Clint Has Some Advice for Spike
Back during the Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee was in town drumming up interest for his new World War II drama Miracle at St. Anna. Never one to shy away from controversy, Lee took the opportunity not only to criticize the treatment of life and death by Joel and Ethan Coen, but also to point out that there weren’t any African-Americans in Clint Eastwood’s recent World War II films Flags of Our Fathers or Sands of Iwo Jima.
“Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total, and there was not one Negro actor on the screen. If you reporters had any balls you’d ask him why.”
Paul Lewis of the UK’s Guardian apparently has the balls because he asked Eastwood about the comments in a recent interview. Eastwood replied: “A guy like him should shut his face.”
According to Eastwood, he’s aware that there were African Americans in a munitions company on Iwo Jima, but they didn’t participate in the famous flag raising at the heart of the movie. He goes on to say his upcoming film Changeling takes place in Los Angeles before there was a large influx of African-Americans. “What are you going to do, you going to tell a fuckin’ story about that? Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I’m not in that game. I’m playing it the way I read it historically, and that’s the way it is. When I do a movie and it’s 90% black, like Bird, then I use 90% black people.”
When asked about his upcoming Nelson Mandela film The Human Factor, Eastwood remarked: “I’m not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy.”
The Coen Brothers have not yet publicly offered any suggestions for Mr. Lee.
Source: Cinematical
Filed under: Interviews
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Hahahahaha…this reminds me of the old Eddie Murphy bit about being criticized by Bill Cosby for doing such blue routines only to get this advice from Richard Pryor: “Do the people laugh when you say what you say? Yes. Do you get paid? Yes. Well, tell Bill I said have a Coke and a smile and shut the f*ck up.”
I admire Spike Lee as a director but he can be such a whore for publicity that sometimes it’s just plain embarrassing. I doubt he would have made those comments were he not expecting a response.
It got me to mention his new film, right?
I don’t begrudge Spike at all, even if I disagree with him. We need people like him around stirring up the pot.
Clint can obviously defend himself.
I’m glad Clint defended himself. And I remember the drama about “Bird,” so I’m also thrilled he talked about it as well.
There actually are, briefly, some black soldiers in Flags of Our Fathers, who seem to be looking at their white counterparts with certain disdain.
The funny thing is that Eastwood has always been rather friendly towards black actors in the sense of giving them pivotal parts in his films.
I’m very much looking forward to The Miracle of St. Anna, though. Spike Lee’s output is very uneven but he still has that home run potential.
While Eastwood would challenge Spike to a duel, the Coens would probably just scratch their ears at him.
I don’t know why he’s calling out the Coens, but I, like Craig, can’t come down on Spike Lee. He’s just mad because his bad movies are highlighted and his good movies are never appreciated.
I don’t have a problem with Eastwood either, but his response sounds a little more prickish than I would have expected. Regarding The Human Factor - Damon with a South African accent? Nick?
I think Clint is getting old. If Spike talked sh*t like that about my 93 year old grandfather, he’d probably get a similarly crusty response.
One snotty comments deserves another I suppose.
He’s calling out the Coens because they just won the Oscar and he seems to think they have a cavalier attitude about life and death…a subject he says he’s treating seriously in his new film.
The great thing about that interview is that I could totally imagine Clint speaking in my mind. “A guy like him should shut his face.” Ahahahhahaha…That’s Dirty Harry.
He was supposed to be at the Aero last night doing a Q&A between a new documentary about him and The Beguiled, but by the time I heard about it, it was sold out. I’d just looked at the printed American Cinematheque schedule last weekend and saw the documentary playing, but I don’t think it said Clint was going to be there. That would’ve been cool.
I am not sure about it hey Dan, I mean, Leo DiCaprio’s accent sucked in “Blood Diamond” and he got an Oscar nom….
I bet DiCaprio would have a better SA than Damon, and Leo’s sucked…but we’ll see.
This is getting ugly:
Spike on Clint: ‘He Sounds Like an Angry Old Man’
Lee Lashes Out at Eastwood: ‘The Man Is Not My Father and We’re Not on a Plantation’
From ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=5015524&page=1
Those two need to hug it out!
Oh man, he just had to play the plantation card, didn’t he?
Yeah, he went there. I’m sure he has a valid point, but it gets lost when diffused through the Angry Old Man filter…and sorry Spike, but at the age of 51 you’re sounding like the guy sitting on his porch yelling at the kids to get off your lawn.
Give it a rest. Make your own movie and enlighten us all ’cause Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are both long since in the can.
Haha, wow I didn’t realize it had become that nasty. Great publicity for both of their upcoming films, though…
Yeah, the best way to criticize a film is to make another film.
I’ll be happy to see what he comes up with since Flags did little for me. Spike and Tarantino are two seemingly unlikely guys to make period war movies, so I’m hoping both do something interesting.
I think Alexander’s comment bears repeating. There WERE black soldiers in Flags of Our Fathers. Doesn’t that kind of make this whole controversy completely silly?
