Jordan Peele reminds Spike Lee about their first meeting: "You handed me my ass"
Aux News Jordan PeeleIn a recent conversation for the Hollywood Reporter, director/producer duo Spike Lee and Jordan Peele took some time to chat about a few things outside of their Oscar-nominated collaboration BlackkKlansman. One point of discussion was their very first encounter during Peele’s film school days; they didn’t quite have the kismet fairy-tale experience that one might hope for when meeting one of their biggest creative inspirations. In fact, their origin story resonates more as a shining example of why some of us just never, ever wish for the daunting prospect of meeting our heroes.
“You really handed us our asses,” Peele recalled of Lee’s visit to his film history class at Sarah Lawrence College. “I remember one woman—and look, this is with all respect to the great Forest Whitaker, one of our greatest actors —asked you, ‘Why would you use Denzel in your movies when there are actors like Forest out there?’ You looked at her and you were like, ‘You are questioning my use of Denzel Washington? Denzel Wa—X! Mo’ Better! Glory!’ I was just shrinking.”
According to Peele, he then attempted to bring the Q & A “back on track.” Unfortunately for him, his effort was met with him getting his own ass hand delivered to him, courtesy of the perpetually straightforward Lee. Peele couldn’t divulge any details; he apparently repressed the memory so effectively that he had blocked the exchange out. While such a harrowing experience might have thoroughly shaken some, Lee noted proudly that it didn’t stop the Oscar-winning Get Out filmmaker from pursuing his passion. Peele agreed. “It probably got my ass in gear,” he said.
The remainder of the chat is rather illuminating as well, as Lee and Peele (which has quite a ring to it—watch out, Key!) talked of Hollywood’s gatekeeping, eradicating myths surrounding the international appeal of black-led cinema, and Lee’s reaction to his (seriously inexplicable) first Oscar nomination.
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I similarly, but also not so similarly, have a memory block on a Q&A with Spike Lee at my college. At one point during the Q&A, some girl got up and asked “can I be the first white girl to give you a hug?” All I remember was all of us groaning, and Spike Lee actually giving her a hug, everything else is just gone, recalling that moment still makes me cringe though, and I suspect Spike Lee’s opinion of our university has never recovered.
I’m about to disintergrate from secondhand (or maybe it’s third hand at this point) embarrassment from hearing that story.
Brigham Young has a film school?
LOL. That needs to be in a film.
I was at a predominately white college in the 90’s-early aughts (prestigious, east coast). Spike Lee came and spoke. After it, a film professor who I will always love said this to our class on the Monday after it: “Why did anyone here feel comfortable addressing him as Spike? Isn’t he Mr. Lee?”
Hang on, wasn’t Lee nominated for Original Screenplay for Do the Right Thing?
Yes, and for Best Documentary. Never for director or picture though.
It’s mind boggling that we was never nominated for directing. Malcolm X, Do The Right Thing, 25th Hour…..how do you ignore those films? I don’t care if someone doesn’t like him. You still can’t deny his talent.
I know. I still remember the year Do the Right Thing came out, Kim Basinger called the Academy out for not nominating him or the movie during the ceremony (Then, Driving Miss Daisy won). I think it hurt his chances of getting nominated after that.
Dig down to the root of Spike Lee’s beef with Clint Eastwood, and you’ll find Unforgiven carrying away Oscars for Best Film and Best Director, while Malcolm X was ignored in both categories.
Props for mentioning 25th Hour, brutally underrated.
25th Hour is probably my favorite movie of all time.
25th Hour is the definitive 9/11 movie. Was so grateful for what he did with that film. So underappreciated.
yeah, but he’s black./s/not really cause it’s true
When Do The Right Thing doesn’t get nominated in the same year that Driving Miss Daisy wins, I’m sure skin color had nothing to do with it. Probably obvious, but also /s.
Kind of like The Green Book getting five nominations including best picture this year while the wonderful If Beale Street Could Talk got mostly overlooked.
Do The Right Thing still confuses Hollywood. “Why did they burn the place down?”
smhMalcolm X was robbed. It remains in my mind the equal of Lawrence Of Arabia, a giant, epic film.
