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She's going to have it. I was a caterer,

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the producer, the director, the

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screenwriter acted in it, and I was the

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first. We didn't have a first ad.

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I don't care if you fire me in this

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exact [ __ ] moment.

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So, you ready? Oneon-one.

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In my experiences, I found two types of

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men. the decent ones and the dogs.

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Our lips are thick,

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our nose is broad, our hair is nappy, we

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are black, and we are beautiful.

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How come you college [ __ ] think

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y'all run everybody? You come to our

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town year after year and take over. We

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was born here, going to be here, and

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going to die here.

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That's it.

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That's it.

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I got it. I'm gone.

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There is no one way to be a filmmaker

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and not all filmmakers are alike.

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There's not one monolithic group. There

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are filmmakers who make films purely for

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entertainment purposes. There are

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filmmakers who do the opposite and there

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are filmmakers

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that try to do both. One of the faults

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of learning in any field is that

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sometimes your teachers are teaching you

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about theories. And I've always felt

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that

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I had an advantage

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that my students recognized is that I

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wasn't talking about theory.

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Could have, would should you? And many

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times I give examples of stuff I've

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actually done. It's not theory. what I'm

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saying

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is the truth and can give some validity

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you might say to what you're hearing.

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You will learn various aspects of film

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making. The tools a director has it's

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called film grammar. Can't start without

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a script. Got an ideal script

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storytelling

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visual direction. How are you going to

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take words on a paper

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and using your tools, film grammar, make

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those words come to life?

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Music, one of my favorite tools.

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I want people to understand that

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I'm still a student of cinema

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and I've been doing this 30 years. When

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you make that decision, whoever you are,

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that you want to be an artist, whatever,

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whatever field you're talking about,

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that's not some [ __ ] to be played with.

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I think that's sacred. But me, again,

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this is me.

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That is sacred where

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through hard work, blood, sweat, and

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tears, through timing and luck, you are

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given the unique opportunity being an

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artist. And if you choose to comment on

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what has happened in the world after

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you've gone through my master class,

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hopefully

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you'll be in a position where you could

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apply what you've learned. I would

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really hope that people were getting

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ready to shoot a film and saw that they

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said, "You know what? Maybe Spike will

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tell me something to help me be prepared

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or help me help my film be success.

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I'm Spike Lee and this is my master

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class.

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How I choose a story is uh do I want to

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tell that particular time?

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Usually I have more than one story but I

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found that over time the one I keep

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thinking about is the one I eventually

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doing.

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And you got to pick the right story. the

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one you're most passionate about because

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for me cinema is about storytelling.

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When I decided that this is story I want

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to tell

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then you got to write it.

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And I don't start to write right away. I

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just have usually have uh a notebook

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and I put notes in the notebook. The

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entries in the book could be uh

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characters names, plot points,

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a lot of dialogue

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and then once

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I've

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feel I've got enough

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and I go through

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the numerous notebooks and put

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everything on a 5x7 index card

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and then once I've done that, then I

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divide those cards into dialogue, plot

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stuff. Everything has it own section.

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And then I arrange those 5x7

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index cards in groups

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from the

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first scene to the last scene.

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A lot of this is research.

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So

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you got to do the work even before you

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start to write the actual script.

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I don't know how you can just show up,

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no research, no nothing. Blank piece of

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paper

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start to write.

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I maybe you can't do it, but I can't.

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And this way has worked for me. A lot of

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work goes into a lot of preparation

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work. W E R K. It makes the actual

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writing much easier for me because now

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you has a res your reservoir of

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material.

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You've written dialogue already.

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Not all of it, but you've written

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dialogue. You written scenes. You just

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got to put that stuff together.

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This is bamboozled.

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Bamboozled.

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And these are

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all the stuff I wrote down these in on

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these 5x7 index cards

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that make up

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the basis for the script. So right here

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I might have a a scene.

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So this one

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scene

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dialogue

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voice over ideal like little sayings.

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Faith is a substance of things hoped for

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evidence unseen. that didn't make the

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movie,

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but it's something that I put in here.

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So, I write this stuff and then once

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usually when I fill up a box, that means

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it's time to write the script. So once I

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feel that I've gotten all the

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information I need to write, then I put

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go through every single card and put it

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in order as if this is the order of the

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movie

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scenes. This is a scene. It's going to

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be the beginning, middle, end. I put it

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in order. And another reason why I use

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another reason why I use cars is because

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you don't get it right all the time. So

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you could you had a scene here. Well, it

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doesn't go there. It goes here

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and under the scene is like the heading,

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but there's a a line of dialogue that

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that works this scene. Then that that

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goes right that line of dialogue goes

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right behind that scene.

87
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And I again I I don't know all the time

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where exactly goes. So, a lot of times

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there's a lot of moving

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in this box.

91
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And then once I feel I've gotten all the

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scenes in order

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with the beginning, middle, end, that is

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when I start the actual writing of the

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script.

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Then you end it with this.

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This is uh the original

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bound

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screenplay of Bamboozled.

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Again, I don't type

101
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all long hair.

102
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Three- ring loose leaf binder.

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Most screen featureless screenplays,

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most screenplays 120 pages. And I found

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that early on in my career that was

106
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daunting.

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uh on the first especially especially

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the first day 120 pages

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and

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I found a trick.

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00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,520
I never thought about 120 page only

112
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thought about I need to write four or

113
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five pages a day

114
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and those four or five pages a day add

115
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up to 120 pages.

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So you're not writing 120 pages every

117
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time you sit down. Just write three or

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four pages. It's like chopping a tree.

119
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You're not going to knock down a

120
00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,240
tree in one even if you're John Henry,

121
00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,039
you're not going to knock down a tree

122
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with one stroke, you know. So, you got

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one chop,

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you know, keep chopping then eventually

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get to that to the end.

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I think that for the writer directors

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that you got to really put aside time

128
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to write.

129
00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:02,080
I mean this is going to be like the only

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time it's going to be you by yourself.

131
00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,599
Your own what you're doing after that

132
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you don't get a whole lot of people

133
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involved.

134
00:07:11,199 --> 00:07:13,440
So, it's just you really you there and

135
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your characters and your story

136
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and that's a very special time

137
00:07:20,479 --> 00:07:22,080
and you should you should treat it as

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such.

139
00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,360
I don't do anything else. I I I I block

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out. I'm look everybody has different

141
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creative

142
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periods. Mine is I write best in the

143
00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:39,039
morning. So I get up and write

144
00:07:39,039 --> 00:07:42,720
and I never have to write consecutive

145
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,440
days. I can't skip. I have to write

146
00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,960
every day till that first draft is done.

147
00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,840
And I can only do

148
00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,520
four or five hours at a time.

149
00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,319
After that is no good. So I I don't I

150
00:07:58,319 --> 00:08:00,400
don't I just can't I mean people will

151
00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,479
sit down and write 10 hours straight

152
00:08:04,479 --> 00:08:06,800
go ahead

153
00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:11,840
for me four or five hours that's it then

154
00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,080
come back the next day and I'm not

155
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:20,720
really this whole you know technology

156
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,360
explosion so I would suggest

157
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:30,160
for You younger people than me,

158
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,159
turn the [ __ ] phone off.

159
00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:37,680
Turn the [ __ ] TV off. I I mean,

160
00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:39,360
I have children and when they're doing

161
00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:41,919
their homework, the TV's on. They're on

162
00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:44,240
their computer. They have the headphones

163
00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,160
on and the phone is on and they got to

164
00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,760
do homework. Uh-uh.

165
00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,760
Uh-uh.

166
00:08:59,279 --> 00:09:01,120
You know, you should let a very select

167
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,279
few

168
00:09:03,279 --> 00:09:07,920
read it. Not the whole world. Select few

169
00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:09,920
people whose opinions you trust. People

170
00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,800
who who will be honest with you.

171
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,720
Listen,

172
00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,080
it's very hard to listen to criticism.

173
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:19,680
And

174
00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:21,519
sometimes

175
00:09:21,519 --> 00:09:23,760
the criticism might be valid. Other

176
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:28,560
times I might not. So you have to really

177
00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:30,080
be able something you have to learn

178
00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:31,279
though. It's not something you're going

179
00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:33,839
to get right away.

180
00:09:33,839 --> 00:09:35,279
You know some things you can say, you

181
00:09:35,279 --> 00:09:36,959
know what, I don't think that works.

182
00:09:36,959 --> 00:09:40,480
Other ones, you know, that does work. So

183
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,120
you're doing yourself a disservice if

184
00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:44,880
you

185
00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,920
make change for every single every

186
00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:49,839
single note that you get and you do

187
00:09:49,839 --> 00:09:52,399
every single note. I mean, what did you

188
00:09:52,399 --> 00:09:56,880
write? There's got to be something that

189
00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:58,480
if you've done the research and been

190
00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,720
truthful of subject matters, I mean,

191
00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:02,959
everything should not be changed. I

192
00:10:02,959 --> 00:10:06,120
don't think

193
00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:12,160
this whole thing happened. Jordan Peele

194
00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:14,240
called me out of the blue and he pitched

195
00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,720
this project to me to rewrite and

196
00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,160
direct. And it was six words.

197
00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:24,160
black man infiltrates Clue Klux Clan.

198
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,560
And I asked him, "Is it true?" He said,

199
00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:28,160
"Yes."

200
00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,640
Ron Store, who this is about, wrote a

201
00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,399
book.

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And in the 70s, he infiltrated the clan.

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He was also the first black policeman in

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the Colorado Springs Police Department.

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And

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sounds crazy, but he infiltrated the

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clan. I read the the screenplay that

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been written by two other authors, two

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other screenwriters

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and but I knew once I wanted to do it, I

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would work again my co-screenwriter

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Kevin Kevin Wilmont.

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And our approach was to make a hip movie

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that resonates with the the contemporary

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world we live in and not would just be

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viewed upon as something that happened

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in the past. I do research Kevin and I

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I don't know if any good screen prayer

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doesn't any good screenwriter does the

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research for

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the project you're working on. That's

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just part of the job.

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that screenwriting 101. How can you

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write about something you don't know

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about it? We just immerse ourselves in

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that in that uh that period time period.

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Not just black clansmen, any film I do.

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I'm doing research. I'm reading books.

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I'm reading magazines. I'm listening to

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the music of the time. I'm watching a

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bunch of documentaries. Whatever the

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subject matter is particular film that

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you're doing. And and for Kevin and I,

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it was all about the 70s, Vietnam War

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movement, the black power movement, or

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the civil rights movement, all this, the

237
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Vietnam War. So, you just try

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to have as much information at hand

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to use

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if it could work.

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No one wants to be in a position where

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you're like, "Oh man, if I just seen

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that film, uh-uh." You gota film's done

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already.

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You got to know your material that

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period, whatever it is. You have to know

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it.

248
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You got to know your stuff. You know,

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you can't be shucking jing.

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There's no half stepping,

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no backsliding.

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None of that. Commitment is like do or

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die.

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I'm going to do this.

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Cuz you're not doing that then you're

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not committed.

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You're faking a funk.

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You're faking a funk.

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You can find a writing partner that has

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great skills, but if you don't have the

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same sensibilities,

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it doesn't match up. I would also say

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that

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as my it's been my experience reading

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stories about throughout the years of

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people who write together. If one person

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might be good, for example, might be

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good on dialogue,

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but the other person is stronger on

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structure, it's good if you know if they

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fortify each other's I wouldn't when you

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I wouldn't use the word weaknesses, but

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something not as strong as in other

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areas. So,

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it it just makes the two

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people

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00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:10,079
the writing team is is is more whole.

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Kevin and I did not write the first

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script.

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So once we decided we were doing it and

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the deal was made,

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we went through the script and chose,

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you know, what's good

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and what we could rewrite. So that was

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the first thing. What stays in, what

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goes out.

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And

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we would choose, we would divvy up who

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would write what.

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And then we would exchange

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00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,160
with each other. Kevin Wilma and Kevin

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Wilma and I exchange what we wrote and

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comment on each other's uh

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scenes

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and just keep working like that till we

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felt we were ready. Kevin lives in

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Lawrence, Kansas.

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Kevin Wilmont is a tenure professor

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at the University of Kansas Film School.

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He's a Jay-Hawk.

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And so we would do this through uh the

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internet email

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and it's a very smooth process. We've

304
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done this before. The first time we

305
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,639
worked together on a script was uh we

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co-wrote uh Shyrack. So we both know how

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we flow

308
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and there's no ego, nothing like that.

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And both of us are committed to to

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to getting the best screenplay the best

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screenplay possible. Has nothing to do

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about egos. We know we got to get the

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job done. That's that's that's number

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one priority. Get the job done. For my

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00:15:56,399 --> 00:15:59,759
students out there, deadlines are a good

316
00:15:59,759 --> 00:16:02,560
thing.

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I'm going to repeat that. Deadlines are

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00:16:04,959 --> 00:16:08,320
a blessing because

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if you want to work in this industry,

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if you miss a deadline,

321
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you have a very serious

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effect,

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which is not good. And some people have

324
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to be motivated

325
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cuz you leave it up to them, they're

326
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going to take forever.

327
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Deadlines puts a fire under your butt.

328
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Especially

329
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when you're a newcomer in this industry,

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your first assignment,

331
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if you're blessed enough to work in the

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industry, particularly as a writer or

333
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writer director,

334
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and you missed the deadline

335
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the first time,

336
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you're getting this paying job.

337
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No, no, no, no. You can't do that.

338
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can't do that.

1
00:00:12,559 --> 00:00:14,639
Yo,

2
00:00:14,639 --> 00:00:17,359
find a character is very hard. Young

3
00:00:17,359 --> 00:00:21,039
writers tend to have a lot of characters

4
00:00:21,039 --> 00:00:23,519
saying the same thing. So, it's very

5
00:00:23,519 --> 00:00:25,920
important to have a distinction between

6
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,080
your characters because if everybody is

7
00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:29,199
the same, there's going to be no

8
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conflict and no conflict, you know, is

9
00:00:32,559 --> 00:00:36,520
it's probably going to be flat.

10
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What you have to understand, I feel, is

11
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that people think differently.

12
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People look different. They talk

13
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different. They think different. I mean,

14
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they're just different.

15
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And there are horrible things

16
00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,120
that you might that you're going to have

17
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,239
your character say. That is not you

18
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saying that.

19
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That is the character.

20
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I mean, I learned it early on.

21
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Meeting knowing Mars, one of my favorite

22
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filmmakers.

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That is not him saying this [ __ ]

24
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Mulan over here, black bastard,

25
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whatever. Jake, we didn't come to

26
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[ __ ] Detroit to beat by his [ __ ]

27
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Mulan over here. [ __ ] Mulan of the

28
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year.

29
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That's not him. But he knows those

30
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people.

31
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Little Italy grew up with those people.

32
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And and that means that

33
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you have to be honest

34
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and you're going have to show you might

35
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have to show some ugly stuff, but that

36
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doesn't mean that's you.

37
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And that might take courage because, oh,

38
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they're going to think that's me.

39
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They're going to think I'm a racist, I'm

40
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a misogynist, and this and that, you

41
00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:02,880
know, but

42
00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,520
those are your characters,

43
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,640
hopefully.

44
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,239
And it goes the other way, you know,

45
00:02:14,239 --> 00:02:17,200
like this is me. [ __ ] it. If you don't

46
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,239
like it,

47
00:02:20,239 --> 00:02:23,560
two fingers.

48
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,360
Do the right thing takes place

49
00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,280
on the hottest day of the summer.

50
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Do the right thing was shot in one block

51
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,640
in bed sty do or die. And several years

52
00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:43,840
ago, New York City renamed that block do

53
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the right thing way. is the first time

54
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,560
in the history of New York City, a

55
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street has been named after movie, play,

56
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anything as far as art goes.

57
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Not people, but a film, whatever it is.

58
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First time ever. So, we're very proud of

59
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,519
that.

60
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As

61
00:03:04,159 --> 00:03:07,040
the film goes on, things start to

62
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escalate. writing a script.

63
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The first I came up right and do the

64
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right thing was the title.

65
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I know what the [ __ ] movie is

66
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going to be about, but the title is Do

67
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the Right Thing.

68
00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,840
Then everything started to drip in. Hot

69
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Day of Summer,

70
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confrontations between African-Americans

71
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and Italian Americans, which is

72
00:03:28,239 --> 00:03:31,519
historical here in New York City.

73
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And it comes to a climax.

74
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bugging out played by the great great

75
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Jean Kaspazito

76
00:03:40,159 --> 00:03:42,480
as you might say is an activist some

77
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people might say a agitator

78
00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:50,000
he is not happy that S's famous pizzeria

79
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does not have one person of color on the

80
00:03:52,959 --> 00:03:54,720
wall of fame

81
00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:56,400
hey S how come there no brothers on the

82
00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:56,959
wall here

83
00:03:56,959 --> 00:03:58,560
you want brothers on the wall get your

84
00:03:58,560 --> 00:03:59,920
own place you can do what you want to do

85
00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:02,000
but here's the thing why this works Jean

86
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,959
Carlo bugging out is saying look

87
00:04:04,959 --> 00:04:06,799
we're in the No [ __ ] bedside do

88
00:04:06,799 --> 00:04:09,040
or die. All your customers are

89
00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:10,640
African-American, Puerto Rican.

90
00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,200
Rarely do I see any American Italians

91
00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,439
eating here. All I see is black folks.

92
00:04:15,439 --> 00:04:18,400
So since we spend much money here, we do

93
00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:19,519
have some sex.

94
00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:21,280
And Danny,

95
00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:24,000
I mean, his performance, I mean, Danny

96
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,000
killed it.

97
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,560
Danny's like his character S. All right.

98
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:35,520
If you black folks, use

99
00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,479
You want black people on the wall, get

100
00:04:38,479 --> 00:04:39,680
your own business.

101
00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,360
You can put your brothers and uncles and

102
00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,759
nieces and nephews, your stepfather,

103
00:04:43,759 --> 00:04:45,759
stepmother, whoever you want. You see,

104
00:04:45,759 --> 00:04:48,560
but this is my pizzeria.

105
00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:50,880
American Italians on the wall only. So,

106
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:52,400
they both have, when you think about it,

107
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,199
they're both right.

108
00:04:55,199 --> 00:04:56,400
And for me, that really that really

109
00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,160
makes [ __ ] dramatic when both people

110
00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,639
have beliefs and they're both right. And

111
00:05:00,639 --> 00:05:05,400
then you have they come headto head.

112
00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,160
Anything I've done,

113
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:13,680
it's because I was thinking about a

114
00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,240
particular subject matter at that

115
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,000
particular time in my life. I mean I I

116
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,360
mean that's just the way it is. I mean,

117
00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,759
you're alive, you walk around, you're

118
00:05:25,759 --> 00:05:28,320
living, and something's happening in the

119
00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,120
world, which might spark

120
00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,680
you wanting to speak on that. School

121
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,199
days was my second film

122
00:05:37,199 --> 00:05:39,680
was my four years at a historically

123
00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:41,360
black college, Morris College, Atlanta,

124
00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:44,560
Georgia, jam-packed into uh homecoming

125
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:50,320
weekend. do the right thing was made

126
00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,919
in a period in New York City where

127
00:05:53,919 --> 00:05:57,280
there's a lot of racial [ __ ] going on

128
00:05:57,280 --> 00:05:59,680
specifically between African-Americans

129
00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,759
and Italian-Americans.

130
00:06:01,759 --> 00:06:06,000
A mo better blues was drawn upon my

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00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,840
life as growing up in the jazz

132
00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:09,360
household.

133
00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,280
Brooklyn

134
00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:12,800
was

135
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,680
the life of the lease, my siblings and I

136
00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,319
growing up in Fort Green, Brooklyn. So

137
00:06:18,319 --> 00:06:21,680
I've for a lot of films just drawn upon

138
00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,160
personal experiences.

139
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:30,880
Stories are very different. So the

140
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,479
different ways to tell stories.

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I try not to be formalic

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and I've just

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always had an instinct how to tell that

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story

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like when students ask me

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in my class do I think about acts

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I and I know this might be blasphemous

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but I've never thought about first

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second third act when I write

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I'm not again I'm not telling you don't

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do that but for For me, I it it it adds

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something

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instinctual where I knew

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how to tell a story. And maybe I uh

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maybe blame it on my New York City

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public school education, but I never

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thought about I never thought of

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storytelling in acts. I just

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never did.

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And one thing I found there there are so

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many rules.