Yeah, that ought to be the end of it, shouldn’t it?
Yeah, that racist Eastwood followed up Flags of our Fathers with a Japanese language World War II film about the other side.
I imagine South African accents are portrayed about like Southern accents…no one really knows how to do one correctly unless you’re from there, but to everyone else it sounds fantastic.
Then again, I never bought Leo’s accent in “Blood Diamond” either, and I’m not South African.
Here’s the thing:
I would rather hang out with Clint Eastwood.
But I’d rather see a Spike Lee movie.
Spike’s brilliant. If he could curb some of his excesses and figure out how to end a movie, he would be a pure, unapologetic genius. But for two decades his comments have been giving me fits.
Aha, thanks for repeating my comment, alynch.
The plantation comment is pathetic.
My least favorite comments of Spike’s, I think, from about five or six years ago, were all about Do the Right Thing. It’s the only time where a filmmaker’s statements actually made me like a film less.
That said, I do think he finally found his perfect ending with 25th Hour.
Matty, I think you hit the nail on the head there mate.
Yeah, well, speaking of accents, don’t get me started on all the films where the characters supposedly say something in Dutch (The Bourne Identity, for example). Or when someone’s supposedly Dutch…but speaks in a stock German accent. I mean, not that Dutch accents are that charming (trust me, they are not, and I’m very grateful mine only slips through on occasion), but still.
Anyway, bring on the director feuds, I say. They’re amusing as hell ;-)
Thinking about it, I don’t really know if I could tell the difference between a South African accent and an Australian one, which I know is horrible of me.
I totally agree with Harvey, Clint’s movies, even when they’re good, have an old-fashioned, last-generation quality to them, and Spike’s movies, even when they’re bad, still swing for the fences.
Oh, I ran into Wells tonight at the Egyptian theater. Thank god he didn’t recognize me.
Accents in film are really interesting, like for example, many South African accents in film do sound Australian, which is far from the case in reality, especially if you speak in either of the two accents.
Tim Robbins South African accent in “Catch a Fire” was pretty good, I still laughed, but it was not bad.
For me, American accents, and I am generalizing here, sound different in cinema as opposed to reality, but that’s just my impression of them.
As a filmmaker, Mr. Eastwood has some talent. But I’ve never been a fan. I never will be either.
On the other hand, Mr. Lee’s creativity, originality and fierce intelligence are emblazoned in just about every frame of his films. I don’t own any of them. But some of them are enormously impressive.
Spike’s got balls - and I admire that endlessly. It’s a rare quality, especially in the business he’s in.
Though I laughed out loud at some of this so called discourse, they really are acting like a couple of spoiled children. They should both be spanked…
“I ran into Wells tonight at the Egyptian theater…” Too bad you weren’t driving.
I join Jeff and Miranda in agreeing 100% with Harvey. Clint has had his moments behind the camera, but most of my appreciation of him comes from his work as a star. Spike is a royal pain in the ass, but damn, I was just thinking about Do The Right Thing yesterday and it still grabs me. “Yo, Clint. How come there ain’t no brothers up on the screen?”
Beyond that, I don’t really have a side here, I posted this because I thought it was funny. Seriously, how often do you hear a grown man telling another grown man to shut his face? That’s awesome.
Add me to the list as well. I’ve often been downright flummoxed by the reaction his films get from Academy members. He usually gets good work out of his actors, though, but aside from that, I do not get it. There is nothing remotely new or exciting in his films or his forgettable scores.
And God, Harvey, I agree so much about Spike not knowing how to end films! (though I do think “Malcolm X” is a masterpiece). I’ve actually *laughed* out loud at some of his endings (see “Jungle Fever” especially). I’m looking forward to “Miracle,” but as always with Spike, I’m cautiously optimistic.
I know it was slight, but I really enjoyed Inside Man.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a lot of Spike Lee movies. Maybe I ought to go back and revisit them. ’cause you know, my list of movies just isn’t long enough.
Maybe it’s just my contrary nature, but I’d rather hang out with and watch a movie from Clint Eastwood than Spike Lee. I’ve enjoyed Girl 6 (a very effective character study wrapped inside a paranoid thriller), Malcolm X, and Inside Man. I understand the political impetus for Do the Right Thing, but I wasn’t impressed with the film itself. Generally speaking, I think Lee needs some reigning in. His films tend to go off the rails or, as someone else pointed out, have mediocre endings. I tend to ignore Lee the political pundit. There’s enough provocateurs (aka loud-mouths) out there already.
I’d like to see Eastwood loosen up his directing style, but that’s not what he does. He’s a talented journeyman director who’s dedicated to his craft and there’s very few of them left. Even his politics (as well as the fact that he doesn’t frequently discuss them) are admirable. Hard line liberals and conservatives are boring.
You’re right WJ that there’s an appealing old-school quality to Eastwood. I think that combined with his on screen persona has a lot to do with his popularity for the people who keep nominating him for Oscars.