Since his first feature movie, She's Gotta Have It (1986), gave him
critical and commercial success, Spike Lee has challenged audiences with
one controversial film after another, sparking debates about race, sex,
American politics and film production, and garnering award nominations
along the way.
Spike Lee: Interviews collects the best interviews and profiles of
America's most prominent African American filmmaker. The collection
features interviews with such luminaries as Charlie Rose, Elvis
Mitchell, Michael Sragow, and actor Delroy Lindo.
Lee has made a broad range of movies, including documentaries (4 Little
Girls), musicals (School Daze), crime dramas (Clockers), biopics
(Malcolm X). An early advocate of digital video, he used the
technology to film both of his 2000 releases, The Original Kings of
Comedy and Bamboozled.
Reactions to Do the Right Thing (1989) and Jungle Fever (1990)
propelled Lee into a constant presence in the public eye as media
currency. He directed commercials for Nike, Levi's, and the U.S. Navy,
directed music videos, published seven books, and conducted many
interviews explaining and clarifying his views. As Lee puts it, I've
been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people
who otherwise don't have access to power and media. I have to take
advantage of that while I'm still bankable.
Articulate and deeply passionate, Lee reveals a degree of subtlety and
wit that is often lost in sound bites and headlines about him. The range
of his interests is as diverse as the subjects of, and approaches to,
his films.