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I've always said who who made up that

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rule? Who said you can't do this? Who

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said you always do it this way? Who said

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you always do it that way? And and and

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the Bible cinema. I mean, I've never

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really

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believed in that that there's only one

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way

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to do anything, especially tell a story.

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This is why we need more people like you

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and me in public office. Get this

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country back on track.

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Amen.

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For America to achieve its

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greatness again.

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Absolutely.

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Boy, I sure wish we had a chance to chat

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face to face. In due time, my friend, in

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due time, I will be in Colorado Springs

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for your initiation.

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You're coming to Colorado Springs, sir?

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You bet your Mayflower Society ass I am.

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You're darn tootin.

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I believe in time and I believe in

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things, you know, sometimes

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happen because they should happen. And

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uh the spirits of the world said

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we need a movie. We need a piece of art.

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this speak to directly

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truth to power. Too many things had to

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come together for this to happen. So

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therefore, it's not a mistake.

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The grand design, whatever

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hocus pocus you want to call it, it it

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happened because it had to happen. Now,

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there's a urgency.

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This film was made

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with the urgency that the the world we

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live in de demands. Kevin Wilmont and I

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the co- coowriter we talked a lot before

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we started to actually sit down and

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write. We're doing this while we're

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doing the the

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research too. But we knew that in order

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to connect with today's audience,

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especially today's younger audience,

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this cannot seem like only a history

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lesson. We had to put this stuff in the

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film

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that would make people

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make the connection between the 70s and

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today. So, we knew we had to do this.

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Kevin and I knew this.

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A lot has been talked about the humor.

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I'm gonna use the word humor and not

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comedy

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in this film, but I think that was

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something that's an ingredient

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of the premise.

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This is a very this is this film is of

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the of the highest

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high concept you can have. Six words.

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Black man infiltrates

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Clue Klux Clan. You can't get more high

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concept that. And just the concept is

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funny. The whole idea is funny. It's

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absurd. So that was inherent.

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That's part of the DNA of the material.

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A black man infiltrating.

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That's impossible.

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How can a black man infiltrate

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the glue clan? So,

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it wasn't hard

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to mind humor for this at all.

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or my favorite film of all time, On the

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Waterfront,

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directed by Ela Kazan.

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Original screenplay by my dear friend of

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mine, Bud Schilberg. I didn't see on the

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waterfront until

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film school

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and

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just the acting,

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the script by Bud,

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direction by Kazan, the score by Leonard

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Bernstein, the black and white

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photography. It just really, really,

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really made a deep impact on me on what

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film can do.

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how film can attack the evils of the

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world, the corruption,

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the gangsters,

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and how

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over

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the history of humankind, people have

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stepped up

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and said, "Nah, I'm not taking that. I'm

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going to speak. I'm going to speak the

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truth. And if you kill me, you kill me.

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But [ __ ] that. I'm still going to tell

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the truth.

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This particular scene is a very moving

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scene to me. Most of it

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in the words

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of the character

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played by Carl Malden.

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One of the doc workers

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has

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stepped out

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and agreed to

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speak up against the mob encouraged by

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the father.

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And because he did that,

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a crate

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of Irish whiskey

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accidentally

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falls upon him.

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killing him.

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And so the way this scene is shot is

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almost like a resurrection,

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the eulogy.

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And even though it's not Marlon Brando's

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scene, he's still in it. He's urging the

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dock workers to speak up even knowing

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they might be killed.

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Truth to power.

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Kazan, he wasn't going to do too much

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stuff fancy with the camera. You know,

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he's going to let the actors do the

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work. But the stage and the placement of

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the camera, I think, was superlative.

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And it might seem on the surface a very

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stagy scene, but it's it's it's is it's

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not. is Carl Maldin's character is given

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a eulogy for someone who's just murdered

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on the spot. This is not the this is not

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the cemetery. This is not the church.

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This is right there.

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I think was very key as I mentioned

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before that there was no music at the

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beginning. No music. Let's just listen

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to the words spoken.

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And then for me that final shot where

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Corus and the crane as they lift his

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dead body but just got murdered.

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It's like is an ascension up to the sky.

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No dialogue just went to shoot this. So,

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you know, very very symbolic too.

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And then when they used to the

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close-ups, Marlon Brando must have his

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character Terry Malloy might have two or

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three words tells the guy don't do that.

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But the close-ups they use on Brando

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is saying a lot.

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And you see he's conflicted. He knows

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what's happening. His brother is second

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command. And it's becoming, I think,

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clear to him that, you know, he's had to

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make a decision.

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he might have to testify.

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So you see this,

88
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you know, this turmoil in his face. He's

89
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not saying a word.

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I've seen on the waterfront many, many,

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many different times. At least 50 times

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at least.

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And this scene

94
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means more now to me than I've seen it

95
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the other 49 times.

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There's a quarterback

97
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who should be working in the NFL.

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His name is

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Colin Kaepernick.

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He took a stand to show his displeasure,

101
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his feelings about way the way black

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people, people of color treated the

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United States of America.

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And to show his displeasure, he kneled

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at the

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the national anthem.

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Controversy swirling around a big NFL

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star who took a stand by refusing to

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stand for the national anthem

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by the 49ers. Kaepernick is no longer in

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00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,440
the spotlight on the field but is widely

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00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:38,720
considered better than many

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quarterbacks.

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Quarterback Colin Kaepernick is sticking

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to his playbook standing. He said,

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"Son day in a row we have been

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00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:46,720
confronted by the graphic images shared

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across social

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00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:49,759
Ferguson, Missouri once again had to put

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down and head off violence in the

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streets following the shooting days ago

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of a young unarmed black man who was

123
00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,360
supposed to head off to college this

124
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week."

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Why I chose this scene?

126
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:05,280
Terry Mallaloy

127
00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:08,319
is Kaepernick in this. The capital is

128
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Terry Mallaloy. His brother in the film

129
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Charlie the Jetent played by Rod Stiger

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has been murdered.

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Ter Mallaloy testifies against the mob

132
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directly Johnny Friendly played by Lee

133
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Jay Cobb and they're telling me you're

134
00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,120
never gonna work again. It's very easy

135
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,240
to make to tie these two things two

136
00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,160
things together. Kaepernick trying to

137
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,120
get a job NFL

138
00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,840
and Terry Mallaloy trying to go down to

139
00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:47,800
the docks to work. Play the scene.

140
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,000
Listen to dialogue.

141
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,680
They always said I was a bum.

142
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,880
Well, I ain't a bum. Edy,

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00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:58,080
don't worry. I'm not going to hurt

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00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,000
nobody.

145
00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,720
I'm just going to go down there

146
00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,240
and get my rights. That's key. Get my

147
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rights.

148
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,560
That's what Colin wants to get his

149
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,560
rights.

150
00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:18,319
So,

151
00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:22,319
this is what you call shape up where the

152
00:07:22,319 --> 00:07:25,759
dock workers come to the ship.

153
00:07:25,759 --> 00:07:27,440
They meet the hiring boss. The hiring

154
00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:32,479
boss gives these guys a tab. with the

155
00:07:32,479 --> 00:07:38,000
tab. You could come and work.

156
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,080
Brand's right there in front. Terry

157
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,960
Malloy. This guy right here is a is a

158
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:43,520
hiring book.

159
00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:44,800
Everybody works today.

160
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,000
Everybody works.

161
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,319
NFL owners, they take [ __ ] out

162
00:07:50,319 --> 00:07:52,160
of retirement

163
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:53,599
and give them 10 million [ __ ]

164
00:07:53,599 --> 00:07:55,599
dollar contracts.

165
00:07:55,599 --> 00:07:58,240
Take these guys off the junk heap. Then

166
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,240
give Kaepernick a job.

167
00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:03,759
that this guy right here is of the

168
00:08:03,759 --> 00:08:04,639
owners,

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00:08:04,639 --> 00:08:06,879
the hiring boss.

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Now he calls out all the names.

171
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Terry Mallaloy is standing there right

172
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in front of him.

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That's the mob right there.

174
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:22,240
Who at one time control all the docks

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00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:24,560
broke Manhattan whole ban where this was

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00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:25,759
shot

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00:08:25,759 --> 00:08:27,840
and he's mine.

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00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:33,279
I want him. You hear that? He's mine.

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00:08:33,279 --> 00:08:37,159
Look, AR's getting hired.

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00:08:37,839 --> 00:08:39,440
Where them cops are yours, Julie? You're

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00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:40,560
going to need them.

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There was 100 people there and he's

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00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:46,560
there alone. Now watch. This is a killer

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00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:46,959
right here.

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You're still short in the hatch, Mac.

186
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Hey, Spec, bring me the first man you

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see.

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First man you see. Hey,

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you.

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00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,040
This guy's forget him. Hey, you. This

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guy's a drunk.

192
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There's your man, man.

193
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They get a drunk the job

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the same. Come back tomorrow.

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That's Kaepernick right there.

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All right, that's it.

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Everybody's hired.

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00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,080
But look, these guys right here, they're

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00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:24,959
standing there. This is key.

200
00:09:24,959 --> 00:09:27,040
That should be the [ __ ] NFL

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players who's saying we're not [ __ ]

202
00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:34,279
working until Kaepernick works.

1
00:00:07,279 --> 00:00:09,040
Coming out of film school, my first

2
00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:10,800
feature script was School Days. It was

3
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,639
called Homecoming, but was the same

4
00:00:12,639 --> 00:00:14,960
script. I knew that was a three or4

5
00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,840
million film.

6
00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,760
At that point, as a filmmaker, I was not

7
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,199
going to get that money. So, I had to

8
00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:23,279
put it on the shelf.

9
00:00:23,279 --> 00:00:25,840
May she's going to have it $175,000.

10
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,760
Then I was able to make school days

11
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,720
which is I think four million.

12
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,280
This your first film you ever seen takes

13
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,160
place on the top of the Empire State

14
00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,160
Building.

15
00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,440
Maybe that's that's down the line. So it

16
00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:53,280
takes common sense. Just just just have

17
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:54,239
you just have to know there's some

18
00:00:54,239 --> 00:00:56,640
things that on your level you're not

19
00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,199
going to get.

20
00:00:59,199 --> 00:01:02,239
We all have ideals of what we're going

21
00:01:02,239 --> 00:01:04,080
to do and this and that all type of

22
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:05,600
equipment but when you don't have the

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00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,119
money

24
00:01:07,119 --> 00:01:08,560
you can't do that. So you have to

25
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,320
compromise.

26
00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:13,200
And sometimes

27
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,840
with these compromises you presented you

28
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:18,400
come up more creative ideas what might

29
00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,640
turn out to be better than what you've

30
00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,520
done if you had the money.

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Do

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the film that you could raise the money

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00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000
for.

34
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,439
Well, doing a budget can depend upon

35
00:01:39,439 --> 00:01:42,159
what type of level of film making you

36
00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:45,680
are. And when you're starting out,

37
00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:46,720
you know, if you don't know anybody

38
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:48,000
else, you got to do the budget by

39
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,079
yourself, which I which I used to do

40
00:01:50,079 --> 00:01:52,320
when I started.

41
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,880
And

42
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,119
as an independent filmmaker or you have

43
00:01:57,119 --> 00:01:58,399
to make the decision, do you have enough

44
00:01:58,399 --> 00:02:00,799
money to pay everybody?

45
00:02:00,799 --> 00:02:02,320
Are people going to work on deferred

46
00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:04,159
payments?

47
00:02:04,159 --> 00:02:07,280
and just have an idea of

48
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,039
what a ballpark figure of what you have

49
00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:14,400
and then go

50
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,400
line by line trying to figure out how

51
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,120
you're going to allocate

52
00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,080
the money you have.

53
00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:27,760
Young filmmakers really don't have the

54
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,360
money to have someone do a budget for

55
00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,160
them or even do a schedule. A lot of

56
00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,160
stuff you just got to learn on your own

57
00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,879
and uh try to figure it out. Also get

58
00:02:40,879 --> 00:02:43,519
copies of budgets,

59
00:02:43,519 --> 00:02:45,840
budgets that other people have done.

60
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,400
Budgets have the same

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00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,400
ballpark figure of money that's being

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00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,959
spent. So,

63
00:02:52,959 --> 00:02:55,760
it's not really rocket science.

64
00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:00,160
You just try to do it as a

65
00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:04,200
what could save the most money.

66
00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,560
As a young filmmaker, the the biggest

67
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,440
way to cut costs is to

68
00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,040
pay people on deferments.

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00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,480
It's not something that

70
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,040
I like to do when I started out, but if

71
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:22,959
you don't have the money, if you have

72
00:03:22,959 --> 00:03:24,480
little money, you have to try to put the

73
00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,000
money on the screen. So, it takes a a

74
00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,080
great deal of trust between yourself and

75
00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,760
the people who who you are asking to

76
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,560
defer a payment. You know, like look,

77
00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,040
when I get the money,

78
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:40,159
make sure it's a signed agreement.

79
00:03:40,159 --> 00:03:41,920
Though, when I get the money, you'll get

80
00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:43,360
paid.

81
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,120
It's hard to do that with strangers

82
00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:46,879
though. So, it has to really be done

83
00:03:46,879 --> 00:03:50,400
with people that you know.

84
00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,280
And it's been my experience that people

85
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,360
have faith in your ability. They like

86
00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,920
the script. They like the project. They

87
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,680
will take a leap of faith and work for

88
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:03,280
the firmament.

89
00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,040
Biggest thing though, you got to feed

90
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,360
people.

91
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,239
People work for free, but not work for

92
00:04:10,239 --> 00:04:12,720
free and not be fed.

93
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:18,320
So try not to skimp on the

94
00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,720
craft services.

95
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,040
It's uh can be a considerable

96
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,400
considerable cost, but it's uh it will

97
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,440
keep your crew happy.

98
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,400
Easiest way to have a vault on your set

99
00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,680
is not feed your crew. Even more than

100
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,440
not getting paid, if you don't feed

101
00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,040
them,

102
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,440
people walk.

103
00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:51,520
Young filmmakers, please understand that

104
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,000
when you shoot locations, in particular

105
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000
people's homes,

106
00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,680
that you have to treat it like

107
00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,720
it's your own home.

108
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:08,080
And that has to be told to your crew,

109
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,320
that this is somebody's home. Don't

110
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,919
leave [ __ ] all around. Clean up at the

111
00:05:13,919 --> 00:05:15,919
end of the day

112
00:05:15,919 --> 00:05:18,560
because if you don't do that,

113
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,880
you will not be allowed to shoot there

114
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,960
anymore. And again, you'll be jammed up.

115
00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,919
If you have a three or four day

116
00:05:27,919 --> 00:05:30,320
shoot at a particular location and they

117
00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,320
kick you out or something happens

118
00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,960
and and you can't finish at the

119
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,960
location, you're jammed up shooting

120
00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:40,800
outside.

121
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,080
You call at 6:00 a.m. in the morning.

122
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,639
You have to be quiet. You just can't

123
00:05:46,639 --> 00:05:48,639
come in there at 5:30 6:00 a.m. in the

124
00:05:48,639 --> 00:05:50,000
morning, people still sleeping and

125
00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,160
making all type of ruckus. You just

126
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:53,680
can't do that. you know, to call a cop

127
00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:57,280
sign, shut you down. So, a lot of it has

128
00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:00,560
to be just simple respect. Even, you

129
00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,479
know, I I shoot I shoot big films. I

130
00:06:02,479 --> 00:06:05,039
have to tell my my crew, you know, you

131
00:06:05,039 --> 00:06:07,120
can be quiet,

132
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:08,800
taking lights and stuff off the truck

133
00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,680
and making all types of noise,

134
00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:13,600
talking loud.

135
00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,280
You want to be able to come back the

136
00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,440
next day.

137
00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,479
I've lost many locations over the years.

138
00:06:24,479 --> 00:06:27,680
Uh just because I want to shoot there

139
00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,919
doesn't mean that

140
00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:33,759
someone wants me to be there.

141
00:06:33,759 --> 00:06:36,160
Uh you lose locations because they want

142
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,560
too much money.

143
00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,120
You lose locations because the days that

144
00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:44,880
available

145
00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,120
to shoot there,

146
00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,680
it doesn't fit into your schedule.

147
00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:51,520
So again, I use this word a lot. You

148
00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,440
have to be flexible.

149
00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:55,360
You know, you got to have places to

150
00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,120
shoot

151
00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,280
in case it rains. You always keep some

152
00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:02,160
locations in your back pocket

153
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,720
so if it rains, you can go there. Go

154
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,080
indoors because

155
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,400
you don't want to lose a day. It's

156
00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,720
called a cover set.

157
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,800
And young filmmakers get in trouble

158
00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:21,840
when they finish all their cover sets

159
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,240
before they finish shooting. So, you

160
00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,720
either got to rewrite the script, it

161
00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,479
takes place in the rain, or

162
00:07:30,479 --> 00:07:33,759
write something else. But always try to

163
00:07:33,759 --> 00:07:36,400
keep that uh at least until you finish

164
00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,960
shooting to the very end of the shoot a

165
00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,759
cover set.

1
00:00:06,319 --> 00:00:09,840
We never had

2
00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,519
the money to shoot the film in its

3
00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:15,679
entirety.

4
00:00:15,679 --> 00:00:18,800
Everybody knew it. I knew it. Warner

5
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,359
Brothers knew it. The Bond Company knew

6
00:00:21,359 --> 00:00:23,119
it.

7
00:00:23,119 --> 00:00:24,960
But

8
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,560
I said, "We got to go." Because they

9
00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,840
waited 20 years already. And

10
00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,520
Who knows might be another 20 years.

11
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:34,960
We always knew there would be that

12
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,200
fateful day

13
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,239
when we would run out of money.

14
00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:43,680
We started September. We went to

15
00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,800
Christmas and we had a break and after

16
00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,480
the break we came back holidays. We had

17
00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:54,039
to go overseas. We had to go to Egypt,

18
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:56,399
Cairo.

19
00:00:56,399 --> 00:00:58,160
Yeah. And also one in the film in South

20
00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,160
Africa

21
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,640
came back from overseas

22
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,720
and

23
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,360
soon after that

24
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,360
all the people

25
00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:13,600
in

26
00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,320
working on the film post-prouction got a

27
00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:22,119
registered letter they were fired.

28
00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,000
There were meetings before that

29
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,000
because Warner Brothers did not want the

30
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,720
film to be the length that it was

31
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,720
and

32
00:01:39,759 --> 00:01:42,240
economically three-hour film means one

33
00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,360
less showing in the movie theater.

34
00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,920
But we knew that we needed that time to

35
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,560
show the full totality of this man's

36
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,880
life of Malcolm X's Detroit Red

37
00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,960
Malcolm X Elash, you know. So, you

38
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:05,280
needed the time to show the evolution of

39
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,399
this great man. But Warner Brothers,

40
00:02:08,399 --> 00:02:10,800
they weren't having it. So, we would

41
00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,200
just shut down.

42
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,720
And I was like, damn, this shit's [ __ ]

43
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,720
up.

44
00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,680
And when the Bond company takes over a

45
00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,120
film, Warner Brothers out is out of it.

46
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:28,400
They said, "Look, Spike's not going to

47
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,400
cut the film.

48
00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,000
All right,

49
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,720
we're done with it. Let the Bond company

50
00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,599
take over."

51
00:02:37,599 --> 00:02:40,000
studying Malcolm

52
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,920
for a year prior to shooting.

53
00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:46,000
You know, I I tried to learn as much as

54
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,959
I could about him, the man.

55
00:02:48,959 --> 00:02:53,280
And I suddenly I kept thinking about

56
00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,640
self-determination, self-reliance,

57
00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,840
self-determination, self-reliance.

58
00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:01,599
Self-determination, self-reliance. He

59
00:03:01,599 --> 00:03:03,519
said, "You know what?

60
00:03:03,519 --> 00:03:05,760
There's something there."

61
00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,319
I said, "I know some black folks. They

62
00:03:08,319 --> 00:03:10,239
got some money."

63
00:03:10,239 --> 00:03:13,360
But here's the trick, though.

64
00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:14,640
If I was going to ask somebody for

65
00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:17,200
money, they would have to know it's not

66
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,400
an investment,

67
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,239
and you can't write this off.

