Film News: Spike Lee Goes on Tirade During Q&A at Sundance Film Festival

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CHICAGO – Apparently, Spike Lee is upset with Hollywood. And if you didn’t know, he made it loud and clear at a Q&A after the first screening ever of his new film “Red Hook Summer,” which premiered Sunday night at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The film, which received mixed remarks on Twitter from the audience in attendance, was made by Lee completely independent of a studio.

After the screening (and a good deal of negative remarks on Twitter), Lee came out with several performers from the film for a Q&A with the audience on hand. After a few questions, comedian Chris Rock got to ask his own: “This is a real question!” Rock said. “You did it, you spent your own money, right? What would you have done differently if you’d actually gotten a bunch of studio money… What else would’ve happened? Would you have blown up lots of [expletive]?” And once Rock opened the door ajar for a discussion about Hollywood and the studio system, Lee burst through.

We never went to the studios with this film. I told you! I told you!” Lee said. “I bought a camera and said we’re gonna do this mother [expletive] film ourselves…So this whole thing was planned out. I didn’t need a mother [expletive] studio telling me something about Red Hook! They know nothing about black people! Nothing! And they’re gonna give me notes about what a 13-year-old black boy and girl do in Red Hook? [expletive] no!”

After a few more minutes of yelling, during which the crowd on hand sat quietly, Lee apologized quickly to the crowd: “Sorry for the mother [expletive] tirade.”

But the damage was done already and Lee was still heated and finished the Q&A one question later, where he was upset with the audience member asking a complex question to his young actors. Whether the tirade had anything to do with some of the negative reaction to the film, or just built up anger from the studio itself, Spike Lee has the people talking at Sundance…and not in a good way.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Tim Martens

By TIM MARTENS
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
tim@hollywoodchicago.com

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