about
to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. So and another thing is
that we did. Another thing that we did is that
(52:04):
my brother Sanky, who does all my still photography and
not not still with Typic Records, he's behind the scenes.
While we were in Thailand, he gave me that acapella version.
Was I never heard it before, m hm, I never
(52:25):
heard it, had never ever heard of Alcobola, what's going on?
And once I heard it, I knew we had to
put it on a scene with Paul as he's on
his descent and the depths, you know, right, Yeah, I
(52:46):
feel like that was your That was your living for
the City moment from Jungle, that was your. Yeah, just
using a song like the taz Mohole. Also do One
of my favorite scenes where you did that is in
Girl six when you use how come you Don't call
(53:07):
You No More? Boardwalk in spite as a get on
you again? Every time I talk to you, I'm gonna
just say, as a ci Au person, I found it
very interesting the way you again wove more House into
another if you're SI history. Though you're actually right, I
(53:29):
do not mention clark Au. Now it's called back North,
Clark was called Clark College. My major was that even
like graduating from more House, the luxurous class of nineteen
seventy nine, my major, Herb. Eichelberger, taught me he's the
one that believed in me as a young filmmaker. So
(53:51):
I know you're absolutely distraught now that read Hastings just
gave forty million to more House, that y'all needs forty
forty million to the Unity College Fund and Clark K
you didn't get a die country. What's that you're doing? Hey,
(54:14):
I thought about it like the rest of the world. Okay, okay, listen,
though you know why that's special to me? No bullshit.
My father went to more House, but my father was
a freshman. Dr Martin Luther King was a senior. Martin
Luther King the third and I classmates. We both graduated
(54:36):
class seventy nine. My grandfather went to more House. My mother,
who was a centerphile, she's the one, she's the reason
one of my filmmakers. She went to Spellman. My grandma
lived a hundred years old. Wow, she went to Spellman.
My grandmother is a one who's who saved the socially
(54:57):
social security checks. But fifty years for grand Jules for
a grand childs education. I was the first born I
had first did. My grandmother put me through Warhouse, put
me through n y U, and gave me the seed money.
But she's got to have it. So that's why I
(55:18):
show Love One House and Spellman plus the world's grades.
Herd Love with Moses was one year ahead of me classes.
Nobody drives up out of school like more House men
and Spellman women. The motherfucking house. What all right? One day,
(55:41):
I'll do it for clark Okay, gotta do it a
mere from her own cultural festival. Alright, y'all? Bill none
build none who used to teach at clark Land And
where you go? I don't know the house. And Samuel Jackson,
(56:04):
he was gonna say Sam. I think he was gonna
get about Sam. Sam, Sam and John I mean Samon,
Bill were classmates, some more huns. When you saw Sam
presenting the award, you you kind of knew already, right,
I had an England, but I didn't want to go
(56:24):
with a dope be double cross again. I gotta love
you so much. I don't want to go for that.
I want to go and I looked I was a hit.
It was a hit. But I've seen that skull bluggery
shoot that against such a huge before, right we all have, man,
(56:51):
I was, I was there and that that was that
was like one of the most electric moments in the audience. Man,
like watching that and seeing Ruth get one too, Like
it was just oh, that was a bunch of us.
That was a good night for Negroes, not just the
ones that one holiday. Yes, yeah, it was great. That
(57:16):
was a great night. What is next for you? And
how are you preparing for whatever is next for you?
You know what? Another you guys give me nothing a
great question like thank you for because it's hard to
answer questions that you're like, w T f O MG,
(57:38):
this is the first time they've had just had My mother,
my late mother would say, sit your skinny, rusty black
ass down. I've been working NonStop. She used to have
was six. Do the right thing. It's gonna be thirty
one years old just coming June three. The film was
(58:01):
released the same day It's Tim Batting Tim Burton's Batman.
I was between feature films feted documentaries, short films for
Michael Jackson, Prince Public Enemy, Miles Davis, Anita Baker, you know,
a whole bunch of people, and then being married twenty
(58:25):
six years. My you have a wife, Tanya, two kids,
grown kids, this pandemic both you know, it's two of them. Yeah, Like,
sit the funk down and be still. Stop the ripping
(58:45):
and running in here and ripping running air. My family
we were you know, I just went out the first
two months just to take out the garbage. Wow. Sometimes
you just using up. Now it's loosing up, you know.
Ride my bike has been a lot of the other demonstrations.
But I had to be still because I want. I
(59:08):
wanted to to live and I don't want to do
nothing that's gonna, you know, put my family in jeopardy.
And when you're just there, you think your mind and
and maybe maybe everybody some some other beautiful people might
have felt this way too. My mind was not racing.
(59:29):
It was like I'm taking this one monthfucking day and
a mother luck at time, one day at a time.
I'm not trying to plan out with I said, we
don't know when it's just gonna change or whatever. I'm
just gonna be still, and I've done a lot of reflections.
I thought about my brother Chris, who died not recently,
(59:50):
but you know he was brother right under me. You know,
he had addiction. M I thought of my mother, who
died of liver cancer. You saw Crooklyn, I want I
she was forty one years old. Mhm. You know, another
southhopore and morehouse. So I've had time to think about
It's not just all you know, dark stuff, but I've
(01:00:11):
had a lot of time to reflect the good and bad,
which I think it's been very beneficial to my growth
because i just had to ship the funk down. I'm
not I'm trying to be like, you know, like Mr. No,
that's real. No, that's really, that's real. Even when at
(01:00:33):
the beginning when you were saying, you know, like I'm
sixty three years old, like me and my wife were
even talking about that about how you've always been someone
who ay, your output has always been very prolific, and
so you've always like every year or at least every
other year, we know, Spike got something coming. And then
on top of that, your subject matter is always timely
to what's going on, so it's easy to forget because
(01:00:57):
you're always so current. Like you said, it's easy to
getting like, oh this, I've been doing this ship for
forty years, you know what I mean kind of people
we want to freeze just like right. But if I
could just say this, and this is because I gotta go,
but I want to thank you guys. But but also
another thing I left out. M I've been thinking about.
I was the first time ever I'm thinking about my
(01:01:17):
own mortality. Death has been around us mhm, around me.
People have died left and right, and it really you know,
maybe think about you know, like I'm not gonna be
the fun here forever, you know. And I know it's
(01:01:40):
a cliche, but you know what makes it cliche that
more times than not, it's the truth. Bullshit doesn't become
a cliche. Truth does. In my opinion, we gotta enjoy
what we got because no one no when that last
(01:02:01):
breath is we're gonna take and nothing can just reaffirmed that.