68
00:03:24,239 --> 00:03:25,280
I said, "That's the only way I'm going

69
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:26,879
be able to get the money." I mean, we

70
00:03:26,879 --> 00:03:29,599
got to forget about the bond comp. We

71
00:03:29,599 --> 00:03:31,440
got to come with some money somehow so I

72
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:33,760
could at least hire my editor, Barry

73
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:35,760
Brown, so we could work on a film and

74
00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,319
not just be, you know, pulling our

75
00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:40,879
dicks. We got to we got to work on this

76
00:03:40,879 --> 00:03:43,519
film. I made a list of prominent

77
00:03:43,519 --> 00:03:46,400
African-Americans that they got money.

78
00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,959
numerous people,

79
00:03:48,959 --> 00:03:51,200
Tracy Chapman,

80
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,519
Jana Jackson,

81
00:03:53,519 --> 00:03:55,440
Prince,

82
00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,680
Sophie Winfrey, there's an

83
00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:59,599
African-American woman entrepreneur

84
00:03:59,599 --> 00:04:03,680
named Peggy Cooper Kafitz her. And every

85
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,480
time

86
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,120
I get a check, I'm, you know, now I got

87
00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,040
some pep in my steps. So, I'm getting

88
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,360
bolder and asking

89
00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,680
for more money.

90
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,359
But even after I made that list,

91
00:04:19,359 --> 00:04:22,160
it took me another two weeks to get the

92
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,759
courage

93
00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:27,600
to ask, you know, these people for the

94
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,600
help.

95
00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,280
So the last two people on the list and I

96
00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:37,759
knew what I needed

97
00:04:37,759 --> 00:04:40,160
to continue

98
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,440
just I know this not to be to do

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everything to completion but just to get

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a cut where you have a locked picture.

101
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So I called up Magic.

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Magic's

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very generous. I mean stuff he's done

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over the years United College fund all I

105
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mean just so this is spike how much you

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need. Boom. So it was one last call to

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make

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my main man money MJ the goat the

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greatest of all time.

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And if you know anything about Michael

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Jordan he's very competitive. He I mean

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he doesn't want to lose titly winks

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pingpong

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nothing. So I just let it slip how much

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I gave magic.

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Magic gave what? Boom. All right, Spike,

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I got you. Boom.

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All this [ __ ] is true. My mother's

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great.

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So we continue to work.

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no contact between myself, the Bond

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company or or or Warner Brothers.

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So on Malcolm's birthday, we held a

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press conference where we announced that

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these prominent African-Americans had

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come forward.

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And in order

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to continue with the film, I made a

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choice. That was a choice to go out

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directly to prominent African-Americans.

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This is probably the first time this has

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happened where some black folks with

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some money

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came

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to the rescue of the movie. And guess

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what happened? The very next day,

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Warner Brothers

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started to finance the film again. The

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day after, no coincidence at all, but

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the very next day at the press

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conference, we started getting money.

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I mean, we we went to that. I mean, you

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know, the saying from uh Godfather, we

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went to the mat on that,

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you know. Uh-uh.

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We had to get this film. It could not

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been two hours. Wasn't going to do it.

1
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When you are cast in your film, very

2
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critical, the wrong actors, the wrong

3
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roles

4
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could turn out to the wrong movie.

5
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And those three wrongs will kill you

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right there.

7
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This is a very important part because if

8
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you cast the wrong person, it's like

9
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either you leave a bad performance in or

10
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you got to cut around a performance

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and and if one if one of the leads,

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that's a hard thing to get over to

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overcome.

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So you have to be very I mean you got to

15
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cast people especially the leads like

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can't be flippant flippant about it. You

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got to really take time

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00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,280
before

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you trust them with this role.

20
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You know actor comes in they like him.

21
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They get the role right away. Like wait

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a minute

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bring them back three four times. You

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know I mean they're not going nowhere.

25
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They're out of work. Come on, man.

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Jungle Fee was Halle Berry's first film

27
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and she must have come back five, six

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times

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because the role was Divian the $3

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cracko. And I just not believe Halib B

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look like a $3 cracko.

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Uhuh. And so finally, I think it was

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Robbie Reed told her, "You could check

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it."

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But I think Rob, somebody said something

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to her said, "Look, you can't the way

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you look.

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You ain't getting this robe." So she

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came back looking like I I remember

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this. I didn't I didn't recognize it.

41
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Says to go in and ask your mother.

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I just d I suck your dick good for $5,

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baby.

44
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You what?

45
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$5, daddy. Come on. I suck your dick.

46
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$5, daddy. Come on. Get off me. $5. Get

47
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away from me. All right. $3.

48
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I knew she was talented, but I just I

49
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looked at her. I said,

50
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"You too fine."

51
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It's like

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I mean, the way it was written and the

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way I saw it, I mean, this be like

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someone's really like lost their soul

55
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and you see it on their face.

56
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Well, one of the biggest mistakes made

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by young filmmakers casting is that they

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where you have example where you have a

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couple married or or not and you cast

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one person

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and you cast the other person and do it

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separately. And there's a thing called

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chemistry. And this person might be

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great alone and this person might be

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great alone, but together they're no

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good. Camera doesn't lie. people see

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right away. All right, they just met

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probably married 25 years or you're

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saying I don't believe that.

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Again, I know it might be a overused

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word, but you know, you feel in your

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gut, you know, whether somebody has it

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or doesn't. And I know it might sound

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very simplistic, but that's something I

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guess you get it over time. The more

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experience you can do, the more

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experience you have,

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but it's an instinct. It's something you

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really acquire. You don't have it

80
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overnight, but you could tell. Do they

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get along?

82
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Do they interact?

83
00:03:41,599 --> 00:03:43,920
It's believable that these people are

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together.

85
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Very simple. I mean, you can see it

86
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right away. Do you believe them? Yes or

87
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no?

88
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,120
And so, you look at Jungle Fever, they

89
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decouple.

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00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,879
Sam, this something I never knew was

91
00:03:58,879 --> 00:04:00,959
coming out of rehab. And everybody knew

92
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but me. And so during rehearsal, Sam was

93
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taking Harley to all his spots.

94
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I didn't even know he was doing that.

95
00:04:12,959 --> 00:04:16,400
Gayen Vivian at the $3 cracko. Great

96
00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,400
performances.

97
00:04:24,479 --> 00:04:26,160
Any cast director say, "Well, let's get

98
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Denzel." I mean, come on.

99
00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:31,520
And that's all you contribute. I don't

100
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:32,960
need you. I can cast a [ __ ]

101
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,600
myself.

102
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,800
I really have utilized my cast and

103
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directors

104
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to let me know about people I don't know

105
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about. That's where the big help is.

106
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These aren't one man or one woman plays.

107
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We have a cast. We have to fill out the

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cast. Everybody's not going to be a

109
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star. bring in some people I've never

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seen before, never heard before.

111
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I always knew and I still believe that

112
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there are many, many, many talented

113
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people

114
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and they need a shot,

115
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need a platform

116
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to show what they can do.

117
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So, you know, we're very proud. You

118
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,520
know, Rosie Perez do the right thing

119
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:22,960
with her first film. I said before

120
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,160
Martin Lawrence's first film, Robin

121
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Harris's first film, Jungle Fever with

122
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Halle Berry's first film, Queen

123
00:05:27,759 --> 00:05:30,160
Latifah's first film,

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Clockas Mai Piper's first film. In fact,

125
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,120
he never acted before and he just his

126
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cousin asked him to where he said come

127
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where you going? He said we're going to

128
00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,639
audition. So his cousin is auditioning

129
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and then we saw Mai Bley. He has a very

130
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unique look. He said, "Uh, who are you?"

131
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He said, "I'm just here." My cousin

132
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said, "Why don't you come and read? We

133
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,400
here anyway. Just come on in." And he

134
00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,199
and he got the part. It's great for the

135
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audience because it's like they're in on

136
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a secret. They're seeing someone new

137
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for the first time. Never heard of them,

138
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never seen them. Well, they saw Rosie on

139
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Soul Train, but let's leave her out.

140
00:06:21,919 --> 00:06:25,039
It was 1988,

141
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March 20th. Around then, I was in Los

142
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Angeles.

143
00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:32,880
School Days just come out.

144
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A hit.

145
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The song The Butt is a hit. So, there's

146
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a club in LA used to be called Funky

147
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Reggae. So, we had my birthday party at

148
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Funky Ree. or he flew eu eu out to

149
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perform the butt and other songs.

150
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,479
So the butt the song the butt is playing

151
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and and I'm standing next to the speaker

152
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and this woman is dancing on top of the

153
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speaker and she can really dance

154
00:07:00,479 --> 00:07:03,360
but if she falls off the speaker and

155
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breaks her neck I'm going to be going to

156
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jail or sued. So I get security. I say

157
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look get her down.

158
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So she doesn't want to come down

159
00:07:17,199 --> 00:07:19,120
and finally she comes down then she

160
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starts to curse me out.

161
00:07:21,599 --> 00:07:27,120
Now I never heard somebody talk the way

162
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,599
I mean the way she talks. I mean I just

163
00:07:29,599 --> 00:07:30,639
never heard somebody speak like that

164
00:07:30,639 --> 00:07:31,440
before.

165
00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,800
No. Come on. That's Ow. Hold up. Wait a

166
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:36,479
minute. First of all, it is too hot. All

167
00:07:36,479 --> 00:07:38,160
right. And if you think I'm going to let

168
00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,479
you get some, put your clothes on and

169
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leave here. And I see you black ass for

170
00:07:42,639 --> 00:07:44,160
another week. You must be vugging.

171
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,639
I said, "Where are you from?" And he

172
00:07:46,639 --> 00:07:48,160
said, "New York." I said, "Where in New

173
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York?" He said, "Brooklyn." I said,

174
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:50,880
"Where in Brooklyn?" He said, "Fort

175
00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,960
Green." Said, "You're from Fort Green."

176
00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,240
And at that time I was writing

177
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,000
no I had finished writing

178
00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,400
do the right thing but I was you know

179
00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,840
think about casting it and that's when I

180
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,759
got that deal that very night to make

181
00:08:11,759 --> 00:08:13,440
Muki's girl from Puerto Rican.

182
00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:14,720
Where you going

183
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,800
get my money from South

184
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,599
A no you must think I'm stupid or

185
00:08:19,599 --> 00:08:21,919
something Muki. All right. We knew Muki

186
00:08:21,919 --> 00:08:23,039
had the girl would have to have a

187
00:08:23,039 --> 00:08:25,120
girlfriend because he had a, you know,

188
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:26,720
has a child. And I thought it'd be

189
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:28,720
interesting, you know, to have Muki with

190
00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:30,160
the Puerto Rican girlfriend.

191
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:30,800
Don't give a [ __ ] about

192
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:32,240
It's one of the things we wanted to show

193
00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:34,479
in this film, how blacks and Puerto

194
00:08:34,479 --> 00:08:36,959
Ricans have always been close in New

195
00:08:36,959 --> 00:08:38,479
York.

196
00:08:38,479 --> 00:08:40,240
Look, why you being [ __ ] mother? Stop

197
00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,719
yelling. You woke you woke Hector up and

198
00:08:42,719 --> 00:08:45,200
with Tina, she's a young unwitted

199
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,000
mother, uneducated

200
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,200
stuck with a no good boyfriend.

201
00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,440
If you were in her position,

202
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:54,720
you know, you would do a lot of yelling

203
00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:56,399
and screaming too.

204
00:08:56,399 --> 00:08:58,480
Okay? Don't tell me what I need because

205
00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,800
what you need is a life. Okay?

206
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:04,640
If you're an independent filmmaker and

207
00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:06,800
the budget is significant and you

208
00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:08,399
weren't born into wealthy family, you're

209
00:09:08,399 --> 00:09:11,120
going to have to get a name to uh get

210
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:12,959
the finance. Many times people might

211
00:09:12,959 --> 00:09:14,480
like a script, but they're going to in

212
00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,200
it. And if it's nobody know, you're not

213
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,680
going to get the money.

214
00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,560
So the hardest thing is how are you

215
00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:27,760
going to get your script into the hands

216
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,240
of that actor

217
00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,279
who can get it financed

218
00:09:33,279 --> 00:09:39,519
and is is is almost impossible to do

219
00:09:39,519 --> 00:09:41,600
because

220
00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,240
no one is

221
00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:46,160
taking unsolicited scripts. So you have

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to know somebody who knows somebody who

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knows somebody who might know somebody

224
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else

225
00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,080
to get the script in the right hands

226
00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,399
and it is hard to do. Unsolicited script

227
00:10:00,399 --> 00:10:03,519
means it's coming from

228
00:10:03,519 --> 00:10:06,080
out of space.

229
00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,440
How I got Lawrence Fishburn

230
00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,320
to play the lead in the film I never got

231
00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:17,000
made. I saw him in Wash Square Park.

232
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So I knew him from Pocops now and he

233
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lived in Brooklyn. So I just walked up

234
00:10:21,279 --> 00:10:22,480
to him. We started talking. I told him I

235
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was in film school. That's how I met

236
00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:26,800
Fish. I met John Carlos Bazito. He's in

237
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,560
this play called Off Broadway Play Zoom

238
00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:31,279
in the Sign. So I saw the play waited

239
00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:34,399
for him at the the stage door.

240
00:10:34,399 --> 00:10:36,320
You really can't be shy. That's Let's be

241
00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:38,720
honest. If if it's is so much you're

242
00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,120
making it so much hard for yourself if

243
00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:45,839
your personality is is being shy

244
00:10:45,839 --> 00:10:49,600
cuz uh you got to step up and present

245
00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,560
your case, plead your case to total

246
00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:55,279
strangers and you might have 30 seconds

247
00:10:55,279 --> 00:10:57,279
to do it.

248
00:10:57,279 --> 00:10:59,680
You're around the corner, light turns

249
00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:02,079
red, you turn around,

250
00:11:02,079 --> 00:11:05,040
so and so stand next to you.

251
00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,760
I tell acts all the time,

252
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:09,120
you should not leave the house while

253
00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,160
having your head shot with you.

254
00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,440
So many times people come to me, I'm act

255
00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,560
I I didn't bring it to me. I said, well,

256
00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:21,839
light's green.

257
00:11:21,839 --> 00:11:24,560
I'll see you later. So, you have to be

258
00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,720
really prepared

259
00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:28,320
cuz you never know when this opportunity

260
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,480
is going to happen again.

261
00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,040
And I know sometimes

262
00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,000
I might

263
00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,959
get mad when I'm eating a meal when my

264
00:11:40,959 --> 00:11:44,079
family people try to audition, you know.

265
00:11:44,079 --> 00:11:46,800
I mean, but I understand why they're

266
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:47,920
doing it. They know they're never going

267
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,320
to see me again. And they're taking

268
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,640
their shot. So, I'm not mad at them for

269
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:57,079
that. Not mad.

270
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,399
My brother Toea Grace and I share the

271
00:12:06,399 --> 00:12:08,880
same agent ICM

272
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:14,160
wonderful woman her name is Tony and

273
00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,279
most agents

274
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if they have a client if you're a

275
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director

276
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,560
they have a client every single time you

277
00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:27,200
do a film they're going to want you to

278
00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,000
asked their client,

279
00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,519
but an entire time

280
00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:36,079
that Tony Howard has been my agent. Not

281
00:12:36,079 --> 00:12:39,279
once has she ever

282
00:12:39,279 --> 00:12:42,240
ever ever said, "Spike,

283
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,399
I want you to audition. I want you to

284
00:12:44,399 --> 00:12:47,760
meet. I want you to read this

285
00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,200
actor that I represent."

286
00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,920
Had never done it before. Black

287
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:55,600
Clansmen.

288
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,680
And so she said, "I want you to meet

289
00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:01,200
and and meet him, but if you want

290
00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:05,200
audition, I want you to have to I want

291
00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,720
you to audition to grace,

292
00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,800
the guy from the 70s show

293
00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,480
as David Duke."

294
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,519
But here's the thing though,

295
00:13:19,519 --> 00:13:24,240
and I trust Tony's talent.

296
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,680
I mean, her eye and talent.

297
00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:30,800
My brother came in.

298
00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,680
He rocked that [ __ ]

299
00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:36,079
Just look around.

300
00:13:36,079 --> 00:13:38,000
That's right, everyone. Just look

301
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,160
around.

302
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,040
Today, we are privileged

303
00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,360
to be among white men

304
00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,480
and white women

305
00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,440
such as yourselves. real warriors for

306
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,120
the real America. The America that our

307
00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,560
ancestors fought and died for,

308
00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,440
the true white American race, the

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00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:00,560
backbone

310
00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:02,160
from whence came our great southern

311
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:03,199
heritage.

312
00:14:03,199 --> 00:14:05,360
Well, David Duke is a public figure.

313
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,800
He's been on TV, he's been on radio,

314
00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,320
right now even has his own podcast.

315
00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:13,920
There's a ton of documentary film on

316
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,440
him.

317
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,399
And there was certain things

318
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:23,040
that we used that that uh certain things

319
00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,720
we used that Toeer found. He said,

320
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,800
"Spike, I was doing research and can we

321
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,680
can I say this?" I said, "Great."

322
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,160
It's always been my

323
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,800
practice

324
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,000
that every word I write is not golden. A

325
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,320
lot of times actors can come up with

326
00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:43,360
something that's better than what you

327
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,360
wrote, can make it more concise. Also,

328
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,079
they come with stuff that sounds better

329
00:14:50,079 --> 00:14:52,480
them saying it.

330
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:53,920
Like it's too many words. They can cut

331
00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,720
it down. Make what you write sound

332
00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,639
better.

333
00:14:58,639 --> 00:15:00,240
And so you have to take your ego out of

334
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:01,839
that.

335
00:15:01,839 --> 00:15:03,760
But even if

336
00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,720
you don't want to change it,

337
00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,600
give the act at least one take. do it

338
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:11,839
the way they want to do it. Casting is

339
00:15:11,839 --> 00:15:13,519
key.

340
00:15:13,519 --> 00:15:17,120
I'm not gonna say 90% 95% not I mean

341
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,519
forget that

342
00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,680
if you don't got the right person

343
00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,720
for the role you're making it harder

344
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,680
which is already hard to do.

345
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,120
And another thing I've learned,

346
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:36,800
I'm not going to mention any names, but

347
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,279
many times,

348
00:15:39,279 --> 00:15:43,760
I've had a certain person, a star

349
00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,680
in my mind for this particular role, and

350
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,920
for whatever reasons, you know, they

351
00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:51,600
couldn't do it, they didn't like the

352
00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:52,959
script, they didn't want to work with

353
00:15:52,959 --> 00:15:55,600
me, or

354
00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:56,959
for the most part, probably, you know,

355
00:15:56,959 --> 00:15:58,800
they couldn't fit it in their schedule.

356
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:02,320
No, I can afford them. That's number

357
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:03,920
one.

358
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:05,519
But

359
00:16:05,519 --> 00:16:07,600
I would say this almost every single

360
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,040
time that happened,

361
00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:15,000
it turned out for the better.

362
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,639
It turned out for the better because you

363
00:16:18,639 --> 00:16:23,199
may be a big giant star, but sometimes

364
00:16:23,199 --> 00:16:25,120
you might not be the right person for

365
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,040
that role.

366
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,600
Like Daniel Ella is not my first choice

367
00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:35,920
for s do the right thing. Uh Bill Nun

368
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,519
was not my first choice for Ray Raheem

369
00:16:39,519 --> 00:16:41,680
and do the right thing. And then more

370
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:46,800
examples. So I view myself

371
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,480
where I'm cast as like the general

372
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,120
manager of a team. You want to try to

373
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,360
get

374
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,160
pieces of fit

375
00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:00,079
and everybody comes together united in

376
00:17:00,079 --> 00:17:04,240
concert and sympatico for

377
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,679
making the best film we can make. Not

378
00:17:07,679 --> 00:17:10,160
worried about anything but that. Not

379
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,400
worrying about how many lines I got, how

380
00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,439
many close-ups his trailer or her

381
00:17:15,439 --> 00:17:17,839
trailer.

382
00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:19,760
None of that really has to do with

383
00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:21,439
making the film. That's some other

384
00:17:21,439 --> 00:17:25,839
[ __ ] And that's the stuff it's hard

385
00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:28,160
to keep

386
00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:29,760
from

387
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:34,120
bleeding into oncreen.

388
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,240
John Dave was six years old, I think,

389
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,559
when he

390
00:17:45,679 --> 00:17:48,160
performed his

391
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:49,520
first time in front of the camera. He

392
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,200
was at the end of Malcolm X.

393
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,720
I am Malcolm X

394
00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,760
did his Spartus thing. Kirk Douglas,

395
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:04,400
which was homage to uh Stanley Kubric,

396
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,039
one of my favorite filmmakers,

397
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,080
and

398
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,120
I've seen him grow up before my eyes.

