Spike Lee is on the verge of releasing his latest feature, the highly-anticipated Netflix film, “Da 5 Bloods.” But just because Netflix is footing the bill for his new feature, which takes place both in the modern-day and five decades in the past, don’t go thinking that Lee got the same budget that other awards-worthy films from the streaming company have received over the years. In fact, as Lee pointed out in a New York Times profile, his lack of budget forced him to rely on good ol’ fashion creative filmmaking instead of millions of dollars on CGI for de-aging (looking at you, “The Irishman”).
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For those not familiar with “Da 5 Bloods,” the film tells the story of a group of Black Vietnam vets in the modern-day that go back to the Southeast Asian country to honor their fallen leader and also maybe find some buried treasure along the way. Lee’s film frequently cuts back and forth between the present time and the Vietnam era. But again, without the huge budget to de-age his actors, Lee got creative and decided to use the older actors as themselves in the flashbacks without the use of CGI to make them look younger.
“I was not getting $100 million to de-age our guys,” he explained. “I think we were able to turn a negative into a positive.”
So, if de-aging isn’t going to spark a ton of conversation with “Da 5 Bloods,” then what might? Well, there’s a ton about the film that is likely going to get people talking, as Lee’s films have never shied away from debate and intense discussion. And one of the things that are likely going to have film fans talking is the fact that one of the older Black Vietnam vets (played by Delroy Lindo) in the film is an avid Trump supporter, something we’re not really accustomed to seeing in films focused on People of Color.
“My mother taught me at an early age that black folks are not a monolithic group,” Lee explained when talking about Lindo’s character. “In order to make the story dramatic, I said, ‘What would be the most extreme thing we could do with one of the characters?’”
“It was a problem for me at first,” said Lindo. “I tried to talk Spike out of it: ‘Can we just make him a conservative?’ But I think there are some black people who are so deeply disgruntled, because of very real disenfranchisement, that they’re ready to believe someone like Trump might be able to help them.”
We’ll see how Lee handles Lindo’s character, the lack of de-aging, and obviously, the story of Black people fighting in Vietnam when “Da 5 Bloods” arrives on Netflix on June 12.