I mean, you hear that, you hear that here that
you but living through New York City in this epicenter,
that change is like I thought that I said, No,
that ship is real. You gotta we gotta joy this
(01:02:24):
ship while I get here, because this was a motherfucking
epicenter New York City. People dying left and right. Funeral
homes have, motherfucker you haul trucks, they're unrefrigerated. Do you
have to call the cops? Because Bali fu fluid and
(01:02:46):
and just the stitch is like, this is really crazy,
Like you're living for a green not right next to
Brooklyn Hospital. And you see the refrigeration trucks they had.
They're gone now, yeah, but Brad that they had to
bring in refrigeration trucks to keep the course of the
(01:03:07):
dead bodies. You're on ice. Yeah. And the last thing,
my brother gonna sen you out because I want to
let you know that I love you. It's love, love, love,
And I think that this is time history that we're
living through. It's gonna reduce great albums, great plays, great movies,
(01:03:31):
great documentaries, great art is going to come out of
this historic moment we're living in. I'm believe in my
heart that the great that they but that for me,
what makes artists great is the God giving gift, and
that God gift is the connection between the heart and
(01:03:55):
the mind. And you watch just me cold because the
man out of the the horrible things have happened. Our
great art is going to comment on this period. We
live to thank you, amen, Thank you very much, Spike Lee,
thank you, thank you, appreciate for your arts. Special qu
(01:04:17):
slide but Spike Lee fontigolo by Steve Um. That was
a mouthful. We got it. What's Lap Supreme is a
production of my Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
(01:04:37):
Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Quest Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio people,
Citizens of the World. What's up, um, Quest Love, Welcome
to a special Friday QLs Live. UM, I guess we're
doing it in tandem. This will also be archives on
(00:20):
our I Heart podcast, our special with Spike Lee today. Um.
We we haven't done this in a minute. We haven't
done this in the last two weeks. Um long nths.
A lot of less happened when you when you let
wait two months, it's been that feels like two months.
(00:40):
It Yeah, thanks, I you know time this I used
to laugh at. Uh. There's there's always two uh quotes
that come from movies that deal with jail street jail
Uh you know the one. The one cliche is like,
you know, they take your body, but not take your mind.
(01:00):
Your mind, that's what you always here. And number two
is there's always two days you come in and there
you walk out, but they walk out. So yeah, I
just lose track of time. You said, that's kind of true,
Like you, I said, what movie is there every day
(01:21):
you walk in? That's from what I heard. I know
it from the wire that you only do two days
that you come in and the day you walk out.
The wire. I'm sorry. That was our friend David Chappelle
Coltons speaking of the last two weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
a lot, a lot has well, we have not spoken since.
(01:44):
Uh the what are we calling it? Are we calling
the uprising? I like the uprising? The uprising. I like uprising.
I like that better than riot because, you know, protests,
it's just something more progressive about it. Just yeah, and
more act rich, you know what I'm saying. I mean,
because just because riot sounds like or protests, riot sounds like,
(02:05):
it's just it sounds reckless, you know what I'm saying.
Like these people are just out here rioting and being
stupid for no reason whatsoever, you know what I mean?
So I like uprising. There's people that nobody wants to
be what al Right, Well, yeah I didn't even I
don't watch him, but I got you. I'm with you? Literally,
(02:26):
who's that? Yeah? So are we gonna do another episode
on election night like we did it four years ago?
Looking at the results we got from election Night, I'd
say hopefully not, because like, do we do we you know,
do we go through that again or do we try
(02:47):
and break the jinks by not doing a show that night?
I think it was Russia and the white ladies. They're
voted for Trump, but that's that's us. Uh. Yeah. Who
was our guest that night? I forgot Stephen Hill. That
was Stephen. It was also the same night my uncle
(03:10):
got shot and subsequently died like a couple of weeks later.
He got shot that night. It was like that was
like the eighth I want to say, and then he
died on Thanksgiving Day. Ship that was it was just
that was just a day. And I remember, like with
with up Front, with with up selling out right, that
(03:32):
was the weirdness about it. It was like the life
and the funniest day of my life, like up selling
up what do you call it when you talk over
music on the radio? Yeah, yes, I forgot. I remember
doing that interview when we were all sitting there and
everybody had like their laptops of their phones or whatever,
(03:54):
and we're all trying to keep it cool, and you
just see the ship flipping red. Yeah, And by the
end of the interview, as it was crazy, literally in
a three hour interview, the world changed because that in
the beginning we were all like word up inside and
then by the end of that ship and by the
end it was a rat. It was that's not happening
(04:16):
this time, y'all. That's not happening, So we should we
should re reair that episode with Stephen Hill. Well no longer.
At the time Stephen Hill was there and at that time,
and then that's right after that. Oh wow, A lot
(04:37):
a lot of happened on that show DJ and a
hell of a set on I G Live. Hey Stephen,
I've been there, Yeah, Stephen, he DJ. He does. It's
a little it's it's about eleven people watching. But you
know me and uh old boy news, uh dude from
TV one, Uh listen, it's all a battle told Martin, Yeah,
(05:00):
Rolling Martin, Yeah, oh yeah, I ain't going to that ship.
Rolling law and blocked me for calling him on Twitter.
So I don't don't know, you're with notable people would
blocked you Twitter the we want to know of I know,
I remember Roland Martin did and this was years ago
because he was like we need he just I don't
(05:21):
have a list like you. I just say things and
people listen. I don't I don't try to, you know,
provoke anyone. But no, he was just on Twitter and
this was years ago. This was before I found Christ.
But he was just like, look, we need to ban
the in word and all this, and I was like Nick,
and that was it, and and and he just you know,
he banned me. And he's still bamed me and still
(05:43):
is blocked me, which I mean, fine, whatever, But then
um mc hammer has me blocked and I don't know why.
And that was like like Hammer, like yo, Hammer, if
you see this Hammer, bro, I don't know what I said.
It could have been a joke or but look, man,
I saw the two legit to quit tour, so please
haven'tn't hurt him tour. Uh. When I was in like
seventh grade, it was you boys and men and Joe
(06:05):
to see and should changed my life? Like Hammer, please,
all is forgiven, bro, Like, come on the show man,
let's see. Please don't hurt him, right, please hurt I
would love to have y'all come to Jesus moment on
this show, much like we had your Solange come to
Jesus moment on this show. Yeah. Would you even think
that Hammer was even remotely aware of who he blocked
(06:27):
or what the situation was? He probably had no funt.
I'm sure he doesn't have any clue. I mean it
could have I don't know what it could have been.
It could have been a joke, it could have been whatever.
But the bottom line is I was following mc hammer like,
I mean, you know, I fun with him hammer legend.