399
00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:15,679
I've done four films with Denzel,

400
00:18:15,679 --> 00:18:19,280
Mo Better Blues,

401
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,640
uh Malcolm X,

402
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:27,840
He Got Game, Inside Man. John David took

403
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:32,080
uh the circle route to uh

404
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,720
film making

405
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,679
was a star athlete,

406
00:18:37,679 --> 00:18:39,200
high school athlete, played football at

407
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,039
Morehouse.

408
00:18:41,039 --> 00:18:44,080
the house where I went

409
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,720
and uh try to make an NFL. But we all

410
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,200
know

411
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,600
that was just

412
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:56,799
a way to distance himself from his

413
00:18:56,799 --> 00:19:01,360
father. But in his heart, he's an actor.

414
00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:04,880
And I knew that John De Wash could do

415
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,880
this role. Not only do it, but I mean

416
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,320
like do it. I offered him the part. He

417
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,160
didn't have to read for it, not have to

418
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,120
put himself on tape. There no meeting. I

419
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,200
sent him Ron Star's book. I said, "Let's

420
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:22,160
go." And it's funny about cliches.

421
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,640
Clichess become cliches because this

422
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,600
some truth in it.

423
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,760
Example, the proof is in the pudding

424
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,640
and the fruit does not fall far from the

425
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,640
tree.

426
00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,640
Those two cliches are the truth Ruth

427
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,919
from John David Washington.

428
00:19:45,919 --> 00:19:47,600
Why weren't you drafted into the Vietnam

429
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:48,400
War?

430
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,720
I went to college, sir.

431
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,600
How do you feel about Vietnam?

432
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,760
I have mixed feelings, sir.

433
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,480
Would you call yourself a womanizer?

434
00:19:58,480 --> 00:19:59,520
No, I would not, sir.

435
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:00,799
You frequent nightclubs?

436
00:20:00,799 --> 00:20:01,440
No, sir.

437
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:02,640
Do you drink?

438
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,200
Only on special occasions, sir.

439
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:06,880
Have you ever done any drugs?

440
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,960
Only those prescribed by my doctor, sir.

441
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,039
Well, that's kind of rare for a young

442
00:20:11,039 --> 00:20:12,720
hip soul brother like you.

443
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,320
Uh, yes, sir. But my father was in the

444
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,799
military and my parents, they raised me

445
00:20:18,799 --> 00:20:19,600
the right way.

446
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,520
How do you get along with people

447
00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:22,320
generally,

448
00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,320
sir? They treat me right. I treat them

449
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:25,919
right. Like I said before, I was raised

450
00:20:25,919 --> 00:20:26,960
up the right way. So,

451
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:28,720
I mean, have you ever had any negative

452
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:30,000
What would you do if another cop called

453
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,039
you a [ __ ] or worse?

454
00:20:33,039 --> 00:20:36,039
Would

455
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:40,440
that happen sir? [ __ ]

1
00:00:15,519 --> 00:00:19,279
Big mistake when you choose your DP

2
00:00:19,279 --> 00:00:21,680
based on a real.

3
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:23,519
Anybody

4
00:00:23,519 --> 00:00:25,519
could put together a one minute sizzle

5
00:00:25,519 --> 00:00:27,359
reel.

6
00:00:27,359 --> 00:00:29,920
look at something they shot that has

7
00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,560
length to it.

8
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,160
Directors, you audition everybody. Just

9
00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:39,680
the way you same way you audition

10
00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,360
actors, you audition your DP, you

11
00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,719
audition your editors.

12
00:00:44,719 --> 00:00:48,079
Look at their work. What have they done?

13
00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:51,360
What have they done in the past? Is it

14
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,440
similar to what you're about to do?

15
00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,960
doesn't have to be.

16
00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:58,960
Have have people read the script and

17
00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:00,640
tell you

18
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,640
how they see the film. How

19
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:09,640
do they think they will film it?

20
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,920
It's an audition. You know, they're

21
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,240
applying for a job

22
00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,880
and you're the boss

23
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:18,560
and

24
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:20,159
these hirings you're going to make are

25
00:01:20,159 --> 00:01:22,320
very crucial to the film.

26
00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:24,960
Hire DPS who have more experience than

27
00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:27,920
you and rely on their experience to help

28
00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,520
you

29
00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,840
with just how to shoot a film, how to

30
00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:33,520
tell a story with the camera, and that

31
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,040
includes colors, lighting,

32
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:38,960
camera movement,

33
00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:41,280
what particular lens use, all that

34
00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:43,680
stuff. You make a mistake and get the

35
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:45,840
wrong DP, the wrong production designer,

36
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,320
the wrong costume designer, then you

37
00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,680
know your ass out. You have to really be

38
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,360
rigorous

39
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,280
and vigilant,

40
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,280
you know, in in hiring the people who

41
00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:04,040
you are trusting the look of the film.

42
00:02:08,879 --> 00:02:10,160
What I've looked through over the years

43
00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:11,840
as a cinematographer is someone who

44
00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,760
could elevate

45
00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,000
my visual sense and and and and show me

46
00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,640
stuff that I not thought about. I mean,

47
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I don't I don't need someone who can do

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anything I say or not have anything

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beyond what I might I mean, I need

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somebody I mean, you want that from all

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your crew heads.

52
00:02:32,879 --> 00:02:35,599
It's not a mistake that many directors

53
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only work with have long long

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relationships with

55
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DPS Spielberg, Janice Kaminsky, how many

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films they've done together.

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Well, I was very fortunate. And I've

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been blessed to work with great

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cinematographers

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and first and foremost is Ernest

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Dickerson

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who was shooting my filming my film

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shooting my films in NYU.

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Then the features she's going to have it

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school days do the right thing better

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jungle fever

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Malcolm X. Once you find somebody who

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understands what you want,

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you don't have to have any bickering or

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major disagreements.

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That's someone that you want to keep

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working with for a long, long

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time.

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What we're trying to do is uh make eight

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weeks look like one day.

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We've broken down the script into scenes

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that are going to be taking place at

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certain times of the day. We're trying

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to shoot at those times of the day. I've

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always been an advocate of available

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light as much as possible and using

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natural light. Uh I think this is I

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guess this is taking it to ridiculous

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extreme, you know, cuz it's really

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making life a little bit hard for us.

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But um I think we'll just come out with

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more truth on the film that way. You

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should really try to find a DP number

89
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one that knows where to do them, but

90
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also that is fast. You have limited

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resources,

92
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a limited budget. You have li budget

93
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determines how many days you shoot.

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The more money you have, the more days

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you can shoot. The less money you have,

96
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the less money you can shoot. You have

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to get your day. And if you don't pick

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your DP very carefully,

99
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he she could jam your ass up.

100
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You don't want someone that's just

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rush rush rush and get the shot, but

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still someone who could still work at a

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nice pace and get what you want.

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Otherwise,

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it's hard enough to make a film without

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all this other stuff happening. Even

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with the great DP, it's hard to make a

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film. And another thing which is people

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don't think about

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actors come to the set ready to work.

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They that they get the hour, hair,

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makeup, wardrobe, they ready to work.

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They don't want to spend the rest of the

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day in their camper waiting to be called

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to set.

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00:05:24,639 --> 00:05:28,080
a young director. You cannot have

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somebody who thinks he's Thearo

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and waiting all day for a [ __ ]

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shot.

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That you hired the wrong person.

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00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,520
You got to go. Hit it and quit it. You

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got to shoot. Wait a minute. Wait a

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minute.

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The light is not light.

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She

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nah mm- can't do it.

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Go over the scenes.

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How are we going to do this? Now, you

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don't have to have the answers the first

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time, but the second and third go

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through, you got to you should really

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know and not think, well, we'll get it

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on the day. We'll come to the set that

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morning. We'll figure it out.

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00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:26,319
No, no, no, no, no. That I mean, look.

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You're not ready yet to do that.

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It takes many years doing many different

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films

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to get to that point where, you know,

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we'll we'll we'll feel it when we get

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there. Okay,

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we're not at that point yet.

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Now there are some times where you get

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some inspiration like we need this. That

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happens a lot.

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That's going to happen. But that's not

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really don't depend on that.

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You know, preparation, preparation,

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preparation.

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00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,120
Many directors and camera people also

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have what you call as a lookbook. and

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they just stick pictures in there of of

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of various whatever it is they like,

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colors, composition, whatever it is that

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you could show as a visual reference of

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this is what I want.

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So,

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it's a very good tool for young

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filmmakers.

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00:07:23,759 --> 00:07:25,680
Sometimes it's hard to explain what you

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want, but if you can find a picture,

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a lot of times people just go through

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magazines, photography books, and just

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this what I want. This I want. Boom,

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boom, boom, boom.

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I think sometimes you might be too hard

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to be innovative.

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00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:46,800
I mean, let's let's start with the

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basics. Let's just just tell the story

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first and then all that [ __ ] you know?

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You'll you'll get to it down the line,

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00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,879
but let's let's do the basics first.

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Tell the story.

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Yeah. I want to have Okay. Okay. I want

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to have this shot where we come out of

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the sky and a 360. No, no, no, no. I

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don't want to do that. I want to do that

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shot from Good Fellows where they drive

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up and the steady cam shot and it's

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really

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and and they're going down through the

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the Cocaana and they go to down the

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steps through the kitchen and then

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people coming back and forth and they

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come out to the stage and they sit down

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and do the 360. That's what I want to

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do.

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00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,800
Can we get a a simple

189
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over the shoulder shot first?

190
00:08:40,479 --> 00:08:45,240
And and again, I was like that too,

191
00:08:45,279 --> 00:08:46,959
overzealous

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00:08:46,959 --> 00:08:48,720
filmmaker who wants to duplicate all

193
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these great shots that you seen but

194
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don't know how to do it yet. As my grand

195
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would say, how about crawling before you

196
00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:58,800
can walk? You're going to get to that

197
00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,080
stuff, but let's learn the basics first.

1
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:14,559
The simplest way I know of to show a

2
00:00:14,559 --> 00:00:18,000
contrast between characters

3
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,240
with cinematography is just placement of

4
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:23,840
the camera. If you want to show someone

5
00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,400
might not be strong and a little weak,

6
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,039
you shoot them from above.

7
00:00:29,039 --> 00:00:31,439
want to show someone that's powerful in

8
00:00:31,439 --> 00:00:34,000
control, you shoot them from below. So

9
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:35,840
the contrast goes, especially when you

10
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,280
have two people in the scene, one that

11
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:40,879
exerting power the other. The person

12
00:00:40,879 --> 00:00:44,320
who's like getting beat up on

13
00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,160
look down upon them. The person who's in

14
00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:47,680
control,

15
00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,879
look up. I mean, that's that's basic.

16
00:00:50,879 --> 00:00:53,199
Do the right thing. bugging out Ray

17
00:00:53,199 --> 00:00:56,160
Raheem and smiling have come into

18
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:01,199
Salman's pizzeria when Sal's was about

19
00:01:01,199 --> 00:01:05,119
to close up and all hell breaks loose.

20
00:01:05,119 --> 00:01:08,479
So, as you can see,

21
00:01:08,479 --> 00:01:13,439
not a Dutch angle, not a Chinese angle,

22
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a tilted angle.

23
00:01:16,159 --> 00:01:19,119
And any when you see this, you know.

24
00:01:19,119 --> 00:01:22,119
Uh-oh.

25
00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:26,040
Let's play it.

26
00:01:26,799 --> 00:01:28,080
What' I tell you about that?

27
00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:33,200
So now S's talking into the camera.

28
00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:38,479
So are bugging out and Ray Ron. My man,

29
00:01:38,479 --> 00:01:41,360
we miss Bill Nun so much.

30
00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,240
We're shooting up on several characters.

31
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,920
shooting down on S. We're above ey line

32
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for S.

33
00:01:50,399 --> 00:01:52,560
Danny snatches

34
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:53,759
[ __ ]

35
00:01:53,759 --> 00:01:58,680
baseball bat. Oh, we're [ __ ] now.

36
00:02:04,799 --> 00:02:07,439
Low angles on

37
00:02:07,439 --> 00:02:10,560
John Duro, you know. Now here comes the

38
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bat.

39
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,160
Boom. Boom.

40
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,440
Now there's a low right here. We want

41
00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,959
the low before the storm.

42
00:02:34,959 --> 00:02:37,280
A low. Everybody's looking around. There

43
00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:38,640
goes Martin Lawrence. This is his first

44
00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:40,400
film.

45
00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,599
Rain Raheem. People looked to do the

46
00:02:43,599 --> 00:02:45,440
right thing and were surprised when they

47
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,720
met Bill Nun in person.

48
00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,120
It's like, damn, [ __ ]

49
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,400
I thought he was 610.

50
00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,440
I mean, that's the physicality

51
00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,360
Bill Nun had. But it helped by shooting

52
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,120
him

53
00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,840
from below.

54
00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,319
Well, there's a dynamic that you get

55
00:03:12,319 --> 00:03:15,280
with the movement of camera. I mean,

56
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,080
Ernest and I, we like movement. We tried

57
00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:20,159
not to be static. Tried to have

58
00:03:20,159 --> 00:03:22,720
movement. This film is about movement.

59
00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,080
Want people moving in to the frame, away

60
00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,800
from frame, side to side. And Ernest and

61
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,120
I said that decided this is the way we

62
00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,040
should shoot it. There's a scene to do

63
00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:34,319
the right thing. We call the racial

64
00:03:34,319 --> 00:03:37,519
epitap scene. So, uh, if you look at it,

65
00:03:37,519 --> 00:03:39,599
the only static shot is the one with

66
00:03:39,599 --> 00:03:43,040
Muki. Everything else, the cameras go in

67
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:44,480
sometimes on a dolly, sometimes

68
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,680
handheld. And the last person,

69
00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,280
Samuel Jackson, he's in his chair, and

70
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:52,959
the chair comes towards the camera. And

71
00:03:52,959 --> 00:03:56,000
what we did was we tied a piece of rope

72
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,599
around the chair and had the grips pull

73
00:03:59,599 --> 00:04:02,959
the rope. And Sam came right to the

74
00:04:02,959 --> 00:04:04,560
camera.

75
00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,319
I remember one time he pulling too fast.

76
00:04:06,319 --> 00:04:08,239
He almost crashed against the the the

77
00:04:08,239 --> 00:04:10,720
the camera. So this is not the I

78
00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,000
remember this even though we shot in

79
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,599
1988.

80
00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:15,840
This is not the first take of this. So

81
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:17,759
we just felt it was appropriate. His

82
00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:19,840
characters putting a like let's cut this

83
00:04:19,840 --> 00:04:22,320
[ __ ] out. Let's stop it. Boom. Great

84
00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,800
impact. Have him come towards camera

85
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,040
again. He's come towards camera but the

86
00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,759
camera is the audience. All the this

87
00:04:29,759 --> 00:04:31,280
scene everybody's addressing the

88
00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,280
audience.

89
00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,199
Ernest and I liked to do scenes that we

90
00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:46,080
did in one take

91
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,400
where it's just not here, here, cut,

92
00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:52,639
cut, cut, cut, cut. A lot of stuff is

93
00:04:52,639 --> 00:04:55,440
really more indicative of television

94
00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,120
where he just sees like a pingpong.

95
00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:58,800
Close up, close up, close up, close up,

96
00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:00,960
close up. You know, we never wanted to

97
00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,440
do that. We were looking at a scene from

98
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:07,120
Oetta where we have uh

99
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,240
Denzel's band.

100
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:11,520
We told everybody what we wanted to do.

101
00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,440
We want to do it in one take and then we

102
00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,600
let the actors block it. I gave him a

103
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,639
little direction. So then Erns would put

104
00:05:20,639 --> 00:05:22,880
we put uh his current assistant would

105
00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,080
put piece of tape down on the floor so

106
00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:27,520
Ernest will know where he had to move

107
00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:33,520
to. also uh give the uh the focus puller

108
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,840
mark so they keep it in focus.

109
00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:40,160
Again, more better blues is before I

110
00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,280
started shooting two cameras. Now we had

111
00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,199
two cameras but still have done it in

112
00:05:47,199 --> 00:05:51,280
one take cameras like a crisscross.

113
00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:53,600
So you have to do so much of this and

114
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:55,120
this and that which is what we're going

115
00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,120
to see in this scene from Mo Better

116
00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,120
Blues.

117
00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:02,880
So now we're on Wesley.

118
00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,199
Let's talk about the money

119
00:06:05,199 --> 00:06:08,240
switch pan. All right. We know Denzel

120
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,160
and me. We're against everybody else. I

121
00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:11,039
play as manager.

122
00:06:11,039 --> 00:06:12,080
You just spoke first

123
00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,000
back and forth.

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00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:14,400
Yeah.

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00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,000
Wesley's the leader. The other they you

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00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,680
know they want to know.

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00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:18,560
Look.

128
00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,199
There you go. there again.

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00:06:21,199 --> 00:06:21,680
Right.

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00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,759
That's one group led by Shadow

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00:06:25,759 --> 00:06:28,759
Henderson.

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00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:30,400
Oh, so you went through a three shot to

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00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,039
me and Denzel, then do a closeup of

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00:06:33,039 --> 00:06:34,960
Wesley. Then Bill Nun came there right

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00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:36,000
over his shoulder.

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00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,560
Maybe we need new management, somebody

137
00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:40,560
who can get the terms we want.

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00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,560
Now closeup to Denzel. I move back. So

139
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,160
now these these are two guys at odds.

140
00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,680
Blake Gillian and Shadow Henderson.

141
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,120
It won't be long from now.

142
00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:55,600
Yeah, it won't be long from now.

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00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:57,360
Mystical, majestical day happen. You do

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00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,319
what the hell I say.

145
00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:01,360
The [ __ ] should go.

146
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:02,800
Dark Gable.

147
00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:04,400
Fine. And then I come. I came out of

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00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,680
nowhere. Now it's a two shot with

149
00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,160
you supposed to be taking.

150
00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,039
I'm the artist [ __ ] rat bastard. I

151
00:07:13,039 --> 00:07:15,840
played a manager of this band and and

152
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,280
doing a very terrible job.

153
00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:18,880
Where size have to do with you?

154
00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,080
Now we pull back.

155
00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,520
Pull back for the full shot.

156
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,039
Stuff like that is choreography between

157
00:07:29,039 --> 00:07:31,680
the actors and the camera. And you just

158
00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,720
got to keep working at it till uh you

159
00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:36,960
get it right. But when you get it right,

160
00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,759
it's still it's it's still quicker to do

161
00:07:39,759 --> 00:07:42,880
that than do it individually.

162
00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,720
break this down to separate shots on the

163
00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,039
actors. I mean, and and and it's more

164
00:07:49,039 --> 00:07:50,800
fun. It's more organic. And Ernest and I

165
00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,280
did that a lot.

166
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,240
I like having scenes where the

167
00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:03,759
characters

168
00:08:03,759 --> 00:08:08,520
address the camp. I just like it.

169
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,120
I love it.

170
00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:14,720
Now you can't do that the whole film. So

171
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,800
you have to be very

172
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,800
judicious

173
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:22,160
or where you do that. You can't I mean I

174
00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,240
want you it'll be boring to do that the

175
00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,639
whole film. But there are we don't do it

176
00:08:26,639 --> 00:08:28,879
every film though. But when I read the

177
00:08:28,879 --> 00:08:30,800
script say you know we can have somebody

178
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,360
face the camera right there. It jumps

179
00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:34,959
out to me you know where where we can do

180
00:08:34,959 --> 00:08:36,479
that.

181
00:08:36,479 --> 00:08:40,640
The next scene comes from

182
00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:45,440
my joint 25th hour. this scene

183
00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,920
where one of the most famous scenes I've

184
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,320
done, not just in this film, but in

185
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,800
general,

186
00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,000
where Edward Norton is looking into

187
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,920
a bathroom mirror and talks to himself,

188
00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,200
but he's also talking to the audience.

189
00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:08,880
So, he's talking to himself,

190
00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,800
everyone in it.

191
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,959
We shot this stuff ectochrome too.

192
00:09:12,959 --> 00:09:15,200
[ __ ] this whole city and everyone in it

193
00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:16,480
from the row houses of

194
00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:17,760
now all the different neighborhoods.

195
00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:19,440
This is all New York City right here.

196
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,000
Many different burrows.

