Why Spike Lee hates Hollywood: “Sometimes the American audience leaves me scratching my head”
Even though he’s an American filmmaker who shoots the majority of his films in America, which are backed and distributed by American studios or streaming services, Spike Lee has never been one to play the Hollywood game.
It’s telling that the highest-grossing movie of his directorial career by far is Inside Man, a slick and star-powered heist thriller boasting Denzel Washington in the lead role. It’s undeniably a Spike Lee joint, but it carries the additional bells and whistles that appeal to a mass audience.
The second top-earner in his filmography is BlackKklansman, which was again backed by a major outfit in Universal and ended up winning an Academy Award for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ from six nominations in total, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’. Again, it was Lee’s film through and through, but the fascinating premise and awards season buzz helped carry it to some of his greatest commercial heights.
The only time he’s ever come close to being a hired hand came when he took the reins on the Oldboy remake, and it’s fair to assume he won’t be doing anything similar again after the completely needless reinvention of a modern classic was declared dead on arrival at the box office.
Lee is at his best when he’s crafting his own stories from the ground up and given the leeway to inject his productions with all of the stylistic and thematic sensibilities that have made him one of his generation’s most potent voices. Unfortunately, sometimes, an artist has to play the game to get their own way, even if it’s not something he remotely enjoys.
His excellent drama 25th Hour was positioned as a potential awards contender, but in an interview at the time with the BBC, Lee lamented the politics behind it. “Seriously, here’s a story: one of the reasons why this film was made is because Disney wanted a ‘prestige film’, something they thought could get some nominations,” he explained. “When an executive makes that decision, it also means the film will be put in a very crowded pre-Christmas Oscar push.”
Even auteurs like Lee are forced to bend to the whims of the corporations, but his issues with Hollywood run much deeper than that. “If you try to say something unique with a different voice, that’s become much harder,” he continued.
“Last year Hollywood made more money that ever before, so that means we’ll have more of the same; more formulaic movies, more prequels, more sequels – I’ll leave The Matrix films out of that because I like those!”
Remember, these comments came more than 20 years ago and they remain as true as ever, with Lee revealing he’s “had studio executives tell me that the American people are stupid and that they’ll see whatever we tell them to see.” Harsh as that may sound, the filmmaker did concede that “sometimes the American audience leaves me scratching my head” when the obsession with reality and competition shows takes precedence over what he believes constitutes real art.