But so we get him on the show, we straighten
it out, get him on the show. I don't even
know why. Okay, I would like the other guy on too,
(06:50):
please from Roland, Martin rolland Martin. Yeah, let's get him on.
Oh yeah, time you can't because he listen, I'm I'm
not ducking no smoke from nobody. I just don't think
because he's very he has very specific views about uh,
about the inn word and like coon and stuff and
(07:13):
I don't use that word, but yeah, he's like very
big on those words. And that is yes, I use
like nigga is nown adjective verbs? Ain't that verb? So listen,
stand you're you're doing. Yeah, I'm like, come on, you
ain't about to tell me what I can't say on
on the show. We're doing so yeah, yeah, Um, if
we could work in with Spike about the way Bamboozo
(07:36):
kinda is relevant to I mean, our ways, but especially
to what's going on like literally today, like cream of
Wheat is changing their logo, and and Washington and the
Washington Red are yet the Redskin is considering as well. Yeah. Yeah,
(07:58):
everybody is considering it now. You know, Like but Bamboozl
was kind of like specifically about that symbolism stuff. You
know that that was a good pool. I didn't. I
didn't think about it. Yeah, I know that. Uh that
Netflix did their whole Black Lives Matter of section for Spike,
(08:22):
you know, like get on the bus and Rodney King
thing and some other stuff he did. Django is jango. Uh,
Django was done by I do know that. That's what
I was making. I was just saying black lead because
the Netflix section is no, no no no. I just meant like,
Spike has his own wing in the he has his
(08:43):
own suite in the Black Lives Matter hotel on Netflix.
Netflix is going above and beyond. You know, the president
just gave all this money to HBC use but most notably,
the riches of HBC used more houses. Spelman. I'm not mad.
I'm just a right right yeahnte. Before we get Spike one,
I need somebody to translate something for me because I don't,
(09:06):
you know, I don't want to be tone deaf and
say I don't speak millennial. And on top of that,
you know, I'm pals with this particular person. Okay, dude, damn,
I'm gen X. He's gen X. Man, look it up. Okay,
(09:27):
I'm not gonna I'm just gonna look it up and
go ahead. And I look at up. I was born.
I was born in seven eight and forty one years old.
I'm I'm like, he's gen X. He's us. I'm like, yeah,
I'm like the youngest and but yeah, I'm like right there.
But can someone translate this? Can you give me a
movie in the minute version of this J Cole no
name thing? Never mind too much? No, no, no, no no,
(09:51):
it's not too much. It's okay, So moving a minute.
J Cole no name, Okay, no name, and I'm just
giving context. No name. Uh did a talk which I
did not see. I just saw kind of the the out,
the the out, you know, the fallout of it. She
did a talk with Boots Riley on Live I think,
(10:13):
and they were just talking about I guess socialism and
police abolition, like they were just having a conversation. I
didn't see the entire thing in context, but the fallout,
the what I saw the fall out was that oh
he was over talking her and he was it just
it went left right. Then J Cole puts out a
song and he's saying, yo, it was his sister on
(10:37):
the timeline. Uh, she don't like the crackers, she don't
like the police. You don't like this, and you know
it was something about her tone that's bothering me. Now,
at no point in this song did he ever say
no name. At no point in No Names tweets or
in her talk with Boots Riley. As I understood, um,
she had said something about you know, all these rappers,
(11:01):
these rich rappers or something. You know, they ain't said nothing,
and but she never said his name or anyone's name.
So Cod puts out this song saying this, this girl
online saying this that in the third I don't like
her tone. I saw another site put up and they
were saying yo. Uh. J Cole is saying it's talking
(11:22):
about no name in his new verse. Now, at no
point in time and any of this that he ever
say her name in the verse, and to my knowledge,
at no point that she ever say his name. So
as far as what I'm sitting, all this ship is
just fucking conjectured to start right, It's just y'all. It's
all fucking speculation. So the song comes out, people say
(11:43):
it's to meet about No Name. Everybody loses their ship.
Oh he's policing a woman. He's talk about her tone
police and all this ship and it just becomes a
ship show. So then the next morning, Cole put out
a series of tweets and he was just like, look
I said what I said, Um, you know all of
the No Name you know? He you know, he was like,
(12:04):
you know, she's doing the work. I'm not a dude
to be reading like that and this this is his word.
He's like, I don't be reading like that like that. Yeah,
he's like, he's like, I don't you know, J Cole,
But he says it in his verse. He's like, YO,
don't let my degree fool you. You know you can
have you know, just because I went to college doesn't
mean I'm is up on these issues everyone else. So um,
(12:27):
So that was so that was that, and I mean
that was it to me. Yeah, it was just a
ship show for a day. And I mean I came
in the middle of it and didn't you know, I
was Donald Glever walking too in the apartment on fire,
like exactly, that's exactly. I was like, what in the hell,
just say one more thing before we bring thee spiking
(12:49):
because he's here. Um. I just wanted to say congratulations
to o girl who created you about to lose your
job because I don't know if y'all heard, but she
found her family and they got her off the streets.
I was just really excited ab out that story. Are
you serious? And she was like, y'all have no idea
what that did for me. So I wish I had
(13:10):
her name in front of me, but I don't, but
I stories I had. Now I will say this just
to tap out big ups to the girl that um
that with that coin that you're about to lose, you
lose your job anthem. The best tweet of the J
Cole No Name debacle goes to my man Al Shipley
and he won Twitter. It's only like eight of us
(13:30):
that like got it, but it was a great tweet.
He goes, and I quote the J cole lyric is
something about the queen tone that's bothering me. It's problematic
because nobody questions Brian May's pedal board and amp settings
and I'm bringing in Frank like that's it. I mean,
come on, that's all you need to know, Like, that's
(13:55):
that's it, That's what it is, and figure out that
joke because that was a total like musical type it was.
That was that. It was made for me and the people,
all the people. Brian May was the guitarist and queen
and so the pedal board is the Uh, Ladies and gentlemen.
We are joined by friends of the show, newly bestowed
(14:16):
Academy Award winner storyteller Our tour African American Grit and
always the cinematic provocateur, one of the last original storytellers
we have today. Please welcome back to QLs Live and
course left Supreme Uh for a second appearance, our pal
(14:37):
and friend, Mr Spike Lee. How you h how's everyone doing?
Everybody's safe? We are right now now that's my office
hearing the People's Republic of Book of New York for
Green Baby. Ye, that same I visited with the baseball
mint in the in the room. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah,
(14:58):
but just want to editing rooms. Okay, I took it.
Nappened everyone once I forgot what I was there for.