197
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:23,839
This is what we love about New York, the

198
00:09:23,839 --> 00:09:26,080
diversity.

199
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:27,600
He's naming all the neighborhoods.

200
00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:28,880
Another thing that's very key to this

201
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,839
scene is the score.

202
00:09:31,839 --> 00:09:33,360
This

203
00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,680
scene

204
00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,200
great

205
00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,200
Terrence Blanchard

206
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,200
now. Anyone speeding up the shot at 42nd

207
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,200
Street?

208
00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:43,760
Boom.

209
00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,160
No.

210
00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,920
No. [ __ ] you. Montgomery Broen.

211
00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:51,920
You had it all and you threw it away.

212
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:53,360
You dumb [ __ ]

213
00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,200
All right. He's come to realization. It

214
00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:56,720
wasn't all those people. It wasn't the

215
00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,640
Jews. It wasn't the Koreans. It wasn't

216
00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,040
the whoever. He's saying it was me.

217
00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:04,640
Well, the reason why we shot over the

218
00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,959
shoulder is that we have this. How else

219
00:10:06,959 --> 00:10:09,200
are you going to shoot him talking to

220
00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:10,880
himself in a mirror? The camera had to

221
00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,760
be behind him. So that's an effect shot.

222
00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,000
Ronnie Ballsmeire did that effect. He's

223
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,839
done all my effect shots for a long,

224
00:10:17,839 --> 00:10:21,760
long time. So that's definitely a effect

225
00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,240
shot. It's not a double was shooting

226
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:25,920
over

227
00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,279
his head. That is Edward Norton.

228
00:10:29,279 --> 00:10:31,760
And the effect shot

229
00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,760
was placing

230
00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,240
Edward in the mirror. But then we switch

231
00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,800
up and have put the camera where the

232
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,240
mirror is. So Edward, his character

233
00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,680
Monty is facing the camera, facing the

234
00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:47,920
audience, and letting them hear this

235
00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:52,200
confession directly.

1
00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,480
Storyboard scenes are scenes where those

2
00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,240
are big production days. Those are days

3
00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:09,440
where you spend a lot of money. Those

4
00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:10,800
are days where you have extras, you have

5
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,200
effects. The first time we did that was

6
00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:14,880
the riot sequence at the end of Do the

7
00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:16,720
Right Thing. And we did the

8
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,600
assassination scene for Malcolm X. And

9
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,880
we always talk about what is the shot

10
00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,519
that's going to help us tell the story.

11
00:00:25,519 --> 00:00:27,840
What coverage do we need to help tell

12
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,960
the story? And then was really just like

13
00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,360
a road map. We know we have to do. We

14
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:34,880
know what order we're going to shoot.

15
00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:36,640
And every time we got a shot off, we

16
00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,280
would just put a X over that board. You

17
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,280
have storyboards. People don't you have

18
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:42,800
to talk just look at this. Okay, we're

19
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,960
doing this, this, this, this, this. And

20
00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,160
it just makes something very complicated

21
00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,160
simpler.

22
00:00:58,719 --> 00:01:00,879
These are the story boards for

23
00:01:00,879 --> 00:01:04,080
assassination scene in Malcolm X. Final

24
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:05,920
War assassination

25
00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:10,799
scene 199 page 177A to 179

26
00:01:10,799 --> 00:01:15,000
October 15th, 1991.

27
00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,479
Get your hand out of my pocket in my

28
00:01:18,479 --> 00:01:20,400
pocket, [ __ ] Get your hands out,

29
00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:21,600
brother. Get your hand out,

30
00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,240
brother. Please hold.

31
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,840
This is what a story looks like. And you

32
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,320
see the X's, that means that we shot

33
00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:49,200
that scene. So shoot a bore, you cross

34
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,119
it out. Now, the ones that aren't

35
00:01:51,119 --> 00:01:52,880
crossed out, those are ones that we

36
00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,079
decided we do not need. Right here on

37
00:01:56,079 --> 00:01:59,680
page five, this is where it starts. Get

38
00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,439
your hand out of my pocket. That was the

39
00:02:03,439 --> 00:02:06,799
cue. Sass would stand up, pull out a

40
00:02:06,799 --> 00:02:09,679
smoke bomb. A diversionary tactic.

41
00:02:09,679 --> 00:02:14,480
Everybody focus on him. Malcolm's guards

42
00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,400
lead the front of the stage. Go to the

43
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,040
back. See what's happening with him. The

44
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,680
assassins have free

45
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,120
access to Malcolm.

46
00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:28,239
Famous words, get your hands out of my

47
00:02:28,239 --> 00:02:32,000
pocket. That's what he said. Now this

48
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,680
chaos

49
00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,400
the shotgun. Malcolm glances at camera.

50
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,360
Cut back the shotgun blast. And then you

51
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,760
see plexiglass. So to protect the

52
00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,160
camera, plexiglass is shooting right

53
00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,239
into the camera. This is the the

54
00:02:46,239 --> 00:02:48,319
sequences where

55
00:02:48,319 --> 00:02:50,319
people being trampled crawling on the

56
00:02:50,319 --> 00:02:53,120
floor.

57
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:54,720
Whoa,

58
00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,200
look at this.

59
00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,400
This is the original plan

60
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,360
for the Auburn Ballroom when Thomas got

61
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:04,959
this production designer. this original

62
00:03:04,959 --> 00:03:07,959
plant

63
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,239
and right here

64
00:03:12,239 --> 00:03:15,360
pick up autobomb. That means that from

65
00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,680
here on it's exterior shots at the real

66
00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,239
autobond. In fact, we have a shot a

67
00:03:22,239 --> 00:03:24,720
double cut where they're coming through

68
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,200
the doors. So all this stuff at the

69
00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:30,959
Autobon Ballroom, I I didn't need a

70
00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:32,959
story board because it was just come

71
00:03:32,959 --> 00:03:36,640
through the doors. We put Malcolm Denzel

72
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,920
on a stretch and just run

73
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,040
across the street.

74
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,799
So again, this is the

75
00:03:46,799 --> 00:03:51,480
the storyboards for the assassination.

1
00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,800
You have to put the work in. Especially

2
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:14,799
young directors.

3
00:00:14,799 --> 00:00:18,320
The crew you have, they're watching you.

4
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,560
And the if your crew sees that you're

5
00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,880
not dedicated,

6
00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,640
they just [ __ ] around.

7
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,080
The crew says, "Fuck it. We're not going

8
00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:29,679
to work. We're not We're not working

9
00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:31,519
hard either.

10
00:00:31,519 --> 00:00:34,320
You show up late,

11
00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,719
that's the green light.

12
00:00:36,719 --> 00:00:39,360
That's the green light. You show up late

13
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,280
to your own

14
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:42,960
set,

15
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,520
it's hard to win the respect of the crew

16
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,079
after that.

17
00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:49,440
Then it becomes for them. It's just a

18
00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:51,360
check.

19
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,879
They gonna do their job, but

20
00:00:54,879 --> 00:00:58,719
putting an extra extra effort.

21
00:00:58,719 --> 00:01:02,199
Nah, son.

22
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:08,799
I've seen it again and again and again.

23
00:01:08,799 --> 00:01:12,320
Because you need your crew. You can't do

24
00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,640
it by yourself.

25
00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,000
You need your crew

26
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,560
and you need them

27
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,880
to put in extra effort and they see that

28
00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,280
you're dedicated, you're about to work,

29
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:26,720
you hire the right people, you know,

30
00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,520
they will go above and beyond

31
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:33,600
their job to to get you that shot that

32
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,759
you need.

33
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,200
What I've done when everybody gets to

34
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:42,799
the set, you know, gets something to

35
00:01:42,799 --> 00:01:46,320
eat, then we're going to talk about what

36
00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:49,119
we're going to do the whole day. It's

37
00:01:49,119 --> 00:01:53,520
myself, my camera person, the first ad,

38
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:55,040
the key grip in the gap, and the

39
00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:56,880
scripts.

40
00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,399
So, I don't want anybody telling me what

41
00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:02,560
are we shooting.

42
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:04,880
Every day we come to the set and we know

43
00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:06,560
what we're doing. We know which

44
00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,119
direction we're going to shoot. If we

45
00:02:09,119 --> 00:02:10,959
have a crane or steady cam, we know

46
00:02:10,959 --> 00:02:13,280
where that works.

47
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,599
How many times have crews had to stop

48
00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:18,640
shooting? Because

49
00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:20,959
the trucks

50
00:02:20,959 --> 00:02:22,239
at the beginning of the day were parked

51
00:02:22,239 --> 00:02:24,400
in the shot.

52
00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,720
If I'm shooting here, why is the

53
00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:28,480
[ __ ] grip truck right in the

54
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,480
shot?

55
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:33,440
We're shooting this way. You were told,

56
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,120
we told AD, we told Parkin,

57
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,519
why is the truck, why is the truck in a

58
00:02:39,519 --> 00:02:41,120
shot?

59
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:42,879
It happened a lot on on He got game.

60
00:02:42,879 --> 00:02:45,040
We're shooting Coney Island. Every every

61
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:46,319
time we're shooting, the [ __ ] trucks

62
00:02:46,319 --> 00:02:48,800
are in the shot.

63
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,360
Now,

64
00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,200
in defense of the trucks,

65
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,280
they're told by the Grips Electrics,

66
00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,040
they want to have their equipment as

67
00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,680
close to as possible.

68
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,400
So when to pull stuff off, it's not five

69
00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,319
miles away.

70
00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:07,840
So when there's a breakdown of

71
00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:09,760
communication, you know, it it really

72
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,959
really jam you up.

73
00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:15,840
That's why

74
00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:17,760
pre-pro is so crucial. That's why we

75
00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,560
have tech scouts.

76
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,680
On tech scouts, we talk about one of the

77
00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,040
main questions on the tech scout is

78
00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,319
where can we park the trucks?

79
00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:33,360
the teams to captain.

80
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,680
Where can we park the trucks?

81
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,760
But if you if you if you haven't been to

82
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,480
that location beforehand and you say, "I

83
00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,599
don't know.

84
00:03:45,599 --> 00:03:48,239
Haven't decided yet." So when that day

85
00:03:48,239 --> 00:03:51,599
comes to shoot,

86
00:03:51,599 --> 00:03:54,560
the the trucks are in the shop because

87
00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:56,480
no one you you you directed and tell

88
00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,280
them where they could park.

89
00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,200
and just having trucks park. When they

90
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,760
park, they're taking equipment off. So,

91
00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:07,680
just the fact that you got to move the

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trucks again, that could be another

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hour.

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00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:16,479
That stuff adds up and that's an hour

95
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out of your day.

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And it's been my experience that it

97
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makes today run a lot smoother if people

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know what the [ __ ] is going on.

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00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:30,800
Here we go. Pictures up.

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He's going to triple roll sound on

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camera.

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00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,639
Take one.

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00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,000
One of my pet peeves are phones. Shows

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utmost disrespect for the actors

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00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,240
when phones ring or buzz. When the

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camera's rolling, that's really to me a

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sacred moment when you hear nothing but

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the actors.

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Nothing falling, no [ __ ] being kicked

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around, no people talking.

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If you're talking,

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then then you need to go somewhere else.

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The actors there to work. They work hard

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and people

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crew members need to respect their

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craft.

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So when I started doing films,

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the unions

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had been historically against people of

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color and women. So I had to do battles

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with the unions

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to have diverse crews. I mean I I it

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would have been

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it would not have been a good look

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to me have all white crews. I mean how

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was I helping move everything forward?

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You know we and we had to fight. for

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example,

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Malcolm X.

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I'm not going to mention his name,

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but you know, it was time to hire the

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teamsters. And I said, "You have any

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black teamsters?" You know, they said,

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"No."

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So, all right. Then, the Fruit of Islam

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is driving the trucks. If you want to

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come down to the set and talk to the

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fruit, you're welcome to. Next day, they

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found four

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black teamesters.

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00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,400
I don't know where they came from,

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abadabra, but I was told we they I was

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told they didn't have any black

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teamsters.

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00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:48,080
But I said, come, you know, talk to the

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fruit. They don't want to do that.

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00:06:51,919 --> 00:06:54,880
But I had to have the mindset that I

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don't care what you guys do to unions,

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00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,199
you know, we got to I know what you guys

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been doing for years and years and

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years.

152
00:07:03,039 --> 00:07:04,400
I mean, you look at these unions, they

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got three generations

154
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,080
of people working on the film industry

155
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,520
and we couldn't get in.

156
00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,759
So, we had to fight those battles a lot.

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All the unions,

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00:07:19,759 --> 00:07:21,120
you know, and they come all type of

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shenanigans and all this other stuff why

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they can't, you know, we can't find

161
00:07:24,639 --> 00:07:27,919
anybody. All right.

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00:07:27,919 --> 00:07:29,919
Boom. Here they are. They want to get in

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the union.

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00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,319
So that was that was a big battle. So

165
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that that battle, you know, it still

166
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continues.

167
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But it takes somebody to stand up, you

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00:07:41,759 --> 00:07:44,560
know, because you got to ask for that.

169
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You got to demand it cuz you don't

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demand it, they they're going to do what

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they want to do and keep things status

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quo. You know, we weren't going for

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that.

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Not at all. Nah, son.

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not having it.

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Not having it. You know, this this thing

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has got to change. And if you're a

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position in power where you could

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dictate who you're hiring and who you're

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not hiring, and you don't use that

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power, then then then what's it for?

1
00:00:07,279 --> 00:00:09,679
Muki is not to be trusted. I trust Muki.

2
00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,960
You know, no m can be trusted. The first

3
00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,759
time you turn your back, boom. A spear

4
00:00:15,759 --> 00:00:17,520
right here, man. In the back.

5
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,840
Yeah. How do you know this?

6
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,080
I know. How do you know, man?

7
00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:24,560
I know. I read. Give me a break, P. I

8
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:25,680
never seen you in nothing in your

9
00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,480
[ __ ] life. Read your history. It's

10
00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,359
historical. Work

11
00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,200
for actors can be intimidating. It was

12
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,680
for me. I didn't really know how to talk

13
00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,840
to actors till

14
00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:43,680
do the right thing. And in fact, during

15
00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,039
school days, me and Fishburn, Lawrence

16
00:00:47,039 --> 00:00:48,960
Fishburn used to get out get into it all

17
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,039
the time. And and he was right because

18
00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:53,680
come on, he worked how many years we in

19
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,879
the jungle friends for a couple now. So,

20
00:00:56,879 --> 00:00:58,160
I didn't see it at first, but he was

21
00:00:58,160 --> 00:00:59,199
just trying to tell me that, you know,

22
00:00:59,199 --> 00:01:00,960
you got to know how to speak to actors.

23
00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,399
I just thought he was being, you know,

24
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an [ __ ] but he wasn't. He was trying

25
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to teach me.

26
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He was trying to pull my, you know, you

27
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know, yo, yo, yo, let me tell you this.

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A lot of times I don't want to hear it,

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but he was right.

30
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So, you and and you have to really,

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really

32
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,360
able to to talk to your actors.

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00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,200
And this has to happen early. That thing

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has to happen

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00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,200
during

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pre-production, during rehearsal. You

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00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,200
have to listen to actors have to listen

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to what they're saying. They're the ones

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in front of the camera. They're the ones

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doing the work.

41
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:39,759
And you have to respect the art form. I

42
00:01:39,759 --> 00:01:40,880
mean, you have to have respect for

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actors. So, they're doing great work.

44
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:44,960
You know, they want to hear it. You got

45
00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:46,880
to tell me, great job. Great job. Not

46
00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:48,640
not say it like some [ __ ] way, but

47
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,640
like really say it with meaning. And

48
00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,200
that could go a long way.

49
00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:56,479
It doesn't have to be right behind the

50
00:01:56,479 --> 00:01:57,759
set at that moment, but at the end of

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the day, you know, you go like, "Yo, yo,

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00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:00,799
come here. Come here a second. Yo, you

53
00:02:00,799 --> 00:02:02,719
just you did work today. You did work."

54
00:02:02,719 --> 00:02:05,439
You know, that goes a long way to know

55
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that they're appreciated. That

56
00:02:07,439 --> 00:02:09,679
especially might be critical. I'm not

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going to just yell that out to

58
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everybody. So, you know, you go to them,

59
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,920
call cut, and pull them aside, and you

60
00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:18,640
have a one-on-one conversation.

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00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:21,840
You know, he'll be like, "That's cut.

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00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,560
That's terrible. Oh my god. No, you're

63
00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,879
not going to do that. You do that, you

64
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lost the actor.

65
00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,360
They're I mean, they're gone. They're

66
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:35,360
going to mail in after that. No one

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likes to be embarrassed. No one likes to

68
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be embarrassed in front of

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a full crew. You just don't do that.

70
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In many ways there are a lot of

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similarities between

72
00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:57,599
a film director,

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00:02:57,599 --> 00:02:59,760
a football coach, basketball coach or

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00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:01,840
manager in baseball.

75
00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,319
The same way not all players the same.

76
00:03:04,319 --> 00:03:06,640
The same way not all actors the same.

77
00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:10,080
And so it is your job to see

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00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,319
what can you do to get the best

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performance out of your player or your

80
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,680
actor. Not everybody responds to the

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00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,319
same stuff.

82
00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:25,519
Some people you got to get in their ass.

83
00:03:25,519 --> 00:03:28,000
Other people, you know, they can't take

84
00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,599
that type of stuff. So you have to be

85
00:03:29,599 --> 00:03:33,360
you got to you but you have to find out

86
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,680
quickly because a lot of times this is

87
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:37,040
the first time you're working with these

88
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:38,560
people

89
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what do they do best

90
00:03:41,519 --> 00:03:44,159
and many case that means go watch their

91
00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:46,480
past works look at their films they've

92
00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,080
done in the past it's very important

93
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:51,840
that

94
00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,640
if there's something in the script where

95
00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,200
there might be some

96
00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:58,959
difference

97
00:03:58,959 --> 00:04:01,280
between the director and actor that that

98
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:06,400
difference be worked out in rehearsal.

99
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,360
If you don't work out in rehearsal,

100
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,000
you can bet the house that [ __ ] is going

101
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,319
to come up

102
00:04:14,319 --> 00:04:16,799
on the set

103
00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:19,919
in front of a whole crew

104
00:04:19,919 --> 00:04:23,360
and the the ads have everybody clear the

105
00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,360
set.

106
00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:30,560
So

107
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,520
even though it might be painful,

108
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,840
even though you might be hesitant to

109
00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:39,040
address it,

110
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,560
talk about any issues

111
00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,800
that might come up because

112
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,160
lo and behold, when you least expect it,

113
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,479
it's going to reveal itself

114
00:04:52,479 --> 00:04:54,320
while you're shooting. And you want to

115
00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,880
get that stuff done before the cameras

116
00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,880
roll.

117
00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:07,600
Well, the easiest thing a director to do

118
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,000
to get a better performance is do more

119
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000
takes.

120
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,880
Do more takes.

121
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,240
And you have the greatest actors ever.

122
00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,199
And there might be a scene where

123
00:05:23,199 --> 00:05:26,240
it's not what you want. Actors aren't

124
00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:27,759
robots.

125
00:05:27,759 --> 00:05:29,199
They're not going to hit out of the park

126
00:05:29,199 --> 00:05:31,280
every every single single scene. So, you

127
00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:33,520
just have to have patience. Some might

128
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,680
be great in the first take. Others might

129
00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,320
be you got to go takes eight, nine, 10.

130
00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,479
So, pretty soon you understand

131
00:05:42,479 --> 00:05:44,240
who's going to hit it early and who's

132
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,199
going to get it later. So, you have to

133
00:05:47,199 --> 00:05:49,840
just keep that in mind. I mean, I I

134
00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:52,080
mean, no disrespect to other directors,

135
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,720
but I'm not going to do 80 takes.

136
00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,039
Can't do it. Don't really have the

137
00:05:57,039 --> 00:05:59,520
budget to do that. There have been many

138
00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,360
instances where I know we got it and act

139
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,080
as one more. I give it to him.

140
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,080
They won

141
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,639
one or two. After that, we got to go.

142
00:06:10,639 --> 00:06:12,960
Look, we got it. We got we got to move

143
00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,800
on next shot. And but but by we got it,

144
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,680
we got it. We got it. But I wanted All

145
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,240
right, one more

146
00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,759
and that's it. We got to go.

147
00:06:25,759 --> 00:06:28,800
And if you and if you do that,

148
00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,440
actors love that.

149
00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,280
But you know, they they could do it.

