“I Often Confuse You With Spike Jonze”

August 11, 2013 in Excerpts, Film | Permalink

Spike Lee, soon to release his reinterpretation of Park Chan-wook’s classic Oldboy, just did an Ask Me Anything at Reddit. A few exchanges follow.

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Question:

I remember watching Do The Right Thing on TV one time, but every time a character said “motherfucker” it was dubbed over with “mickeyfickey.”

Who chose mickeyfickey as a way to censor motherfucker?

Spike Lee:

Wasn’t me. And I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate it.

Question:

There are too many mickeyfickey snakes on this mickeyfickey plane!

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Question:

You’re directing a remake of Oldboy, a brilliant, original Korean film. It is a very tall order. Are you nervous? What do you want to do differently?

Spike Lee:

Before we started the shoot, Josh Brolin went to Park Chan-wook and asked for his blessing. He told Josh “you and Spike make your own film, don’t remake ours.” And that’s what we did. 

Question:

To me that almost sounds like Brolin didn’t get his blessing.

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Question:

What actor have you NOT worked with that you would really LOVE to work with?

Spike Lee:

SEAN PENN, my man Sean Penn. Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett, the other Kate, Kate Winslet.

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Question:

Can you tell us a cool anecdote you’ve wanted to share? How do you think America’s racial politics/awareness have changed from when you first started filmmaking to now?

Spike Lee:

It was March 20, 1988. I was having a birthday party in LA and E.U. was the band. And this is right after School Daze and E.U. had the number R&B hit with the song “Da Butt.” And this lady was dancing crazy on top of a speaker, I told her to get down, because if she fell, her neck would be broken and I would be sued. So finally she jumped off the speaker and started cursing me out in a voice I’d never heard before. I asked her where she was from, and she said she was from Brooklyn. I said “where in Brooklyn” and she said “Fort Greene” which is my neighborhood. I said “What is your name” and she said “Rosie Perez.” At the time I was writing Do The Right Thing, and that’s when I got the idea to make Mookie’s girlfriend Puerto Rican.

Historically African-Americans and Puerto Ricans have intermarried.

And that’s my anecdote for tonight. The rest is history!

Well, we have made some changes. We have an African-American president. But here’s the thing. A lot of people thought racism would be eradicated or disappear as soon as we had a Black president. That we would enter a post-racial America. That has not worked out.

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Question:

I often confuse you with Spike Jonze. Do you two know each other?

Spike Lee:

We’ve met one time in Mexico. We were at a film festival. That was it.•

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