You you had a Super Bowl party or something, and
I finished it. Where is everybody? I'm at home in
North Carolina, Ley, Los Angeles. I'm in Manhattan. Uh, and
(15:20):
I'm in a ranch somewhere in in Westchester on a
friend's farm. But I just closed him on my house,
uh yesterday, So yes, thank you. What can I ask
for Burrow? Uh? This is in in Palisades, so yeah,
(15:43):
I have to say Spike. Um, I believe that the
last time I physically saw you, I saw you twice. Uh.
You were flying on your way I believe, somewhere in
Africa or somewhere overseas where you told me that it
was the first day of of of scouting wherever. I
(16:03):
don't know where you shot at the film, but I
was going to I was going to Thailand, Okay, maybe
I thought Africa. Okay, I remember you telling me that
you were going somewhere and far off to to shoot.
I saw you there and then coincidentally Jay Z's party
after the Oscars. No, no, no, no, I saw you
(16:24):
in the airport. Well, I forget where it was, but
it was you were on your way to to scout
for locations. And then I saw you on the way
back home oh, coming from it, so police Circle exactly.
You gave me a synopsis on the way home, and
I was like, I'm trying to figure that out and
(16:47):
quest people still trying to figure it out. Yeah, yeah,
let's talk about it. Let's talk about Okay. Look, okay,
So I got a question for you. What was the
idea of naming all the soldiers after the Temptations and
Norman Whitfield like being storming Norman? You caught that one.
(17:11):
I didn't catch that, man. I didn't catch what happened
the five and when You're a good thing though a
great happy of the day. Otis Lewis called me, wow, okay,
the last living member of the Temptations, and he says,
he told me, I'm speaking behlf all. My brothers aren't here.
(17:32):
Thank you for doing that. That's what's uping, man. It
is out of nowhere, so out of nowhere. One one
question I wanted to ask you the last time we
spoke that I didn't what is for this movie specifically?
And I think the last time we spoke to you,
you were just about the Lawrence. She's got to have
(17:52):
it on Netflix. So this is even before Black Klansman.
Even though you were still working on it. Okay, So
I guess I can start with now, like now that
this is in the can, what what is what is
your what is your daily or weekly process when it
comes to conceptualizing? What do you want to add next
(18:12):
to your cannon? Like I don't know the name of
whatever movie you're about to do, but like, does the
idea start in that room that you're in right now?
Do you sit for silence? Do you do you have
a notepad where you I'm open, you know, I think
that I've learned. I'm quest I think you might forgot.
I'm sixty three years old. I'm in my fourth decade.
(18:40):
M So I've learned that I gotta be open when
the news comes. I just can't like, wait now I'm
gonna now, I gotta think of an idea. M m hmmm.
He doesn't for me. It doesn't work like that. So
I just gotta be open to the muse. I trusted,
(19:02):
you know, I trust the muse. So where did it
start for this film? Like? What was the when he
was we were interviewing him, when we interviewed you, an
electric lady, you were telling us seeing the praises of
nineteen seventeen. Right, that was a movie. There's a movie
that was the war movie that yeah, right, so that
that's the question. Just being back on the mirrors question,
I was like, didn't it start all the way back
(19:23):
then when you were talking to No No, But let
me let me tell you the story. H this is.
I did not write the original script for this. The
original script was written by Danny Billson and Paul the Mail.
Pauled the Mail has since died. Since he died before
we started to shoot the film of the Illness, they
(19:45):
produced a Lloyd Levin options script. It was called The
Last Tour and it was about white vieing on events.
It's that one. The automatically brought it to Alur Stone.
Alas Stone sat on it for two years and walked away.
Lloyd Levin just happened to read an article in The
(20:07):
Guardian where I talked about one of my favorite films,
which is a Treasure Saramandre starring Humphrey Bogard mhm. And
to take there's a gold that the whole golding in
this film was came directly from the trust Saramandre. He
called me up to seven, you know, seven meeting. We
get right to get me getting ready to go go
(20:29):
right into like Klansman. So we met with my co
writer Ken Wilmant and we told I told, look, I
like it. It's a great script, but I want to
change it. For me to be involved, we have to
change the viewpoint. This has to be told to the
viewpoint of African American Vietnam debts. And Karen and I
(20:53):
we wrote it, you know, twisted it and put some
funk on it, and uh marm and Gaye and you know,
everybody and the world has seen a result now on Netflix. Yeah.
I love the way you used the barbed gate acapellas
in the joint man that was on There was only
one though, there was only one. Yeah, yeah, that was beautiful. Man.
(21:15):
And you said you filmed this in Thailand, not Vietnam, right, No,
mostly in Thailand. We ended in Vietnam, So can you
talk about this. I was talking to another filmmaker about
filming in Vietnam and they were talking about since it's
a communist country, how sometimes challenging it could be, like
sometimes they have people following people to make sure you're
doing what you say you're gonna do. And what was that?
We never had that but we had to have the
(21:38):
script passed through it a censure, so we didn't know.
And we were up there last week in Thailand and
we still not gotten the green light to shoot in Vietnam.
But once we got the green light, no one was
following us. It was all love. It's also number one
(21:58):
in Vietnam too, Do you prefer is this? Is this
an adjustment to you? Like, I know, I would imagine
the same way for it is for me making records,
Like I miss the sort of the romantic view of
(22:21):
like having a tangible piece of wax with an album
cover or whatever format I mean CDs and cassettes are
no longer there, but still, like you know, for movie makers,
I would imagine that they still dream of you know, yeah,
like looking under mark keys and seeing their names and
sort of. I mean, does I know Netflix doesn't have
(22:44):
the same cash as going straight to video and you
actually see bigger results. But is that at least an
ego adjustment that this is now the new normal for
filmmakers where you you go straight to streaming as apposed
to inside of movie theaters, Like does it feel different
for you? Or Netflix was the last place I had
(23:08):
to go and this, every other students said no, coming
off black class, even even coming off of an Oscar Win. Well,
that did not happened. But we were nominated sixth nominations.
Everyone's turns down. So God bless Netflix. Now, of course,
(23:29):
no one knew the world's gonna change. M hm. So
a lot of people have films ready, but their studios
which they made it for, does not have the streaming service.
So because of that, and this was next six film.
This film debuted all around the world at the same time,
(23:51):
before the world changed BC, not before christ but before Corona.
I was gonna be the president of the Jury, the
first black president ever. And the con films. Yeah, and
this is you can't hear that, and this is in
the world and the world premiere of the Five Bloods
(24:14):
are gonna be in come out of competition. The world changed.
But the answer give you a more a deeper answer
that you know, plans change, and a lot of everybody
died had plans. Over twenty New Yorkers had plans. Over
(24:39):
a hundred thousand Americans had plans. All these people had plans.
