Moviemaker Spike Lee received Chrylser’s Behind the Lens award the other night. His thank-you speech turned into an angry denunciation of the current studio system. From the Hollywood Reporter:
“I [had to take] my ass on a plane to Europe and got the financing for this film,” Lee said of his latest joint, the World War II drama “Miracle of St. Anna.” “So, as Malcolm (X) said, the struggle is far from over.”
Equating a struggle for civil rights that ended in the assassination of one of its two most prominent leaders with having to fly first class to Europe for $60 million is shaky at best. Or maybe it was just a plug for the DVD of his Malcom X movie. PS: Woody Allen has depended on foreign financing for years, and for the same reason Lee now has to: Most people aren’t interested in their movies, period.