150
00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:37,039
They came doing every single take. I

151
00:06:37,039 --> 00:06:38,880
mean, every single scene. So you you got

152
00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:44,039
to you know let them know

153
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,319
there's some type of phenomena I can't

154
00:06:46,319 --> 00:06:48,960
describe it where reading your script

155
00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:52,240
that you wrote and then hearing actors

156
00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,960
say the lines it is totally different.

157
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,720
I would suggest you have readings of

158
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:09,039
your screenplay before you shoot.

159
00:07:09,039 --> 00:07:12,639
For me, the first time I ever hear the

160
00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:15,039
words is during auditions when actors

161
00:07:15,039 --> 00:07:16,880
are

162
00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,199
I hear the words of the scenes that I

163
00:07:19,199 --> 00:07:21,360
wrote.

164
00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,919
But the first big rewriting event for me

165
00:07:25,919 --> 00:07:28,800
is after the read through

166
00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,120
because this is where the read through

167
00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,440
your cast

168
00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,639
and the people you cast were reading the

169
00:07:36,639 --> 00:07:40,319
lines. Now I ask the actors don't act

170
00:07:40,319 --> 00:07:42,080
just say the say the words because this

171
00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:43,280
first time hear them. I don't want to

172
00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,840
hear acting. I just want to hear the

173
00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,880
words as written. How does it sound when

174
00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:50,800
I'm when I'm listening to the words the

175
00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,360
first time in the cast read through? I'm

176
00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,840
listening how the words sound. Does it

177
00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,639
make sense where written?

178
00:07:58,639 --> 00:08:01,919
Is there a line I thought was funny?

179
00:08:01,919 --> 00:08:04,800
Does no one's laughing?

180
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:06,720
Conversely, there's people laughing at a

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line I think was funny. So, you find all

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that stuff out and do break into groups.

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You know, you really don't want or one

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actor

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alone

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the whole time, maybe the first couple

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days, but you want actors who are in the

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the specific scenes to be in the groups.

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We just break down into groups and uh go

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through the

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material.

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You're looking out your window and the

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man is OD.

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What did I tell you about drinking in

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front of my stoop?

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Move on now. You're blocking my view.

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You're ugly enough. Don't stare at me.

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You should really be like harder on it.

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Right away from the beginning and then

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as the film goes on, we see you warming

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up

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where at the end of the film where the

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end of the film you're together right

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here. This is the first time you both

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you're like

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you're really giving it to him.

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Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I can tell. Yo, drunk.

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What did I tell you about drinking in

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front of my stoop? Move on. You're

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blocking my view.

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You ugly enough. Don't stare at me. A

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lot of times we don't get to to the text

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till later. We're just talking

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by anything, you know, just to get

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people be familiar with with each other.

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Then we had like two week rehearsals.

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The last week is when we really get down

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to uh try to be committed to what's on

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the page and that type of stuff.

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Sometimes we're lucky we get to rehearse

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on on the set. They're about to shoot.

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That's that's that's really good. Actors

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love that.

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What I try to do is get a feeling of

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family. So, you know, we might be going

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out to dinners to death to have dinners

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together for inside manner. We watched a

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whole lot of films. We must have watched

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Dog the Afternoon. The great the

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greatest heist. I mean the great I mean

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that film

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directed by the late great Sen Lament

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Pacino. We watched that three or four

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times. I mean that

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just doing those little things can can

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go a long long way. And that that will

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doing stuff like that will have actors

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not complain when you when you're going

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over for the long night

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because you you laid the groundwork

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already.

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And so you just want to get a sense

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where people feel connected, the family,

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and like we're all in this together. So

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let's let's let's make the most of it.

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He got game the original handwritten

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leather bound

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first

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draft screenplay.

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I wrote this one quick. You got game

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Original

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00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,320
screenplay by Spike Lee.

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48 Acres of Mule Filmworks Inc. First

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draft

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started March 1st,

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1997.

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Completed March 2nd,

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1997. So it was a quick one.

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I saw he game is a film about a unique

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father son relationship

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and I wrote it for Denzel

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and I tell him I was writing it

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and the original screenplay there was

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every every almost every character's

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name came from the Bible.

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In fact, they sent Denzel out here for a

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while. I said, "Did you read it or

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what?" Because I didn't even tell him I

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was sending it. And then he called me

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and said, "Spike."

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He again, "That's you." Said, "Yeah." He

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said, "You wrote that?" "Yeah, it says

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he got a game screen me." Said, "He

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wrote that, Dan? I wrote it. I wrote it.

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I wrote it." So he said, "I like it. I

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like it." But you got too many biblical

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names. You got a priest. I mean,

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everybody was from the Bible. And uh

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but I said, "Yo, we got to keep the

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father and the son. The son, his name

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got to be Jesus." All right.

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So people don't know this. Denzel

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Washington played junior varsity at Form

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University. So Denzel's always thought

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he could ball.

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00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,040
Even today, he still thinks he could

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ball.

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But Ray Allen didn't notice.

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So, one of the most talked about

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scenes in he game

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is the one-on-one game between father

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and son Jake

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00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:29,680
Shellsworth versus his phenom son Jesus.

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00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:31,599
Let me find this. Let me just find

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00:02:31,599 --> 00:02:33,200
something. Give me one sec. I got to

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find something.

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00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:42,800
All right, here it is.

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00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,680
In this first draft,

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00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:50,360
Denzel's character was not called

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Jake. His name was Priest. The first

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draft, this character's name Priest.

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00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:00,879
Said, "No, Spike, I'm not I'm going to

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change that." So, I changed it to Jake.

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00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:06,800
So, this the final confrontational

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scene.

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ankle court.

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This is Jake speaking. So, here we are

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adjustment day. You and me, priest and

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Jesus, father and son.

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Jesus doesn't say a word. Keeps

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shooting.

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Talk to me, son. Jesus keeps shooting.

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00:03:26,239 --> 00:03:29,120
Priest pulls out letter and 10. I can't

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ask you to get me anymore. I'll play a

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game of 101. First man who scores 11

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basket wins. I win, you sign, you win. I

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tear it up. You never hear from me

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00:03:39,599 --> 00:03:42,799
again. I go back to Attica.

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Is that what you want anyway?

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Well,

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in the script,

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Jesus is supposed to beat his father 11

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zip.

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Denzel never told me, but Denzel like,

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"Hell the [ __ ] no. I'm scoring at least

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00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,000
one basket on this [ __ ]

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00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,040
So this is Ray's first film. He's like,

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00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,480
"Look, the script says I got to win 11

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00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,799
nothing. So I gotta win."

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00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:22,000
So Ray Allen, Jesus, gave the ball

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to his father. You had the ball first.

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So Denzel threw some lucky [ __ ] and went

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in.

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And then he's throwing a [ __ ] and

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it's going in.

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And and then

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uh Ray's coach is screaming, "Ray, Ray,

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what are you doing?" And finally,

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00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,680
Rail says, "Hold up, time out." He Ray

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doesn't even say cut. He says, "Time

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out."

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He says, "Spike, what's happening? I'm

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00:04:51,919 --> 00:04:53,520
supposed to win. My car is supposed to

99
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,040
win 11 zip." I'm like, "Yo, what what

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00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,520
can I tell you?"

101
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,639
Danzo's laughing.

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00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:06,800
and Ray was like, "All right, [ __ ] that.

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You're not scoring another basket." And

104
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that's what you saw,

105
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but for Denzel,

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it was a victory. And

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dramatically, it was better, too. It was

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better his character to score four,

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four, five baskets to get crushed by his

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son. But that's when those accidents it

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wasn't accident planned that but he did

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not tell me

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or Ray [ __ ] with Spike wrote I'm not

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losing 11 zip I'm scoring at least one

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basket

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and the fact that the first shot went in

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we were all like oh [ __ ]

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I'm not a writer director that every

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single word that I write has to be said.

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A lot of times uh I've had instances

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where people have uh

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take my written

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and made it put the words in way that

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came better out their mouth and and and

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I was fine as long as you know we get

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what we want. Doesn't have to be like I

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had to write that. And as far as improv

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goes,

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one thing I have to learn early on is

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that not every actor can possesses the

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the improv skill.

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So I think that

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as a director, you should find out in

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the rehearsal process

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who can improv. Improv should be

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involved in rehearsal

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process anyway. And then there you go

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find out who could do what. Some people

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just like on the basketball team, the

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coach is going to give the some players

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a green light. Some players got a pass

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because they don't they don't have it.

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It's the same thing. And

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and actors know what they cannot do.

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Well,

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00:07:15,199 --> 00:07:18,639
School Days was my second film

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and it was a location film,

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meaning it was not shot in New York, LA,

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where most actors live.

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There are many people in the film

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00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:33,280
that school days be their first location

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00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:34,960
film.

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00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,360
And on location,

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00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,800
actors can become very

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00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,440
chummy, very friendly. And for this

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00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,720
film, I needed a vision.

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The vision was divided into two groups,

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00:07:51,759 --> 00:07:56,840
the wannabes and the Jigaboos.

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00:07:59,039 --> 00:08:01,520
So,

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I had a hunch that

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00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,440
that when we got there, everybody wanted

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00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,599
to be friends and and the the first film

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00:08:07,599 --> 00:08:11,759
away, everybody in the same hotel,

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00:08:11,759 --> 00:08:13,280
shenanigans, all that stuff. And we're

165
00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,280
not having that.

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00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:20,160
So, I found a very good hotel for the

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00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,039
wannabes

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00:08:23,039 --> 00:08:29,000
and a subgrade hotel for the Jigaboos.

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00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:32,959
So, right then and there

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00:08:32,959 --> 00:08:35,120
there was the vision

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which

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00:08:37,039 --> 00:08:38,719
I will say that would not have happened

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if everybody been living in the same

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00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,080
hotel.

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00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:47,760
In fact, there's a step show in the film

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00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,640
where a

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00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,320
a Donny Brook breaks out.

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00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,440
A bruhaha.

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00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,640
So, the fellas are doing their step and

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they're coming off stage and all the

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00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:04,800
time they're doing it, they're being

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00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:10,240
taunted by the gamma rays and G5G.

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00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:11,680
So they're going off the stage and

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00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:15,920
Brandon Marcelus, my man, grabs Tisha

185
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,440
Campbell's head about like that. And

186
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,440
that's when

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00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,399
[ __ ] went bananas. So they were earners.

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00:09:24,399 --> 00:09:26,560
I said, "Don't cut the camera. Keep

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00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:29,040
rolling." I said, "Keep rolling. Keep

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00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:31,680
rolling. Keep rolling."

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00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:33,440
And so

192
00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,120
after I had to call cut cuz I want him

193
00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,600
to get hurt, but it was for real. And

194
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:39,839
that was a division that that I put in

195
00:09:39,839 --> 00:09:42,000
place by having a two separate hotel

196
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,959
rooms. But you need it for the film. If

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00:09:44,959 --> 00:09:47,680
if if everybody is in the same hotel

198
00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:50,399
also, these were young actors. So they

199
00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:52,640
had the they would have the experience

200
00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,279
to make to make the difference between

201
00:09:55,279 --> 00:09:58,000
what we do

202
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,320
after we rap and when the cameras

203
00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,560
rolling,

204
00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:05,600
you know, hop knob, all that stuff after

205
00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,040
we rap, hanging out, partying. And then

206
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:08,640
when the cameras going, that's going to

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00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,000
they're young actors. They had a lot of

208
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:13,120
them this their first film. So

209
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that could not happen. And it didn't

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happen.

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One of my favorite parts

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of doing my joints is the opening credit

3
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sequence.

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I think long and hard

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what is going to be.

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I think it's a very important part of

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the film because there's time for the

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audience to get their mind right into

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what they're about to see. to get them

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in the mood

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to let them get in tune what what you're

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about to see sitting in the dark the

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next two hours.

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So somehow

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through the use of color,

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music, definitely music, graphics,

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the audience is getting settled and

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hopefully get themselves up to witness

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what you're doing.

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And so for more better blues, I decided

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that

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we should look at

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Blue Note album covers and the jazz

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photographs of uh the great William

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Claxton. In fact, I have a print of this

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photograph of Chad Baker.

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Those are inspirations for this and I

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told that uh Randy Bossmire and we did

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it. Let's roll the piece. Opening

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credits of Moetta.

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We shot the opening credit sequence with

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the actors. We filmed Denzel Washington

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Malle Gilliam

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with his two loves,

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the different lights, the yellow, the

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pinkish,

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the blue.

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So, you know, this going to be some

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sexy, stylish

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[ __ ]

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Beautiful photography.

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Look at that silhouette. You don't even

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see Denzel's face, just the hat.

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It's just dope.

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Now, the full orchestra comes in here.

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The music is a composition composed by

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my father, Bill Lee.

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That's my father's score.

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That's the score they're playing right

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there.

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Central musical. So, we've set that up

52
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already. It's not just putting up who's

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in the [ __ ] movie,

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00:03:02,239 --> 00:03:03,840
you know? It has to be more than that

55
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for me.

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The opening credit sequence of 25th

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hour.

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The idea for this opening credit

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sequence came very late.

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I read a newspaper

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that a company had stalled massive

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lights to go on at night to show where

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the two World Trade Center towers were.

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00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:42,959
And there was a this is right before we

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began to shoot the film and it's like a

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00:03:44,799 --> 00:03:47,599
couple days we just caught it. So we got

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their permission, start a shoot before

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it got dark and then we found position

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in Brooklyn that can see Manhattan, the

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lower Manhattan skyline going up.

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Music composed by Terrence Blanchard.

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00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,439
We did the score for this film with Air

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Studios in London. Talking to Terrence,

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I said that

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we wanted a big sound.

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We want to have elements of Irish music

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because Monty Broen character played by

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Edwin Norton. They're Irish, Irish

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American, fathers of firemen. But also I

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said Terren, you know, we have to have

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the feeling of loss, too. So, and again,

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this film, 25th hour, takes place in a

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post 911 New York City, a city of 8

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million people, 8 and a half million

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people. We're all at the

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depths of the lowest you can be. Now, we

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quiet down

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00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,280
because we're going to see the light

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being turned off,

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fade out.

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So,

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this is not going to be a happy film.

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We clue the audience in.

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00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:11,120
You know, we're going to deal with some

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deep [ __ ] here. Some deep, deep [ __ ]

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It's not a happy film.

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00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,199
Hello, my fellow Americans.

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00:05:26,479 --> 00:05:28,720
They say we may have lost the battle,

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but we didn't lose the war.

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00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:35,520
Yes, my friends, we are under attack.

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00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:37,120
You may have read about this in your

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local newspapers or seen it on the

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evening news. That's right. We are

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living in an era marked by the spread of

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integration and misogynation.

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The Brown decision.

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The Brown decision

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forced upon us by the Jewish controlled

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puppets on the US Supreme Court

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compelling white children to go to

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school with an inferior race.

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Kevin Wilmont and I wanted to come up

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with like a PSA that might been done by

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a a racist, bigoted so-called professor,

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a doctor in black and white. And we

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00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,840
thought about

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00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:26,000
looking at

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documentary footage,

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George Wallace

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when they when they're making speeches.

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Bull Connor,

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that crazy governor of Minnesota, that

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crazy governor of Mississippi, that

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governor of Arkansas when with the and

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little the time the Little Rock thing

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was happening and you know

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that would work.

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Now the Wind was re-released when I was

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third or fourth grade

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and that was a class trip.

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We went to see G with the Wind

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and uh my our art teacher

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did not set it up for the class, put it

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put in context.

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Now I remember first of all I'm not

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going to lie. I was happy to go anytime

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class trips.

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That's not even like going to school

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where we go to the Bronx Zoo museums. I

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always love class trips, but in

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hindsight, I wish my professor, not

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00:07:35,039 --> 00:07:37,680
professor, this is elementary school,

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but I wish my teacher

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had set has set up somewhat. I mean,

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look, look, we're in third, fourth

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grade. We don't know anything. I wish

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the teacher would have taken the time

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because I wasn't the only black kid in

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00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,280
the class to just like give us some

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00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,160
context what we were seeing

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00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:00,400
cuz I remember like was yesterday

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00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:02,560
how I felt

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00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,240
watching imagery in that film

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00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,000
particularly

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00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,120
of butterfly McQueen.

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I don't know about nothing but burn no

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babies

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and had McDaniel.

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00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,960
I did not feel good and my black

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00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:22,479
classmates we weren't feeling good at

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all. There's a famous quote by Had

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McDaniel which she had McDaniel which

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00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,199
she later said is better playing maid

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than being made.

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But we're third or fourth grade. All we

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00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,800
see are these black people acting like

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fools.

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00:08:39,599 --> 00:08:43,360
Even after the next day,

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00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,279
there was discussion about it. But but

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the black students, we were just too

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embarrassed to even

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talk about how we felt and to teach and

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00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:56,480
not talk about imagery in that because

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we knew that

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00:08:59,839 --> 00:09:03,959
we wanted to begin this with

176
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,560
considered one of the greatest cinematic

177
00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:10,399
shots in the history of cinema.

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00:09:10,399 --> 00:09:14,600
that scene

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00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,000
that we open the film with from Gone

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00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:22,240
with the Wind with Scarlet Har

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00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,720
walking away through

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00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:27,279
I think it was Atlanta train station

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00:09:27,279 --> 00:09:29,680
where we see thousands of uh wounded and

184
00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:32,560
dead Confederate soldiers. So it begins

185
00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:36,399
like a a tight shot in Scarlet and it

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00:09:36,399 --> 00:09:38,560
just keeps going and the crane's on

187
00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,440
tracks and it keeps going and then as

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00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:43,519
the crane

189
00:09:43,519 --> 00:09:46,640
begins to land on the as they say in

190
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,839
industry on on two one is where it

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00:09:49,839 --> 00:09:53,839
starts, two is where it ends. a tattered

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00:09:53,839 --> 00:09:57,440
flag, the stars and bars into a frame.

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00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,440
The opening credit sequence is where you

194
00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,640
have to grab your audience's attention

195
00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,560
from the get that whatever you show the

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00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:13,600
imagery, the music, the tempo.

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00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,240
It gets them into what I would say get

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00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:19,600
their mind right.

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00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,000
I saw that early on from the open

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courtesy of James Bond

201
00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,600
which I was a kid.

202
00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:29,519
Dr. No,

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Thunderbird from Wal Love.

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Man, that [ __ ] was dope. So all this

205
00:10:35,519 --> 00:10:37,279
thing, please don't think that this

206
00:10:37,279 --> 00:10:39,519
stuff is haphazard.

207
00:10:39,519 --> 00:10:42,320
All this stuff is thought out. It's

208
00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:43,839
planned.

209
00:10:43,839 --> 00:10:47,360
And not just me, the great editor Barry

210
00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:49,600
Alexander Brown who cut for me school

211
00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:53,200
days do the right thing. Malcolm X in

212
00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:57,920
this film. Chase Irwin young powerful

213
00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,920
cinematographer.

214
00:11:00,959 --> 00:11:04,480
Terrence Blanchard. The score. It may

215
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,640
look easy,

216
00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,600
but this [ __ ] is hard as a [ __ ]

217
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:11,680
Don't let anybody

218
00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:15,839
to make a bad film is hard, not alone a

219
00:11:15,839 --> 00:11:17,920
great film.

220
00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:19,760
Just because the mystique of cinema,

221
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:21,279
people just think that people just show

222
00:11:21,279 --> 00:11:24,079
up and do what they do. It doesn't

223
00:11:24,079 --> 00:11:27,480
happen like that.

1
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,120
Once a score particular great score is

2
00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:13,440
added what you have it just elevates

3
00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,679
everything everything if you work with

4
00:00:15,679 --> 00:00:17,600
that that type of composer could do

5
00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,960
that. I understood very early on how

6
00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,039
music could be just as important help

7
00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:26,320
tell a story as any other categories. I

8
00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,320
pay a lot of attention to music and how

9
00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,360
it could be used. I mean, it's not just

10
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,960
going to Billboard and taking a top 10

11
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,040
songs and slap them in there. I mean,

12
00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,280
that's

13
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,239
that's not what we do.