So for me, I'm just I said, God bless, I'm
alive and my family is you know. That's where I've
taken and I don't even mean I didn't mean to
get any deep spiritual thing but for me, And how
can I complain that my movie didn't come out the
(25:01):
way it did? You know, when when people everybody had
plans and the world has changed, you know, and the
ones that are here for screaming Black Lives matter all
over the world? Right facts at the time, the timing
couldn't have been more uncanny. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then
(25:22):
another thing, another thing. I know you have questions for me,
but I don't say something right away to not to
get it people asking me, friends and journalists. Spike, didn't you, well,
all this ship happened, didn't you run back and shoot
that Black Lives Matter scene? Wrong? That's the first thing
(25:45):
we shot. Wow, really, this is the slate of a camera.
The first day of Christopher Tokley was March and we
went to May nine. So again, the first day of
Princi Photography was March, a full year before we shot
(26:11):
The Black Lives Madasee and pre production. Wow. So anyway, Yeah,
a lot of things to happen in this film. There's
awesome spiritual level had nothing to do with that's happened
with a lot of your films though. We were we
(26:31):
were talking to before, like before you came on about
how bamboozoo and like how now we're seeing like they're
getting you know, Uncle Ben and not Jemima and like
getting all that out of paint. You know what I'm saying.
And you were showing that you know that was you
know twenty years ago? Are there? You know you leave
it out and you leave it out something, do the
(26:52):
right thing. We were we were talking about global warming,
you were you were talking about global you don't you
know what my friends called me dollars like you were
talking about it before should even happen? You did. Wait,
(27:14):
that's okay, So I'll say like every other month I
might bug you with the text asking why your entire
film uh, your film collection is it in one space?
I mean right now is do you not think? Now?
Is is? Uh? And it's twenty and it's twenty anniversary.
(27:34):
Now is the time for Bambooze to to come out again?
Because I can't find it anywhere and I need to
see it. It just came out. Criterion just put on
a great new blue rail, restored picture, sound, everything, Bamboozo
is a Criterion Collection film. When a man is like,
(27:58):
two months ago, this is a very the sweet like
in my mind, I'm such a film nerd. I'm like, wow,
I wish one day I could be a Criterion film.
And now I will say that. All right. So, living
on a tour bus for like the last twenty five years,
you know, you just buy any and every DVD that
to keep your mind occupied. So Criterion Collection is basically
(28:20):
like it's it's it's the it's the upper echelon. Yeah,
it's the upper echelon of film releases. Is like a
committee that decides that this particular film, regardless of of
his stature and the box office whatever um, deserves the
royal treatment. I mean, now you know companies are doing
(28:43):
that now that you know there's Anniversary this and anniversary
or Purple Rain and that. But like back in the day,
when Criterion approaches you and says we would like to
re release, it would be like an independent label deciding, Okay,
I'm gonna take fonta'es for a record, the first Little
Brother record, the Listening and give it the royal treatment.
(29:04):
Remaster it you out cover great analogy, great analogy. Yeah,
and so uh wow, that's funny. It's always been my
dream to be in a criterion. Be careful. Wait, can
I just ask this question, Spike, because you more than me,
but like you said, you are Negro damas And what
(29:25):
does it feel like present day? Because we were just
talking about this before you came on where Number one,
we have protests, including all kinds of people outside of us.
Number two we wake up to no more Uncle Ben normal,
ain't your mama? Twitter says Juneteenth is a holiday. New
York says Juneteenth is a state holiday. Like I feel overwhelmed.
(29:46):
What does it feel like? It's a lot In the
other words, how many calls did you get? How many
calls did you get the last two weeks to explain
stuff to them? And how many have been explained? Any
rough drafts did you had to read to make sure
that this tweet was okay? And there's my answer, they barely.
(30:10):
Motherfucker Uncle Ben alone, Uncle Ben? Right, you can with ada, mama,
she got a whole new look. So no, the story. Actually,
(30:33):
you know what, um, I just read that. I didn't
realize that similar to the family that one that settlement
for the line sleeps tonight. The South African family from
writing it um. For the last thirty seven years, the
family of the woman who was the original and jew
(30:59):
Maama logo Um, who was also instrumental in them getting
the recipe together, has been trying to like she's basically
owed the minimum is at least a two billion dollars
settlement for the last so let's let's see what happens.
(31:20):
But white corporations, they're like the money way, like it's
all right, yeah, I don't know. I'm shot. I don't
know whether to take people on their word, Like is
this gonna change in a week? I don't want to
get used to it. It's very it's you know what
it is like, it's it's cool, but it's like I
don't I feel like this is more like a get
(31:42):
out of discussions, free card and away. Yeah. Yeah, and
it's not just gonna be you know. It's like this
is sort of like with the I voted for Obama,
so now racism is over, and it's like, okay, well
I donated Amazons, like I'll give you two dred million
dollars to this particular Dadada, So now racism is over,
(32:05):
there's there's still a bigger conversation a half for real change.
So I mean, yeah, like it's it's it's cool now,
but I still feel as though that's that's kind of
a get out of discussions free card, and that's the
deeper that's the deeper conversation that needs to be had.
(32:25):
So I mean it's cute, but I'm I'm watching very
skeptically right now. Yeah it Spike. I always wanted to
ask you after, um, you one for Black Klansmen, being
the director that one you know, finally got an oscar
like later in your career. Um, what changes was it
because or or were there changes? Um? You know we've
(32:46):
seen people that went them early and they kind of
you know, it changes them. But you have been putting
in the work for so long, and your track record
al race book for itself. Any times a question you'll
see a question between Black Class and the Five Bloods
that you think that affected Keammy would affected the Five Bloods.
But so but you said, had you wind Oh we
(33:09):
just fact you were nominated. You were nominated, but then
they still passed but you didn't And you want I
guess it was after was the five blo was already
in production when you won No the morning after, the
morning after, I was on a plane in Thailand, Bangkok. Okay, okay,
I got even after you want. It was still a
fight to get your stuff, but out now the deal
(33:32):
was done. I'm just saying that Netflix was the last
one I had. It was doing else to go to too,
you know. So we won the Oscar. We partied that night.
That morning I never went to bed, packed my bags
and was on a plane the Bangkok, Thailand. It was
L A X. Now I'm sorry, okay, and so my production,
(33:54):
my great productions, not to Wyn Thomas, whose first film
was She's Gonna Have It nine, the eighties X climber
talker Tom Siegel. They had been in Bangkok for four
weeks already, the exact who had to do the Oscar ship.
