The two directors Spike Lee would loved to have seen on set
After almost 40 years in the industry, Spike Lee is now an established veteran of cinema who many aspiring filmmakers look to for inspiration and guidance. Not that he’s ever going to put himself on such a lofty pedestal, though, not when he’s still got so much to give.
M. Night Shyamalan, Ryan Coogler, Barry Jenkins, and Jordan Peele are only several of the names to have hailed Lee’s influence, and they’ve all done alright for themselves in terms of critical acclaim, awards season recognition, and box office success.
Just because he’s settling into the role of an elder statesman that future generations can view as a touchstone, it doesn’t mean Lee is above daydreaming about what it would be like to see some of his own favourite filmmakers in action.
Despite boasting an eclectic taste that covers everything from the stone-cold classics to the James Bond franchise via his unabashed enthusiasm for The Exorcist – containing one of the greatest scenes he’s ever witnessed unfold on-screen – the Academy Award winner nonetheless hewed strictly to the inarguable greats when asked by the BBC which directors he’d have loved to watch work.
“I’d have liked to see Fellini on the set,” he said. “I’d like to see why everybody called him ‘maestro.'” Martin Scorsese maintains that Federico Fellini was among the select few to have reinvented the art of cinema, and with the Goodfellas and Taxi Driver steward being among Lee’s most lauded contemporaries, it’s unsurprising that he’d be of a similar opinion.
For his second pick, Lee opted for somebody he’s been an open and unabashed fan of his entire professional life. The legendary Elia Kazan won two Oscars for ‘Best Director’ – helming a string of all-time classics, including On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, and East of Eden – and Lee’s admiration of the director has always been clear.
Drilling down into the specifics, his curiosity over “the way he worked with his actors” is what he’d want to experience shadowing Kazan, but not without getting a little fanboy sentiment in there, too. “I especially would have loved to be on the set of On the Waterfront, or A Streetcar Named Desire,” he continued. “You know what I mean? Stella!”
The majority of high-profile directors would undoubtedly be in a similar boat, given the looming shadows cast over the art form by both Fellini and Kazan, but for Lee, it’s less about picking up the tricks and tips of the trade and more about discovering how the respective titans interacted with those around them.
Not that Lee has ever experienced any major fallouts with his cast or crew members, but filmmaking is a profession where there’s always something to learn, and there wouldn’t be many better to learn from than those two.