14
00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,840
I've always always always always

15
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:58,079
worked closely with my composers

16
00:00:58,079 --> 00:01:02,640
and uh I just never can understand why a

17
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,680
director could shoot a film everything's

18
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:07,360
done the last minute like oh let's get a

19
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,159
composer now I I don't know how that

20
00:01:10,159 --> 00:01:12,960
works people got their own way to work I

21
00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:14,799
understand that but to bring a composer

22
00:01:14,799 --> 00:01:17,920
the last in it. To me, that shows a

23
00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,759
disrespect to the music. Not necessarily

24
00:01:21,759 --> 00:01:24,400
that composer, but the importance. If

25
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,360
you bring in a composer at the last

26
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:28,880
minute after everything else done, the

27
00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,000
pictures cut all the other stuff, then

28
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,680
that says a sign to me like you don't

29
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,640
really think music can do anything. I

30
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,799
like the bring of my composers

31
00:01:40,799 --> 00:01:43,840
early on

32
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,360
with Terrence Blanchard.

33
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:49,200
He's getting cut scenes. As soon as we

34
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,000
have scenes cut,

35
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,439
he's getting I'm sending him scene. So,

36
00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:57,520
let me let me let me demonstrate for you

37
00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:59,840
how we do it.

38
00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,240
How I' I've done it with Bruce Hornsby

39
00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,159
and Terrence. Not necessarily my not

40
00:02:04,159 --> 00:02:07,360
necessarily my father. I I'm sending

41
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:08,879
Bruce

42
00:02:08,879 --> 00:02:11,599
and Terren Blanchard

43
00:02:11,599 --> 00:02:13,599
cut scenes.

44
00:02:13,599 --> 00:02:15,360
So they got first of all they get the

45
00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,000
script right away

46
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,200
and early on we talk about

47
00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,640
what are the colors going to be. When

48
00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:26,319
composers say colors they're talking

49
00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:29,599
about what instruments

50
00:02:29,599 --> 00:02:31,840
different instruments give you different

51
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,400
colors.

52
00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:36,319
So

53
00:02:36,319 --> 00:02:38,800
then

54
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,160
I invite the composers to New York,

55
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,959
Terrence, New Orleans, Bruce's Virginia,

56
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come up and watch the first cut.

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Then after they see the first cut, then

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we go back to edit room. And now this is

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very crucial part of the process. It's

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called spotting.

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This is where the director sits down

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with the composer. Back in the day was

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on Avid. No, no, excuse me. Back in the

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day was on a steam bag, now in Avid.

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I sit down with my composer and I tell

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him where I want the music. It's called

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spotting. We look at through the whole

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film. I say, I want music

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to start here in the scene and here.

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Composer has to know

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where the music goes. Composer has to

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know where the director wants music.

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00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,400
Then we talk about what type of music.

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Then the composer go away

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and they send me back in the day was on

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CDs

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00:03:49,519 --> 00:03:52,159
themes. I like to have I like to give

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character themes.

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So

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I get themes

81
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not necessarily with characters attached

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00:04:04,159 --> 00:04:05,840
to them but just themes and then I tell

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00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,360
them you know what I like what I don't

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like and so they now those themes

85
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,439
they're really called sketches

86
00:04:13,439 --> 00:04:15,200
you know it's not like any full-blown

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orchestral thing this is at the you know

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beginning stages

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and then once the pictures locked

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00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,840
I tell my composers this is we he comes

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back to see the the lock cut in the

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screen room and I say I pair all right

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this theme want to go this this

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00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,199
pair the cues the themes with the scenes

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then they go away

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00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,880
write out the music

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00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,320
and then come back and record the score

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for me a movie is not a movie till we

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get the score

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music could be score

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that's where

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it's just there or it could be source

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where

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it's coming from a radio

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it's coming from a television or people

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playing it. So this is the example where

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it switched

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sweeping crane shot here,

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but he's trying to keep it together.

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Uh-oh.

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00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,680
Look. See? Look at Wesley. Look at Look

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at Shadow's getting ready.

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He's looking at

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it's very uncomfortable. Everybody, the

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audience.

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Woo.

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That's what you call a clam.

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See,

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that's a loving act

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00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:01,080
for Shadow to come to his rescue.

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Clark's heartbroken.

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And Ble just walks off the stage into

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the rain.

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Come on. When the scene began, it was

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sourced because we were hearing

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what the band was playing.

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But once they left the club,

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it turned into score because in reality,

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you wouldn't be able to hear Shadow

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Henson and the rest of the bands they

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continue to play after we left. So went

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from source to score. When Desai came

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outside in the rain,

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forget about it.

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That's score. You're going to be all

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right.

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00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:46,479
Thought the rain would make it much more

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dramatic. Oh, this is a crane show. I'm

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sorry. It's a crane and a dolly cuz we

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go up and I said I can't sell. I won't

141
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sell it. I won't sell it. Here we go.

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Oh,

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he'll play again.

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He'll play again.

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I won't sell it.

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I won't sell it. Blink.

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I won't sell it.

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Yeah, that's a good scene.

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Sad scene.

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Again, I want to I want to really stress

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00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,960
this

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because it's very important.

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Denzel's character,

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Blake Gilliam,

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and Wesley Snipes character, Shelon

156
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Henderson had been had been at odds

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the whole

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movie.

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at each other's throat. Jealousy, all

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types of stuff.

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Clark, both of them, you know, that type

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of stuff. But I feel it's very important

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that at the end we had to we had to show

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that they loved each other despite all

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that stuff that might happen in the

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past. It's like, yo, I got you. I got

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you. And that's what that scene's about.

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One thing I think that uh people might

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not understand is

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what you call

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juxosition

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where the music doesn't have to

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necessarily be the same feeling what

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you're seeing

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on screen. There might be a contrast.

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example you're gonna see right now is uh

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All Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra.

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The song is called Hello Young Lovers.

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This scene comes from Jungle Fever.

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And

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John Duro's character

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has been a has been ostracized because

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he has he's interested in a black woman.

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So his friends let him know

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like that ain't cool.

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You know, you could [ __ ] a Mulan, but

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you know, you want his girlfriend. That

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type of thing.

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So, uh,

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let's watch it.

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Crane down.

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Where you going, Pauly? Huh?

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They're taunting him.

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Who's the lucky girl?

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Hey, you look pretty.

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Nick Duro, Michael Baluto, [ __ ]

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You think you're better than me,

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Paulyley? Huh? [ __ ] disgrace.

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He's a disgrace neighborhood.

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[ __ ] disgrace.

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Disgrace.

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00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,320
You know better than me. Where's your

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00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,120
[ __ ] bully?

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John Floyd brother kick Nick kicking his

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ass. Boom.

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Broke his nose in the movie. Not for

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real.

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00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,040
And he's getting a beating. As they say,

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00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,560
you give him a [ __ ] beating.

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00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:09,279
The term is called counterpoint where

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the music gives you is opposite of what

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you're feeling. This is a a very a

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perfect example

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00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,519
a very good example of counterpoint

215
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the music for he got games basketball

216
00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,959
is an American sport

217
00:10:30,959 --> 00:10:33,959
and

218
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I thought about the music.

219
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,480
I said to myself

220
00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,640
let's let me I'm going to do which I'm

221
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going to do. I want to go through all

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the recorded music ever recorded by the

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great American composer Aaron Copelan

224
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and pick out

225
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stuff I think I could use.

226
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Then I went back to my man Chuck D

227
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flavor flavor terminics and say look I

228
00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:04,880
want you to do the songs for the film.

229
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,360
You only did one song for for do the

230
00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:09,519
right thing. Now all the songs, all the

231
00:11:09,519 --> 00:11:13,519
music, the rap stuff is going to be

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public enemy. I said, "Let me try this

233
00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,880
experiment. A rap music

234
00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,360
cut together with

235
00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:27,160
American classical music, not jazz,

236
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,040
orchestral music.

237
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,200
Always loved Aaron Copelan's

238
00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:37,200
work." So

239
00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:38,320
we have the jud j just j just j just j

240
00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:39,760
just j just j just j just j just j just
j just j position of the two and it

241
00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:41,760
works.

242
00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,120
It's a oneonone you might say do or die

243
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,680
game of basketball between father and

244
00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:49,279
son.

245
00:11:49,279 --> 00:11:52,399
They make a bet

246
00:11:52,399 --> 00:11:57,200
if Jake Shellsworth the father wins

247
00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:00,320
his son Jesus will go to big state

248
00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,680
again. Jesus is the number one high

249
00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:04,800
school player in the nation and his

250
00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,839
senior about to go to college.

251
00:12:07,839 --> 00:12:11,040
If Jesus shows, if Jesus wins, his

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father says, "Look, I'm going back to

253
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prison. I'm going back to Attica." Very

254
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dramatic.

255
00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,600
I did not want to use public enemy right

256
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:20,560
here. I think that would been too

257
00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:22,399
cliche.

258
00:12:22,399 --> 00:12:24,560
Said, "Let me find something Aaron Copan

259
00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,160
did

260
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,240
and it's called

261
00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:30,320
a Lincoln portrait."

262
00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:34,480
So this is it. Yo, judgment day.

263
00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,920
Father and son, Jake and Jesus.

264
00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:42,040
So you going to say nothing to me. Okay.

265
00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:44,079
I wanted to use something different.

266
00:12:44,079 --> 00:12:45,200
I beg your forgiveness and nothing like

267
00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:46,720
Now we had to make some music edits

268
00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:47,920
because the original the original

269
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:48,880
Lincoln

270
00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:50,720
a portrait for Lincoln is like 11

271
00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:52,480
minutes long. So we had to make music

272
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,320
edits.

273
00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,320
Check.

274
00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:01,200
Now we just let them play.

275
00:13:01,279 --> 00:13:02,959
We just let them play. We had coverage

276
00:13:02,959 --> 00:13:05,920
with the cameras. Just let them play.

277
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,639
Underhead scoop. Oh,

278
00:13:08,639 --> 00:13:10,000
that's the only best you getting all

279
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,120
game.

280
00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:13,920
Now, now D is like, "All right, I'm

281
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:15,760
getting you."

282
00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,760
Misses that. Ray comes in. Boom.

283
00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:21,120
One.

284
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:22,560
Now they're talking all the time. This

285
00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,040
was not rehearsed.

286
00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,639
Now the music starting to come up, too.

287
00:13:28,639 --> 00:13:30,560
Two two one.

288
00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:31,760
That's something you taught me.

289
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:32,880
Father and son.

290
00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:33,680
I taught you well.

291
00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:35,200
There always comes this moment where the

292
00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:36,399
son beats his father.

293
00:13:36,399 --> 00:13:37,680
Your boy.

294
00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:38,800
What you stoing for?

295
00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:39,680
You got you got

296
00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:43,440
I knew that that as if I went through

297
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,079
the masterworks Aaron Copelan that would

298
00:13:46,079 --> 00:13:49,440
fit. He got game

299
00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:51,440
as a score.

300
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,720
But as a songs, I knew that

301
00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:57,680
Public Enemy would work.

302
00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:00,720
And you might think Aaron Copelan,

303
00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,519
orchestral music,

304
00:14:03,519 --> 00:14:05,839
Public Enemy, rap, but it works

305
00:14:05,839 --> 00:14:08,399
together. I just knew that would work. I

306
00:14:08,399 --> 00:14:10,560
think it's a very good example of of

307
00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:13,839
score, how during watching the clip, it

308
00:14:13,839 --> 00:14:17,040
looked like Aaron Copeland, you know,

309
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,720
I hired him. Who's alive to score this

310
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,720
film?

1
00:00:11,599 --> 00:00:13,280
The balance of a film really comes

2
00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,759
together for me in the editing room.

3
00:00:15,759 --> 00:00:18,400
That's where you weigh

4
00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,760
the different parts you're trying to do.

5
00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,600
My films historically not about one

6
00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,880
thing. You might say a mixtape of of to

7
00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,720
be current a mixtape of many different

8
00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:32,800
things. For example, do the right thing

9
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,360
is a very very serious

10
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,680
film with very serious submatic not

11
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,559
comedy. A lot of humor and do the right

12
00:00:40,559 --> 00:00:43,200
thing. And so with the my longtime great

13
00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,520
editor Barry Brown,

14
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:47,760
Barry Alexander Brown, we call him the

15
00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,559
cut creator, we were able to find that

16
00:00:50,559 --> 00:00:55,199
balance because uh you don't want to be

17
00:00:55,199 --> 00:00:57,199
lopsided

18
00:00:57,199 --> 00:00:59,840
one way or the other. And it's not

19
00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,440
something that you're going to find.

20
00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:04,879
That first cut is not going to be the

21
00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:06,479
the balance cut you need. You just got

22
00:01:06,479 --> 00:01:08,080
to keep working and working and working

23
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,640
and working and working.

24
00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:17,680
ain't no psychiatrist, but I believe one

25
00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:19,360
of the reasons Nola Darling was doing

26
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all that boning. What? Having sex? Bon.

27
00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:24,720
Anyway, like I was saying, I think she

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was doing this because she probably had

29
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a bad relationship with her father. He

30
00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,000
wasn't around. She was looking for him.

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Serious. Anyway, I told her I wasn't her

32
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pops. my career, a lot of the funny

33
00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,360
stuff, a lot of human stuff is become

34
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,880
is from ad libs and that's not written.

35
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So, it's in the editing room is where we

36
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found where we where we had to find a

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balance

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00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:52,759
in in the final cuts of the film.

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00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,360
my relationship with uh my editors is

40
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just as close is with the the DP

41
00:02:04,399 --> 00:02:06,960
and

42
00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,759
I look at the footage that's called

43
00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:13,120
dailies what you shot the previous day I

44
00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,000
go over that with the my editor editor

45
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,360
editors sometimes we have two

46
00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,920
and we look at the footage together and

47
00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:23,520
I and they're taking notes I tell them

48
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:25,680
what I like or what I don't like. And

49
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,959
using those notes, the editors start to

50
00:02:28,959 --> 00:02:32,080
cut. So, I do not wait until I finish

51
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,400
shooting. The editors are editing.

52
00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:35,840
They're cutting the film together while

53
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,519
we're where we're going. And then

54
00:02:39,519 --> 00:02:43,440
they're also showing me completed scenes

55
00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,200
that they've also edited. So, the

56
00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,239
editing is going along at the same time

57
00:02:48,239 --> 00:02:51,120
that we are filming.

58
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,319
It's uh it could be daunting because a

59
00:02:54,319 --> 00:02:57,440
lot of times you're tired from shooting

60
00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,680
and then you're shooting 12 hours then

61
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,840
you come in and watch the dailies. So we

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00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,000
get a I get a lot of a lot of times I I

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00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,959
can't do it or too tired. So I look at

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00:03:06,959 --> 00:03:08,959
the footage they make a DVD for me or

65
00:03:08,959 --> 00:03:11,920
link and I look at it over the weekend

66
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and I just give the editors the notes.

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You know, we have uh we screenings for

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00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,800
friends and family, people on a in a

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circle. It's always good though to see

70
00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,200
that when you have those have the film

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projected because it's not just the same

72
00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,440
seeing it on a on an Avid, a little

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00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,440
television screen, even if a big monitor

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00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,920
is not the same as seeing it screen in

75
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,159
the theater makes all the difference in

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00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:43,920
the world. And that's always a very

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00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:45,840
exciting time to see on a big screen for

78
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:47,599
the first time. And for my editor and I

79
00:03:47,599 --> 00:03:49,599
that's when the film really reveals

80
00:03:49,599 --> 00:03:52,000
itself. So you know what you have to do

81
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,799
and once you've done it a while you know

82
00:03:54,799 --> 00:03:56,879
right away

83
00:03:56,879 --> 00:03:58,400
my editor and I we're sitting next to

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each other so we're talking we're taking

85
00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:03,200
notes and you know right away what needs

86
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,159
to go cuz sometimes you just can't see

87
00:04:06,159 --> 00:04:08,640
it right away. It's really a phenomenon

88
00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,799
where you could have a very long post-p

89
00:04:12,799 --> 00:04:14,959
production period and go through many

90
00:04:14,959 --> 00:04:19,519
cuts and then there comes a time where

91
00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:21,359
it finally dawns on you, you know, we

92
00:04:21,359 --> 00:04:23,759
don't need that scene and it's been

93
00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:26,400
there all along but something happens

94
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:27,919
and you know, let's take it out. So that

95
00:04:27,919 --> 00:04:29,759
that's happened to me a lot. Usually the

96
00:04:29,759 --> 00:04:32,639
first thing to go is stuff that is

97
00:04:32,639 --> 00:04:34,880
repetitive that it might not have seemed

98
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:36,479
repetitive in the script. It might not

99
00:04:36,479 --> 00:04:38,880
seem repetitive when

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00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,759
you wrote it, but in once you cut the

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film,

102
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,280
you know, you say, you know, we notice

103
00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:49,080
already. We don't need anymore.

104
00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:04,400
where I was, the shoe parallel had a

105
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,120
window up in the attic and I could see

106
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the crowd. They marched as he through

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the streets.

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They stabbed him and beat him

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and finally in a bloody heap

110
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they held him down in the street

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and cut off his testicles.

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God,

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give us true

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white men.

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The Invisible Empire demands,

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strong minds,

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gray hearts, true faith, clean and ready

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hands.

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Men who have honor,

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men who will not lie, men who can stand

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before a demagogue

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and damn his treacherous flatteries

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without blinking. The story that he

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recounts actually happened.

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The lynching of Jesse Washington

126
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took place in Waco, Texas.

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And

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the words saying are his friend who saw

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this firsthand. He's brought back by Pat

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Brice Jumas played by Laura Harris who's

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the president of the Black Student Union

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to recount this story to the black

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students of this lynch took place the

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lynching of Jesse Washington.

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And we intercut that with a clan the

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clan initiation of

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the white Ron Star

138
00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,240
Flip Zimmerman played by Adam Driver

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and intercut the two. And once

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initiation goes through, then we have

141
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the clan in celebration

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00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,000
watching

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00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:12,400
DW Griffin's birthday nation like it's a

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[ __ ] Saturday matinea,

145
00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:19,039
eating popcorn, yelling, cheering,

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00:07:19,039 --> 00:07:20,560
throwing stuff at the screen.

147
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Do you do it all?

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No.

149
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No.

150
00:07:26,319 --> 00:07:30,759
The ingenuity of white women.

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Today they would call that kind of movie

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a blockbuster.

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00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:41,919
The first time I saw Birth of a Nation

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in its entirety was my first semester at

155
00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,639
New York University Grad School and my

156
00:07:48,639 --> 00:07:52,240
professor Ellie Hamro, she showed screen

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and film for us.

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And before after the screening,

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the only

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00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,479
thing we heard was that

161
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how DW Griffith

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is considered the father of cinema.

163
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She went down a list of of innovative

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film things which he had done.

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What she left out

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was the socio political impact of the

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film

168
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that never came up

169
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in discussion of the film.

170
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It was not discussed that at the time

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this film was released,

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the Clueless clan was dormant, was dead.

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And this film directly led to the

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rebirth,

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the rejuvenation of the clan, which led

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directly to black folks male lynch

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castrated, whipped

178
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and hung.

179
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That was completely left out. Now

180
00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,839
that is I've never been one of these

181
00:09:11,839 --> 00:09:13,680
people individuals who says birth for

182
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nation should not be screened but

183
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I do think that that there should be

184
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discussions especially if one is

185
00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,000
teaching this to students to not leave

186
00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,959
stuff out

187
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to give the whole

188
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picture the whole story

189
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and if you're not able to do that then

190
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maybe you shouldn't be showing that film

191
00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,120
as a discussion.

192
00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:45,519
So with this film, Black Clansman, I was

193
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able to go back

194
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and deal with these films

195
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which were had an impact on my my film

196
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making and

197
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the interplay,

198
00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,120
the interaction between

199
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,040
both these

200
00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,000
worlds.

201
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000
love

202
00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,079
with the scene with uh Mr. Be and the

203
00:10:14,079 --> 00:10:19,040
other one just plain undiluted hate

204
00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,680
and the contrast between that two. Then

205
00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:24,240
on top of that,

206
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,560
John David Washington

207
00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:28,640
has snuck up at the window the same way

208
00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:30,480
how Bella the same way Harry Bellfonte's

209
00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,360
character did to witness the lynching

210
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,160
and the castration and the mutilation of

211
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,959
Jesse Washington's body.

212
00:10:38,959 --> 00:10:43,160
So all that to come together,

213
00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:46,320
we shot it. But

214
00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,880
you got to put that stuff together

215
00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,600
and he cut the [ __ ] out of that. And

216
00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,760
then then you bring in the

217
00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,640
cinematography of Chase Urban and then

218
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,279
you add

219
00:10:59,279 --> 00:11:02,240
the piece

220
00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,160
Terren Blanch's score. It's over. It's

221
00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,959
over.