So I had to catch up. So minute I landed
him Bangkok and that hundred degrees hit me upside the head,
(34:18):
that Oscar stuff out the window. I had the cash
up because we can read you the movie. So all
the Octar stuff between L A X and Bangkok was gone.
I guess it would be more apt to ask an actor,
what kind of director are you? Are you the director
(34:39):
that well, no, no, no, Okay, so I can answer that.
I can answer that I asked. I asked. Paul Thomas
answers to this question, like he Paul Thomas P. T.
Anderson is the type of guy that will do twenty
takes of the same scene because he knows, by like
(34:59):
the third team time, there will be a certain rhythm
that feels natural. But the level of intensity that you
got Delroy Lindo did really give you in this film. Um,
his most dominated, his most, So like how many takes
does it take to to get him to that level?
(35:20):
Like was this just take one? He was one? Or
it took a few times. I mean, I would give
it more to one take. But here's the thing. This
is my fourth film with Delroy, but it's been twenty
five years between this and the last one. Del Roy
first worked for me played Western Archie. Yeah, Malcolm x
(35:44):
Y played the drug king. Payn also played my actual
father he forgot about so he played my father. And
all you guys, ladies and gemy, you all notice that
you can have great talent, but sometimes you get lost
in the sauce. Putting in work, putting in work, But
(36:05):
you get that that vehicle mm hm, you get that
role that was been putting work w r K for
the get people been here. Sorry you fight in the air.
(36:28):
Delroy did not fall off the truck. He's been putting
in work and this role he had the vehicle. He
took it to another level and he was in his
own Can we talk about casting, because I was gonna say,
how did you in your mind? Like, how did you
(36:49):
how did you decide that this was the right ensemble
for you. I've broken them three other times. I know
I know what he could do first ten experience, But Spike,
in all fairness, you've done so many movies with such
a large collective of actors that you have a vat
that you could have picked out of I mean, you
know from Lawrence Fishburn could have Nah. We were we
(37:14):
me and my wife, we were talking to other night
and last night we were watching I think they've been
showing Sheet. They've been showing He Got Game a lot
on h VO now like they've been showing that a lot.
And we were just talking like how you you're kind
of like the Miles Davis of in terms of like
a talent scout, like what Miles Davis was the jazz
and being able to see Herbie to see Coltrane like
(37:37):
the dudes that and the actresses and actors that you pick,
you know, the stuff that they go on to do
after working with you, and you know what I mean,
it's incredible. And one actor that you chose for The
Five Bloods that I love is Jonathan Major's who plays
the son. How how did you pick him? And what
was what was the thing you saw in him that
(37:58):
was like, yo, he's the one old Delroy. No Jonathan
Major the son San Francisco. Yeah, I have I didn't
see him in that film after you you audition, Oh
that's why I thought you chose him. No, Mike, Casting
(38:18):
director Kim Coleman, Wow, I just wanted to, you know,
let's talk. But but but the talk about you, I mean,
here's the thing. Do the right thing was Rosie Present's
first film, had the late Great Robert Hash's first film,
Martin Lawrence's first film, Jungle Fee was Howard Berry's first film,
(38:42):
Queenly Keep his first film, and we can go on
and on and Barry Glory yeah but that was that
was his first one. But yeah, but still so I
just have when I get the vibe, you know, I
know that's somebody want to work with and work with again,
(39:05):
I would like to know what's the barometer? Four? I
mean I would think that having a two in Rotten Tomatoes,
I mean it doesn't doesn't hurt at all. But what
is what is the barometer? Now that there isn't a
box office listing per se to determine if a film
(39:26):
does well or not does well? Like, how do you
what's what's the what's the new standard or the number?
Well this is I heard that are opening box offer?
If you could make analogy from the people saw it
a Netflix, two people buying a ticket, we all went
(39:50):
up like a hundred twenty five million dollar weekend. M
very good. I just want to but is it good
enough for Netflix to say? Are you just say one
at a time? No, no, no, I mean it's there's
love again. I said before no one else wanted to
(40:12):
do this film in light of his new studio in Atlanta?
Did you take it down to No, there was no
and and that's no direspect to my brother, because no, no, no, no,
no quest It's all loved baby. And I just want
(40:32):
to say something that you know, I mean, necessarily showed
me entitler a mad cool. That beat was squashed. Years ago.
I called him up out of the blue. He said,
I said, we gotta talk. I jumped, put my ass
my black mother on a plane from LaGuardia, Atlanta, went
(40:53):
out to his mansion. We sat down talk brother to brother,
black Man of black Man gave me to the hub
and for nothing but love ever since to get remember this,
he did not, you know that all that big complex
he has, he did not had to put my name
(41:14):
on a studio, one of the studios, one of those stages.
He had to do that, so because there would be
no Tyler, not for you. But he did. But it
wasn't even about that. I know, it's it's just it's love.
I did not want to put Tyler in the position
and you're like, come on my life. Yeah, but I
(41:37):
would think my thing is that if you if you're
I mean okay, so establishing the thing when I when
I answer that, and let me if I can adjust
that answer m I was. I was only asking because
I know that he has the complex up and he's
(41:58):
open for business. But then I was kind of wondering,
like what step two is? Step two now? Like for
future for directors and screenwriters, like do they Is it
a studio in the terms of like MGM, like do
you is he an option to take it to or
is Georgia is just Georgia stop you from wanting to
go down there because of their laws and what they
(42:19):
do on the women's suppression on their bodies and whatnot.
Because some people are considering that too. I'm just saying
it is that they true. The only thing I don't
I can't ask that question. I don't know if you know,
is the studio in the centuries also financing films or
is it that? Is it just a place to shoot?
(42:42):
That's my question. I don't know if he was the
studio in terms of Warner Brothers or MGM. That's what
I was trying to ask. I think he was. I
didn't think he was yet. So that's just the place
to shoot if you want to shoot him now, I mean,
I don't know what his his his the end game
of it all, Okay, I want that when you did
(43:04):
um kind of following up on that question, when you
did X and you know, as we talked last time,
and he was like you called called folks up, like yo,
it's station time, let's get it, you know, what I mean, Uh,
was there ever consideration after that of saying, well, if
we can come together to do this, why don't we
keep going? What are some of the challenges in self
(43:24):
funding and put doing stuff like that? The challenge? It's
really most people lose money when you invest in the film, okay,
and very few of us have disposable income where they
could just right a check and like not even be
you know, hurt, just take them losses. Yeah, so it's
(43:46):
it's Look, it's not this thing's been a struggle since
sixteen nineteen when that first ship landed James thom McGr
and if history has tossed anything, you know, it's the
struggle continues. We take any by day by day. It
was like, you're not gonna chop down a redwood tree
with that first wing. We gotta be done like a
motherfucker at all. Right, Can I ask you that the
(44:10):
Five bloods real quick? It's a in the movie. It's
a picture of Delroy that show and it looked like
he was actually he actually served in the military. Is
that the case? Yeah? That was from American fi too. Wow,
I didn't know if there was an American graffiti. Say
what we found it, there are such a thing. Yes, come,
(44:37):
I don't know about this because I've never heard of
Americ graffiti too. Google Google, I am dB sugar computer
to computer, but he's not talking. Let him do it.
