Spike Lee told the Hollywood Reporter at Cannes that he’s commencing work on an as-yet-untitled documentary about basketball legend Michael Jordan, that he hopes to release in early 2009.
But while he was at it, Lee also used the interview as an opportunity to drop digs on the Coen Brothers and Clint Eastwood (Lee is in Cannes to promote his Italy-set war film “Miracle at St. Anna”).
On the Coens:
“I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don’t,” Lee said at a press briefing. “Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It’s like, ‘Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!’ I see things different than that.”
On Clint and “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. There’s no way I know why he did that — that was his vision, not mine. But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed it. It’s not like he didn’t know.”
Personally, this kind of drama is exactly what Cannes needs. Plus we love it when Lee runs his mouth, it generally means he’s agitated and his films tend to be better when he has a bug up his butt. Lee said, the soon-to-be-finished “Miracle at St. Anna,” will likely debut at Venice of the Toronto Film Festival with an October 10 likley release date if all goes to plan.