S.O.S./Summer of Sam as well. That film still blows my mind.
To be fair, that is kind of a dumb question.
Yeah, it’s like asking “why did you cast Tom Hanks in your movie when there are actors like Steve Buscemi out there?”
THAT is a valid query…
Actually, good question.
I am so done with Tom Hanks.
Semi dumb. But you see certain directors seem to always work with certain stars and vice versa. I have heard several actors say, if so and so director calls and say I have a part for you they say I’m in without knowing the anything about the movie or the part.
Jimmy Stewart was one. Hitchcock would call, Stewart answered.
johnny depp/tim burton
That was dual that I had in mind. I am trying to remember a Burton movie that didn’t have Johnny Depp in it. Even the animation movies have Depp’s voice.
Yeah. I mean, “Why do you never work with X?” would have been tolerable and more rational (well, same thing).
This is not Spike Lees’s first Oscar nomination. It’s his third. Research, anyone? Google is free.
According to IMDB, he’s had 5 Oscar nominations.However, the article that this article is copying, states that this is Lee’s first nomination in the category for Best Director.So yeah, looks like you’re both wrong. And yes, I used Google.
Oh lawd, you are stupid. He has a TOTAL of five nominations, 2 prior to this year. He received his 3rd nomination for Best Director for BlacKKKlansman, and 2 other nominations for this same film. He had 2 nominations prior to this year, which makes the author’s statement—-an author whose job it is to write for a site about media, a job that implicitly includes doing basic research—-completely inaccurate. Google can only do so much for you—-you also need to use a modicum of brain power.
Did the part of your brain that deals with social interaction get taped over with random Spike Lee facts? What’s going on, ItMe? Do you need to talk? It’s not your fault your parents got divorced.
1) I hate incompetence;2) I hate stupidity;3) I hate when incompetent, stupid people double-down in their incompetence and stupidity.4) And thank you re: my parents’ divorce. I’ve been working through that issue in therapy but your kind comment helps.
Great, so a stupid person is calling me stupid. Does that make it a compliment?
Where is the Forest Denzel overlap?? Is she just asking why dont you use my favorite actor even if he doesnt fit in there?
“because stupid, have you met forrest whitaker? that dude is scary. i mean, scary. i can handle denzel. he’s intense. but forrest is scary.”
He’s got a sensitive side. (Crying Game)
It’s that one eye, aint’t it?
You don’t mess with Ghost Dog!
There are no bad questions, but there are terrible ones.
When I was in art school Chip Kidd came in to speak to us and revealed that the Jurassic Park logo was created when he did a couple thousand thumbnails, couldn’t land on something he liked, and eventually when the deadline hit he said fuck it and just photocopied a fossil out of a book and silhouetted it out because there was no time to do anything more involved.
I met Chip Kidd at a Comic Con and he was a humongous jerk. Also, he didn’t even create the logo! He created the book jacket, a piece of which—the dinosaur he traced—was used on the logo. The lettering, the circle, the color scheme, all of that was designed by other people: https://www.tiff.net/the-review/the-hidden-history-of-the-jurassic-park-logo/This wouldn’t be that big a deal but I remember when the movie came out there were several “Meet the designer of the Jurassic Park logo” articles about Chip Kidd where he claimed total credit.
The implied promise of, and failure to deliver on, learning HOW Spike Lee handed Peele his ass, makes me so disappointed to have read this.
My boss has a story about how he met Spike Lee once and asked him to autograph his hat.It was a Bulls hat. But to Lee’s credit, he took it, signed it, and didn’t cover it with a bunch of Knicks slogans or anything.He said Lee gave him a look that would have… would have… I don’t know, what’s something that happens when you ask a Knicks fan to sign your Bulls hat during the height of the Jordan era?
Hey when Scorcese has DeNiro or DiCaprio as muses you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
So, Spike Lee’s an asshole as well as an intermittently brilliant filmmaker – what a shock.
right in the middle of a talk and Q&A, Oliver Stone, from the stage, started trying to mash an asian girl in the third row, so this sounds less traumaticOn the other side John Waters made eyes at someone during a Q&A and everybody was turning to the guy being like “You’re in! go for it!”