I haven't I haven't seen that. I haven't seen that movie,
but I have the soundtrack for it. So if there's
a soundtrack for it in my period, I'm looking because really,
(45:01):
did you use any Vietnamese actors? Wow, a more American compete?
You're right, everybody was Vietnamese. So then okay, So this
is this leads to my next question and the scene
on the boat with del Roy and that the guys
sell on the chickens. Right, it seemed to me did
you ever have to have a off camera come to
Jesus moment with the cast because history is so deep
(45:22):
in that way, and y'all were shooting in Vietnam and
some of these being to me actors do have a
history with this war in that way because it was
it was so you know, it's so emotional. Part about
you killed my father and my mother body stuck a chicken.
I told I told my brother to use that because
he didn't speak that much English, But I said, black
g I black g I right where there are real
(45:46):
moments father, mother, he because this history. Yeah. And then
one of the key lines everybody in the film is
a war never ends. And we had a Vietnamese brother,
Vina say that line. People in America in Vietnam is
(46:07):
still deal when this war is coming on fifth years
from now, fifty years ago. Another thing that I learned
very quickly that if you're Vietnam and you say that
Vietnam War, they say no, no, no, no, we call
it their American war. We did not go the motherfucker
United States America. You motherfucker's came here, got your ass kicked.
(46:31):
And before that, the French came here and got the
ask kick you did. Mention that was mentioned in the
movie by they was yes, speaking the French, the French
colonized Vietnam. Yeah, if you, I mean, if you look,
when you get a chance, will get a chance. Get
good to your globe, globe that's cute. I'm looking or
(46:54):
are you just go to your Google a world map.
Look how big Vietnam is. I'm looking? Wow? Okay, what
do you think? What's the question? You got it? What's
that you think it's comfortable in size to Vietnam. Guess
(47:18):
by the looks of it, Sex I mean not Texas.
Texas bigger in Vietnam. I'm looking at one of the
smallest states. Yeah, this is This could be up in
New England somewhere, mm hmm. So just say, like four guests,
maybe it's the side of the Rhode Island or New Hampshire, Vermont.
(47:45):
That is the size of Vietnam. They kicked motherfucking as
to see you. Did they know when you came to
viet Noma like Spike Lee something some did. But we
made a conscious effort in this film not to de
humanized being these people, not to make them villains. We
(48:10):
we treat him with love, respect, and we got that
in return. Uh. One question I have about your because
you say, you know war that was the theme, you know,
war never ends? Was that a part of the decision
to keep the main actors the same age and the flashbacks? Uh?
You know what I mean? And the only one that
was young was was Chad you know Norman. It was
(48:34):
a thank you good question. Again, that's a question. No,
I've been asking a question a million times already now,
so I have the correct As I said earlier, everybody.
Netflix was the last person who stayed do the film,
but they said, we're doing it for a price, a price,
(49:00):
a price. If I to add the dude to do
the age that at the d age actors would added
another hundred million dollars to a film I have to
do it? Was that a hundred million dollars that's more
the whole the whole film card another another part of
this answer complicated answers that we had very two days
(49:24):
where the temperature was not over a hundred degrees. We
were shooting in the jungles of Thailand. Makeup aesthetics would
have melted right and for the right cameras. So with
all those things I just said, combined with my confidence
in the telligence of the movie, the movie going to audience,
(49:49):
that the first time they see it, they will be
jarn but then like that, the light bulb will go
and you know, off over the head and like I
get it that this is a memory. So that is
the answer to your question. Yeah. Yeah. My good friend
Sarah McDonald who writes for The Undefeated, and she gave
(50:12):
the Five Bloods good review. She was the one that
kind of made that point of just how that was
the way, even though it was you know, it may
have been a budgetary strips or whatever, but that was
just a way to show that they never left the war,
like they're still there. And what what did Marvin Gay
sing Warriors help? But when it and I'm not gonna
(50:35):
sing it when we start getting back together again. So
I know the question is coming about Marvin Gate. Marvin
Gate had older brother named Franklin. He did three tours
in Vietnam, three tours. He was a radio operator, and
he was righting his brother every week. And Marvin never
(50:59):
answered one of those of us. And I think a
lot of ways that album is an answer. It was
a Letty never wrote. So Marvin is getting the first
hand account from his brother's doing three tours of Vietnam.
Plus Marvin is in Detroit Motown, so we're seeing the
buds come back main fucked up, strung on heroin. So
(51:23):
all those things it might look, I might be wrong.
I think those are the things that all came together
that he gave the world the gift of one of
the greatest albums ever in my opinion. What's going on?
So Marvin is a character in this movie. Did you
know from the game that you were going to use
(51:44):
that album, that entire record as yes, because it introduces
an you had another generation to an album that's about
to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. So and another thing is
that we did. Another thing that we did is that
(52:04):
my brother Sanky, who does all my still photography and
not not still with Typic Records, he's behind the scenes.
While we were in Thailand, he gave me that acapella version.
Was I never heard it before, m hm, I never
(52:25):
heard it, had never ever heard of Alcobola, what's going on?
And once I heard it, I knew we had to
put it on a scene with Paul as he's on
his descent and the depths, you know, right, Yeah, I
(52:46):
feel like that was your That was your living for
the City moment from Jungle, that was your. Yeah, just
using a song like the taz Mohole. Also do One
of my favorite scenes where you did that is in
Girl six when you use how come you Don't call
(53:07):
You No More? Boardwalk in spite as a get on
you again? Every time I talk to you, I'm gonna
just say, as a ci Au person, I found it
very interesting the way you again wove more House into
another if you're SI history. Though you're actually right, I
(53:29):
do not mention clark Au. Now it's called back North,
Clark was called Clark College. My major was that even
like graduating from more House, the luxurous class of nineteen
seventy nine, my major, Herb. Eichelberger, taught me he's the
one that believed in me as a young filmmaker. So
(53:51):
I know you're absolutely distraught now that read Hastings just
gave forty million to more House, that y'all needs forty
forty million to the Unity College Fund and Clark K
you didn't get a die country. What's that you're doing? Hey,
(54:14):
I thought about it like the rest of the world. Okay, okay, listen,
though you know why that's special to me? No bullshit.