222
00:11:08,959 --> 00:11:10,800
And then

223
00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:12,640
you have

224
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,120
at the end of the the clan part they

225
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:17,040
start singing or not singing but

226
00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:18,880
chanting white power with the

227
00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:23,440
[ __ ] Nazi Zigow salute. It

228
00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,079
resemble what was written, but there's

229
00:11:26,079 --> 00:11:28,800
things that we found

230
00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,279
where we could use sound over another

231
00:11:31,279 --> 00:11:34,240
scene.

232
00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,360
Like it wasn't written in the script

233
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,000
that

234
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:41,839
those clans would start breaking and

235
00:11:41,839 --> 00:11:45,120
chanting white power and giving the the

236
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,279
uh the Nazi sig sigh salute. You know

237
00:11:49,279 --> 00:11:53,000
that's that wasn't written

238
00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,720
was written that that I did not tell

239
00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,040
Miss Bellfonte to start ch you know put

240
00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,920
up his fist and saying black power black

241
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,480
power he did that on his own that scene

242
00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:07,440
just evolved. I mean you try one thing

243
00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,200
it works try another thing doesn't work

244
00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,600
and keep working on it till the whole

245
00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,760
scene works. But we had the material.

246
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,760
That's another thing,

247
00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:19,279
ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

248
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You have to have the material.

249
00:12:24,639 --> 00:12:28,560
Is the director's job to provide the

250
00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:33,000
editor with material.

251
00:12:33,279 --> 00:12:36,399
Editor can't go out and re-shoot stuff.

252
00:12:36,399 --> 00:12:38,079
Don't have your editor in the edit room

253
00:12:38,079 --> 00:12:41,120
like, "Mother [ __ ] I got nothing to

254
00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,279
work with." You know, you you can't do

255
00:12:43,279 --> 00:12:46,480
that to your editor. What's ironic

256
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:48,399
in this particular scene, the inner

257
00:12:48,399 --> 00:12:50,399
cutting

258
00:12:50,399 --> 00:12:52,720
is that

259
00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,399
it came from the father cinema

260
00:12:56,399 --> 00:12:58,880
DW Griffin. And I forgot till I read the

261
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:03,680
AO Scott review that he's a [ __ ]

262
00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,920
that invented that.

263
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,880
I knew about that. in they they teach us

264
00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,959
that in film school but I finished

265
00:13:12,959 --> 00:13:15,200
1982 so I forgot I mean he's the

266
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,399
[ __ ] that came with that.

267
00:13:22,959 --> 00:13:25,200
It is time for you to understand that

268
00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,880
you as the growing intellectuals of this

269
00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,639
country that you must define beauty for

270
00:13:32,639 --> 00:13:34,000
black people.

271
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,000
Now that's black power.

272
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:41,279
Let me ask you something. Is beauty

273
00:13:41,279 --> 00:13:45,920
defined as someone with a narrow nose?

274
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:47,760
Thin lips?

275
00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:48,639
Hell no.

276
00:13:48,639 --> 00:13:49,920
White skin?

277
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:50,880
Hell no.

278
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:52,160
Hell no.

279
00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:52,800
Hell no.

280
00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:53,360
Hell no.

281
00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:54,639
Cuz you ain't got none of that.

282
00:13:54,639 --> 00:13:56,639
For the most part, Ter has been

283
00:13:56,639 --> 00:14:00,240
forgotten. And uh we hope that this film

284
00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,560
makes people want to pick up a book at

285
00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:06,560
the most Google and find out who this

286
00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:10,160
powerful brother was, how important he

287
00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:11,839
was to the movement, how he's the one

288
00:14:11,839 --> 00:14:15,680
that came with the phrase black powerwam

289
00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:18,240
to did speak

290
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,959
to the black students at Colorado State.

291
00:14:20,959 --> 00:14:23,360
So that that really happened and what he

292
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,160
says in the in the film in black those

293
00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,240
are his words,

294
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:32,000
you know, we put together various parts

295
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,800
of various speeches and I knew he was

296
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,360
talking about

297
00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:40,959
that we black people have to love

298
00:14:40,959 --> 00:14:45,040
ourselves no matter what we've been told

299
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,320
to humanize what we want to call it.

300
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,959
pick your choice of words.

301
00:14:50,959 --> 00:14:54,160
That he

302
00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:56,320
wanted black people understand that we

303
00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,160
are beautiful. We are strong. We're

304
00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,160
smart.

305
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We're as good or better as anybody else.

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And we have to have black love.

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So that's what his speech about. Black

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love.

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He's talking about not just love we have

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for love for our innocent but love for

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00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:20,959
our features,

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00:15:20,959 --> 00:15:25,120
our wide nose, our thick lips. It wasn't

313
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,680
very hard. I said, "Let's just show

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00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,279
all these different black people in

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their beauty."

316
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So, we had we were shooting, we were

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filming the scene.

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We had like 400 500 extras

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and a lot of those most of those shows

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were like

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real people's hair. Now we had a we had

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00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:54,560
a a a casting for people afro.

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I mean those that was those people's

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hair for the most part. And so we were

325
00:15:58,399 --> 00:15:59,759
filming that scene and we also had a

326
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dressing room. We set up another camera

327
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:04,160
because I want to have these

328
00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:07,279
portraitures of these beautiful black

329
00:16:07,279 --> 00:16:11,360
people that we're hearing in this speech

330
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,839
given by uhwami ter performed by Cory

331
00:16:15,839 --> 00:16:21,360
Hawkins. And then we shot it was up to

332
00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:22,959
Barry Brown and I we knew we had this

333
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stuff. was it was a matter of we had to

334
00:16:25,279 --> 00:16:26,639
think long and hard where we going to

335
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fit this

336
00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,199
and then we came with the idea of

337
00:16:33,199 --> 00:16:35,920
uh multiple images

338
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,480
giving movement to the faces to the

339
00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:44,000
heads. We are not one monolithic group.

340
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We are all beautiful in our own specific

341
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:48,880
way.

342
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,839
Different noses, different lips,

343
00:16:51,839 --> 00:16:54,480
complexion.

344
00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:57,040
I just want to make that a scene to

345
00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:01,759
emphasize to cosign what brotherwami is

346
00:17:01,759 --> 00:17:07,720
telling us. Give it give a visual

347
00:17:07,919 --> 00:17:10,240
sense of purpose of what he's saying and

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00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:12,480
show

1
00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:20,400
Films are a very powerful media.

2
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Films can help people.

3
00:00:23,359 --> 00:00:26,000
Films can hurt people.

4
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:27,519
And this is something I learned very

5
00:00:27,519 --> 00:00:30,320
early on that as a filmmaker, you know,

6
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it's not something to play with

7
00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:35,520
that, you know, these images are very

8
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powerful.

9
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Way back in the day, President Woodrow

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Wilson upon seeing Birth of Nation said

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watching that film was like riding with

12
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lightning. So, I've always been aware of

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00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,440
the power of film for good and bad.

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The problem is that there's been a

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history of American cinema

16
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and American television which has

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denigrated you know uh the fame

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belittle the humanized

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00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:10,080
people for decades. Black people were

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ashamed of Africa because the portrayal

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of so-called Africans in Tarzan films

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and

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they can make people hate themselves. It

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made African-Americans hate themselves.

25
00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:26,960
And it's not just African-Americans. You

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look at the portrayal of of women in

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film.

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These myths

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have been

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00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,600
driven into so-called truth through

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movies, through TV shows.

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And so it's going to take many decades

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to retell these stories.

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00:01:54,159 --> 00:01:56,880
Hollywood westerns

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demonize Native Americans. in particular

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the films of John Ford

37
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,759
and John Wayne

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where the Native Americans are savages

39
00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:14,080
and that's not the way it was

40
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and

41
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,160
this is something I mean I'm I'm I'm

42
00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,160
different generation but you know cowboy

43
00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:23,840
you playing back in the day you playing

44
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:25,920
cowboys Indians no one would want no one

45
00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:28,080
to play Indians

46
00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,640
they were evil They're animals. They

47
00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:36,400
scalp white settlers.

48
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,800
I mean, this whole narrative of America

49
00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,280
is a false narrative.

50
00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,800
And this narrative has been drumed into

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Americans heads through

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00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,720
the cinema of Hollywood

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00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,040
and the television.

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00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,280
The greatest false narrative is about

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the founding of this country.

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00:03:08,159 --> 00:03:10,239
It's it's very disturbing to me when

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00:03:10,239 --> 00:03:13,519
people use that term founding fathers

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00:03:13,519 --> 00:03:18,480
and leave out the rest which should be

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00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,080
the founding fathers own slaves.

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George Washington owned slaves.

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00:03:25,599 --> 00:03:28,800
Thomas Jefferson owns slaves.

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The foundation of the United States of

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America

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is

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the genocide

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of the native people and slavery. That

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is the foundation.

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That's all this [ __ ] is built upon.

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00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,560
the boulevard garden of the land,

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the genocide of the people

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00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,840
and bringing our ancestors

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00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,720
stolen from mother Africa to work for

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free

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from Canc

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United States of America.

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00:04:17,359 --> 00:04:22,240
the first film, She's Going to Have It

77
00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,080
was a very sensuous film and many people

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00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:25,759
have told me over the years that they

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00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:29,560
never seen black people

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00:04:29,919 --> 00:04:31,840
with the intimacy, you know, sexual

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00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:36,800
intimacy that seeing that film.

82
00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,919
I knew that that would be a

83
00:04:39,919 --> 00:04:42,960
a selling point for the film, but that

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00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,600
that wasn't the

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00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,720
the only reason

86
00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,000
there. I mean, you had such

87
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,000
actors like Sydney Porty and Harry

88
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,400
Bellfonte, you know, great these

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00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,800
handsome men who ooze sexuality. And it

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00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:04,479
was like the that that was not really

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00:05:04,479 --> 00:05:06,320
reflected

92
00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,360
on the screen. Not their fault. They

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00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,520
weren't writing the scripts where the

94
00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,680
powers of be were not very comfortable

95
00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:18,080
with the sexuality of uh of black folks.

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00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:19,680
You know, these films, these Hollywood

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00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,800
films are shown across the nation. They

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00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,280
knew that they would not be they

99
00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:26,639
theaters in there were theaters in the

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00:05:26,639 --> 00:05:27,919
south, movie theaters in the south that

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00:05:27,919 --> 00:05:30,400
weren't going to play them. We live in a

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society where black folks and others

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00:05:35,199 --> 00:05:39,680
have not been put in the best possible

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light.

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00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:43,840
And

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00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:46,000
I knew

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00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,960
that one way

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that I could do something about this in

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my

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00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:58,240
however small way it may be was to make

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00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,120
films

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00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,199
that somehow

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00:06:03,199 --> 00:06:07,759
were made for a diverse audience. some

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films specifically a black audience but

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show black people

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in all our glory

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00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:18,639
faults

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00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:23,319
warts and whatnot.

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00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,240
I mean it's still a battle

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00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,440
to get stuff made.

121
00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,160
It's still a battle to get into the

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00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,280
those conference rooms where those

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00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:42,800
decisions are made by the gatekeepers.

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00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:48,000
We I think have to be more strategic

125
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,000
as if people understand how this game

126
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:51,680
works.

127
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,160
You could be involved in this industry

128
00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,400
and not be in front of the camera, not

129
00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,199
behind the camera. There many more

130
00:07:01,199 --> 00:07:03,520
opportunities where you're going to have

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00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:05,520
a longer

132
00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,440
career.

133
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,319
Start grooming

134
00:07:10,319 --> 00:07:12,240
executives,

135
00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,800
people who give the notes, people make

136
00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,160
the selections, people who hire

137
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,520
the writers, the directors. Everybody

138
00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:22,800
can't be in front of the camera.

139
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,240
Everybody can't be famous, but you can

140
00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,479
still have positions that very powerful.

141
00:07:26,479 --> 00:07:28,080
And and I think that's where we're

142
00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,199
lacking right now.

143
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,280
A big big

144
00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:41,440
interest of mine is is the whole thing

145
00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:43,599
called gatekeepers,

146
00:07:43,599 --> 00:07:45,440
execs

147
00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,319
and and movie studios,

148
00:07:48,319 --> 00:07:52,319
TV networks, network, cable, whatnot.

149
00:07:52,319 --> 00:07:54,800
Even in media, you go to newspapers,

150
00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,960
magazines. These are the people

151
00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,000
predominately white males who sit around

152
00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,960
a table, a conference table, and decide

153
00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,039
what we're making

154
00:08:07,039 --> 00:08:09,759
and what we're not making. This is where

155
00:08:09,759 --> 00:08:14,560
the battleground is now. when we we can

156
00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,080
win Academy Awards and Emmys and

157
00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,280
whatnot, but I think that pales in

158
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,440
comparison to

159
00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,599
the gatekeeping

160
00:08:25,599 --> 00:08:27,680
positions because this is where we have

161
00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,479
a voice

162
00:08:30,479 --> 00:08:34,080
and when some [ __ ] up [ __ ] is about to

163
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,719
be made, we say

164
00:08:36,719 --> 00:08:40,440
hold the [ __ ] up.

1
00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:14,639
In my opinion, what makes a great

2
00:00:14,639 --> 00:00:16,480
documentary is what makes a great

3
00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,119
feature film,

4
00:00:19,119 --> 00:00:22,240
the story. I mean, I I don't really make

5
00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:24,720
that I don't make that big distinction

6
00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,240
between the two. That's why I do both. I

7
00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,160
go back and forth between feature films

8
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,079
and documentaries

9
00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:35,840
and the common thing, the big common

10
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:37,440
thing is a story. So you could tell a

11
00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,360
story

12
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,440
as as a narrative, you tell a story as a

13
00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:43,040
documentary. So you just have to make

14
00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:48,960
the choice which we want to do. my first

15
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,600
documentary, Four Little Girls. I I just

16
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,879
felt that I did not want to recreate the

17
00:00:54,879 --> 00:00:57,120
bombing of the 16th Street Baptist

18
00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:58,800
Church.

19
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,719
I not want to cast actors to talk about

20
00:01:02,719 --> 00:01:05,600
the loss of their daughter. I not want

21
00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,360
to cast

22
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:08,960
uh George Wallace. I did not want to

23
00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:12,720
cast uh Bull Connor.

24
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,040
I not want to cast

25
00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,040
those devils

26
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,759
from the clan who planted dynamite in

27
00:01:19,759 --> 00:01:22,400
that church and blew those beautiful

28
00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,320
young black girls apart.

29
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:31,119
That was a decision I I that was a path

30
00:01:31,119 --> 00:01:33,600
I wasn't doing.

31
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,000
I wanted to recreate [ __ ] I wanted to

32
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,479
speak to the people who lived it.

33
00:01:38,479 --> 00:01:41,920
They're not actors. These are people who

34
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:43,680
particularly I'm talking about the

35
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:45,200
parents,

36
00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,040
the ones who are alive are still

37
00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,680
grieving with the the loss of their

38
00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:51,680
loved ones and the ones that were no

39
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,600
longer here

40
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,240
went to their grave grieving

41
00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,079
with that that that loss of life. So I

42
00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:03,840
you can't for me

43
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,600
that was something that that couldn't be

44
00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:10,080
faked and you needed to uh I needed to

45
00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,200
to speak to the the to the people the as

46
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,560
as I call them the witnesses the

47
00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,720
witnesses.

48
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,200
There was New York Times Sunday magazine

49
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,560
piece about the that bombing and I

50
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,040
remember my parents telling me about I

51
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,680
was born in 57 so I always thought about

52
00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,200
that my father's from Alabama.

53
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:32,879
I mean, I knew about this even I mean,

54
00:02:32,879 --> 00:02:35,519
this when I was very young, even before

55
00:02:35,519 --> 00:02:37,360
I knew I want to be a filmmaker, but I

56
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,080
think it probably stuck in my head and

57
00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,120
so uh

58
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,680
that's just something I eventually uh

59
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,319
decide to do. I've never had a narrator

60
00:02:48,319 --> 00:02:51,680
in my documentaries ever. The films are

61
00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,800
edited in a way that the people been

62
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,800
interviewed tell us a story. But you

63
00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,120
don't you're not gonna hear you don't

64
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,599
hear we don't use narrators. Now

65
00:03:03,599 --> 00:03:06,000
some people might do but for me it

66
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,239
doesn't work.

67
00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,319
It was not a different mindset for me to

68
00:03:16,319 --> 00:03:20,560
do this to do my first documentary. I

69
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,280
knew the story I wanted to get. I knew

70
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,720
that people had the interview

71
00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,239
and

72
00:03:28,239 --> 00:03:30,400
just went and did it. Well, doing my

73
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,480
documentary is very rarely that when

74
00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:33,760
someone gets in front of the camera,

75
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:35,120
that's the first time I met them or

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haven't spoken to them before. So, I

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definitely try to meet them before we go

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in front of the camera in person or

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phone. And I'm the one for the most part

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that asked people to be in it. You know,

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I have researched and tracked people

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down. But I'm the one to say, do you

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want to be in the documentary? And you

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know, we want you to talk about this. So

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I had the advantage of people knowing me

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because of my feature films. They knew

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who I was. They seen me with Michael

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Jordan. I keep bringing this up, but

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that was a big thing. The more people

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knew me from Mars Black and the Michael

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Jordan commercial knew me for for the

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films. So, it was very easy to me

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to get people to be in my films. Come

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on, we got George Wallace to speak to

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me. So, I mean, I never thought he

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agreed to do it.

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When Celebrities Broke,

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A Reququum in Four Acts was my first of

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two

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documentaries

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about what happened in

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the Gulf region, specifically New

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Orleans with Hurricane Katrina.

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And I was in uh Venice for the Venice

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Film Festival

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when uh this happened. I just kept

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watching CNN International and just

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seeing these American citizens

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on top of buildings and whatnot drowning

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in boats and I kept wondering where is

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the United States of America? Where is

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the help? Day one, where where is

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everybody? Day two, day three, day four.

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It wasn't until day five that the

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government came to rescue for it

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citizens.

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came back from the Venice Film Festival.

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I said, "I want to do something." Called

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up Sheila Neans

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at HBO and I I said, "I want to do

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this." And he said, "Okay."

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Now, at first it was supposed to be a

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two a 90minute 2hour documentary, but uh

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it kept getting bigger and bigger and

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bigger. And thank you Sheila. Thank HBO

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who let it end up being a 4 hours

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uh very very very very painful

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documentary to do but

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that was the subject matter.

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That's a great loss of life and that's

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not a

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a cheery story.

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Very happy the way it turned out. the

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great editor Sam Pard.

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We worked closely together and uh

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it was like crusade for everyone that

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worked on that. You know, we we knew

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that we were dealing with something

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historic

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and uh we had to do the the best job we

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can do and let the people who going

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through it, let them tell their story.

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We must unite and we must organize to

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form a base to fight racism.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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To fight our oppressors.

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The reason I wanted to teach this master

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class is because people can learn from

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my experience. People can learn from me

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because uh I know what I'm talking

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about. I wanted to uh to spread what

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I've learned with as many people as

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possible and uh

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this master class is providing an

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opportunity. The important lessons I

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learned

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in my film making career began when

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I decided I want to be filmmaker

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and that's a lesson of work ethic which

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I saw from my parents my mother who

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taught my father's jazz music position

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my grandparents

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so I grew up the people worked

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and people who love their work

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and people who worked hard, just worked

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hard, were never trying to cut any

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corners. I was born the right time.

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Whatever it is, I was going to be a

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filmmaker by hook or crook. I just I

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just knew that.

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But I also understood that

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I was going to have to make it happen. I

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could not just sit around and this is

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key.

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I never bought into this

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false narrative of overnight success.

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Never ever ever thought that I could

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just show up

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and God, almighty God, would anoint me

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the next one.

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I knew that if this is going to happen,

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I have to get out there and bust my ass.

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That's just it's not bragging.

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It's not boasting, but

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I knew that I had the talent,

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but that wasn't going to be enough. Had

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to get out there,

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a hook, a crook,

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make it happen.

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I hope that you understand that

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there's some hard [ __ ] to do.

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Hope that you understand that it takes

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dedication.

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That it takes love, it takes compassion

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is being truthful to to get in a

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position like me. Other directors,

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people who are working directors always

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had the mindset

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that you're a student

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and it's a continuous

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process of educating yourself, getting

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experience, and being the best you can

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be. I'm Spike Lee, and this is my master

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class.