Ya-Dig? Spike Lee Hits Kickstarter To Raise $1.25 Million For His Next Film

nullWell, here’s a pretty good summary of this news, courtesy of Matt Patches: “Kickstarter: Veronica Mars movie tapped cult fever, Zach Braff relied on Garden State love, Spike Lee asks us to believe in auteurship.” Indeed, if the crowd-sourcing campaigns that have lit up social media sites drew on nostalgia and dedicated fan-bases, Spike Lee is hoping that folks who want to see and support real cinema will reach into their pockets and help him get his next movie made. That’s right, a Spike Lee joint has just hit Kickstarter.

The filmmaker is asking for $1.25 million and he admits he watched the previously, hugely successful campaigns and hopes he can benefit in the same way. Here’s what he had to say about trying to find money these days in the studio system versus his own vision for what cinema is and should be:

With the current climate in The Hollywood Studio System it’s not an encouraging look for Independent Filmmakers. I’m not hating, just stating the facts. Super Heroes, Comic Books, 3D Special EFX, Blowing up the Planet Nine Times and Fly through the Air while Transforming is not my Thang. To me it’s not just that these Films are being made but it seems like these are the only films getting made. To The Studios it seems like every Film must be a Home run on a Global scale, a Tent Pole Enterprise, able to spin off Sequel after Sequel after Sequel after Sequel after Sequel after Sequel.

I have a different vision of what Cinema can be, a different vision of what some under-served Audiences might want to see. That is why I am here on KICKSTARTER, to raise the Funds for The New Spike Lee Joint, to get this BAD BOY financed. Nothing in Life is Free and if you want something you got to pay for it. If you have liked any of my Films in the past, this is the price it costs to see another one (which can be less than the cost of one Movie Ticket). We feel the different levels on contributions make it affordable for everyone to GET DOWN FOR THE CAUSE.

The curious thing is that unlike other campaigns for movies, Spike Lee is keeping details close to the vest. There’s no movie title, and he’ll only say that the film is about the “addiction of blood” (but it’s not a vampire movie), and he promises it will feature a lot of sex. No word yet on a cast either. However, Spike is hoping you’ll look at his body of work and decide not just to invest in a single movie, but a filmmaker who is not only proven, but influential and destined to go down in history as one of American cinema’s finest.

Thoughts? We’ll let you battle it out below, but damn if we had $10,000 lying around, we’d definitely pay to hang with Spike at a Knicks game, sho-nuff.