My father went to more House, but my father was
a freshman. Dr Martin Luther King was a senior. Martin
Luther King the third and I classmates. We both graduated
(54:36):
class seventy nine. My grandfather went to more House. My mother,
who was a centerphile, she's the one, she's the reason
one of my filmmakers. She went to Spellman. My grandma
lived a hundred years old. Wow, she went to Spellman.
My grandmother is a one who's who saved the socially
(54:57):
social security checks. But fifty years for grand Jules for
a grand childs education. I was the first born I
had first did. My grandmother put me through Warhouse, put
me through n y U, and gave me the seed money.
But she's got to have it. So that's why I
(55:18):
show Love One House and Spellman plus the world's grades.
Herd Love with Moses was one year ahead of me classes.
Nobody drives up out of school like more House men
and Spellman women. The motherfucking house. What all right? One day,
(55:41):
I'll do it for clark Okay, gotta do it a
mere from her own cultural festival. Alright, y'all? Bill none
build none who used to teach at clark Land And
where you go? I don't know the house. And Samuel Jackson,
(56:04):
he was gonna say Sam. I think he was gonna
get about Sam. Sam, Sam and John I mean Samon,
Bill were classmates, some more huns. When you saw Sam
presenting the award, you you kind of knew already, right,
I had an England, but I didn't want to go
(56:24):
with a dope be double cross again. I gotta love
you so much. I don't want to go for that.
I want to go and I looked I was a hit.
It was a hit. But I've seen that skull bluggery
shoot that against such a huge before, right we all have, man,
(56:51):
I was, I was there and that that was that
was like one of the most electric moments in the audience. Man,
like watching that and seeing Ruth get one too, Like
it was just oh, that was a bunch of us.
That was a good night for Negroes, not just the
ones that one holiday. Yes, yeah, it was great. That
(57:16):
was a great night. What is next for you? And
how are you preparing for whatever is next for you?
You know what? Another you guys give me nothing a
great question like thank you for because it's hard to
answer questions that you're like, w T f O MG,
(57:38):
this is the first time they've had just had My mother,
my late mother would say, sit your skinny, rusty black
ass down. I've been working NonStop. She used to have
was six. Do the right thing. It's gonna be thirty
one years old just coming June three. The film was
(58:01):
released the same day It's Tim Batting Tim Burton's Batman.
I was between feature films feted documentaries, short films for
Michael Jackson, Prince Public Enemy, Miles Davis, Anita Baker, you know,
a whole bunch of people, and then being married twenty
(58:25):
six years. My you have a wife, Tanya, two kids,
grown kids, this pandemic both you know, it's two of them. Yeah, Like,
sit the funk down and be still. Stop the ripping
(58:45):
and running in here and ripping running air. My family
we were you know, I just went out the first
two months just to take out the garbage. Wow. Sometimes
you just using up. Now it's loosing up, you know.
Ride my bike has been a lot of the other demonstrations.
But I had to be still because I want. I
(59:08):
wanted to to live and I don't want to do
nothing that's gonna, you know, put my family in jeopardy.
And when you're just there, you think your mind and
and maybe maybe everybody some some other beautiful people might
have felt this way too. My mind was not racing.
(59:29):
It was like I'm taking this one monthfucking day and
a mother luck at time, one day at a time.
I'm not trying to plan out with I said, we
don't know when it's just gonna change or whatever. I'm
just gonna be still, and I've done a lot of reflections.
I thought about my brother Chris, who died not recently,
(59:50):
but you know he was brother right under me. You know,
he had addiction. M I thought of my mother, who
died of liver cancer. You saw Crooklyn, I want I
she was forty one years old. Mhm. You know, another
southhopore and morehouse. So I've had time to think about
It's not just all you know, dark stuff, but I've
(01:00:11):
had a lot of time to reflect the good and bad,
which I think it's been very beneficial to my growth
because i just had to ship the funk down. I'm
not I'm trying to be like, you know, like Mr. No,
that's real. No, that's really, that's real. Even when at
(01:00:33):
the beginning when you were saying, you know, like I'm
sixty three years old, like me and my wife were
even talking about that about how you've always been someone
who ay, your output has always been very prolific, and
so you've always like every year or at least every
other year, we know, Spike got something coming. And then
on top of that, your subject matter is always timely
to what's going on, so it's easy to forget because
(01:00:57):
you're always so current. Like you said, it's easy to
getting like, oh this, I've been doing this ship for
forty years, you know what I mean kind of people
we want to freeze just like right. But if I
could just say this, and this is because I gotta go,
but I want to thank you guys. But but also
another thing I left out. M I've been thinking about.
I was the first time ever I'm thinking about my
(01:01:17):
own mortality. Death has been around us mhm, around me.
People have died left and right, and it really you know,
maybe think about you know, like I'm not gonna be
the fun here forever, you know. And I know it's
(01:01:40):
a cliche, but you know what makes it cliche that
more times than not, it's the truth. Bullshit doesn't become
a cliche. Truth does. In my opinion, we gotta enjoy
what we got because no one no when that last
(01:02:01):
breath is we're gonna take and nothing can just reaffirmed that.
I mean, you hear that, you hear that here that
you but living through New York City in this epicenter,
that change is like I thought that I said, No,
that ship is real. You gotta we gotta joy this
(01:02:24):
ship while I get here, because this was a motherfucking
epicenter New York City. People dying left and right. Funeral
homes have, motherfucker you haul trucks, they're unrefrigerated. Do you
have to call the cops? Because Bali fu fluid and
(01:02:46):
and just the stitch is like, this is really crazy,
Like you're living for a green not right next to
Brooklyn Hospital. And you see the refrigeration trucks they had.
They're gone now, yeah, but Brad that they had to
bring in refrigeration trucks to keep the course of the
(01:03:07):
dead bodies. You're on ice. Yeah. And the last thing,
my brother gonna sen you out because I want to
let you know that I love you. It's love, love, love,
And I think that this is time history that we're
living through. It's gonna reduce great albums, great plays, great movies,
(01:03:31):
great documentaries, great art is going to come out of
this historic moment we're living in. I'm believe in my
heart that the great that they but that for me,
what makes artists great is the God giving gift, and
that God gift is the connection between the heart and
(01:03:55):
the mind. And you watch just me cold because the
man out of the the horrible things have happened. Our
great art is going to comment on this period. We
live to thank you, amen, Thank you very much, Spike Lee,
thank you, thank you, appreciate for your arts. Special qu
(01:04:17):
slide but Spike Lee fontigolo by Steve Um. That was
a mouthful. We got it. What's Lap Supreme is a
production of my Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
(01:04:37):
Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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