Spike Lee

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Spike Lee Edits HBO Episode After Criticism

Filmmaker cuts discussion of Twin Towers' collapse from 'NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½'

(Newser) - Spike Lee has re-edited the final episode of a four-part HBO series on the Sept. 11 terror attacks after criticism that it gave a platform to conspiracy theorists. NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½, the first episode of which aired Sunday, explores how New York City has weathered events like the coronavirus pandemic...

Spike Lee Accidentally Spoils Cannes Awards Show

Director revealed top prize at the start of the ceremony

(Newser) - For anyone anxious to know who took top prize at the year's Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee is your man. Those more partial to suspense may have been less than thrilled, though, as the director and jury president accidentally revealed the Palme d’Or winner at the top of...

Cannes Film Fest Is Back, With a Big First

Spike Lee will be first Black person to head jury for the festival, starting Tuesday

(Newser) - For the past 16 months, the Palais des Festivals, the central hub of the Cannes Film Festival, has been lined with hospital beds and even turned into a mass-vaccination site after the film fest was postponed last year, then canceled due to the pandemic. On Tuesday, the film fest, delayed...

Subject of Spike Lee's Next Film: the 'Little Blue Pill'

Movie on the origins of Viagra, based on an 'Esquire' article, will be a musical

(Newser) - Viagra: The Musical? That's not the working title of Spike Lee's newest project, but it best encapsulates what he just signed up to do. Along with actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, the director will be penning a movie musical screenplay about the origins of the erectile dysfunction medication,...

Man Charged in Death of a Spike Lee Regular
Arrest Made
in Actor's Death
Oct 18, 2020 9:00 AM CDT

Arrest Made in Actor's Death

Actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd was shot in Atlanta

(Newser) - Atlanta police have announced that they made an arrest in the shooting death of actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd. Homicide detectives on Wednesday obtained an warrant for the arrest of 30-year-old Antonio Demetrice Rhynes on a felony murder charge based on evidence and tips from the public, and officers arrested him...

Actor From Spike Lee Movies Is Murdered

Thomas Jefferson Byrd, 70, is shot multiple times

(Newser) - An actor acclaimed for his stage work and his roles in Spike Lee films turned up dead Saturday with multiple bullets in his back, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Police aren't saying much, but they responded to a 1:45am call and found Thomas Jefferson Byrd, 70, unresponsive at 2259...

Spike Lee Drops His Defense of Woody Allen

'My words were wrong,' filmmaker tweets

(Newser) - Spike Lee's defense of Woody Allen lasted one day. In a radio interview Friday, Lee had offered Allen as an example of the unfairness of the "cancel culture," saying, "I know he’s going through it right now." On Saturday, the filmmaker posted a retraction,...

Spike Lee Says He's 'Done' With the Knicks

He says he is being 'harassed' after dispute over using employee entrance

(Newser) - New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee says he's "done" with the team—for this season, anyway—after a dispute over using the employee entrance at Madison Square Garden. The director, who has a courtside season ticket, was seen yelling at security before the team's 125-123 victory over...

Spike Lee Makes History With New Gig

He'll be first black filmmaker to head Cannes jury

(Newser) - Spike Lee will become the first black filmmaker to head the Cannes Film Festival jury this spring. "I'm honored to be the first person of the African diaspora (USA) to be named president of the Cannes jury and of a main film festival," which happens to be...

Trump Heard 'Racist Hit' in Spike Lee's Speech

President lashes out at director in post-Oscars tweet

(Newser) - Spike Lee did not mention President Trump by name during his acceptance speech Sunday night at the Oscars, but Trump took exception just the same: "Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit...

After More Than 3 Decades, Spike Lee Has His First Oscar

Lee wins best adapted screenplay for 'BlackKkKlansman'

(Newser) - After more than 30 years in the business (his first feature film was She's Gotta Have It, in 1986), Spike Lee took home his first Oscar Sunday night, and the New York Post notes he got "emotional." Lee leaped into presenter Samuel L. Jackson's arms when...

Hollywood A-Listers Revolt Against Oscars

Hundreds of big-name actors, directors, cinematographers slam Academy decision

(Newser) - The backlash against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continues, and increasingly bigger names are joining the fray. After announcing that four awards would be bestowed during commercial breaks at the Feb. 24 Oscars, there was immediate pushback from those who said it was insulting to recipients in...

'An Alarm Clock Rings' in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman
'An Alarm Clock Rings' in
Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman
MOVIE REVIEW
Aug 10, 2018 11:34 AM CDT

'An Alarm Clock Rings' in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman

Critics applaud this history lesson on racism in America

(Newser) - Spike Lee wants President Trump to see his new movie, reports Reuters , and critics want you to see it, too. Based on the true 1970s story of a black police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, BlacKkKlansman has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes , with critics commenting on its...

Turbulent Cannes Takes a Bow
Turbulent Cannes Takes a Bow
May 20, 2018 5:37 AM CDT

Turbulent Cannes Takes a Bow

Spike Lee takes home grand prize, while 'Shoplifters' wins Palme d'Or

(Newser) - A tumultuous Cannes Film Festival concluded Saturday with the Palme d'Or awarded to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters, a tender portrait of a poor, impoverished family, while Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento vowed justice will come to all sexual predators. At the closing ceremony, the Cate Blanchett-led jury...

More Than 100 Walk Out of Shocking Cannes Premiere

Matt Dillon plays serial killer in von Trier's latest

(Newser) - Lars von Trier is back at the Cannes film festival, seven years after he was banned for declaring he was a Nazi —and the Danish director is as controversial as ever. His new serial-killer drama, The House That Jack Built, prompted more than 100 people to walk out of...

Spike Lee to SC: 'Wake Up,' Vote for Bernie

Director says in radio ad that Sanders 'will do the right thing'

(Newser) - Just a few days ahead of the South Carolina Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders has gained a noteworthy endorsement, the Hill reports. "Wake up, South Carolina!" director Spike Lee says in a one-minute radio spot that started playing Tuesday across the state, in which Hillary Clinton appears to be...

Oscars Chief: We're Making 'Big Changes'

She responds to black actors' boycott call

(Newser) - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs isn't in a position to boycott the Oscars —but she wants Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee to know that she is "heartbroken and frustrated" by this year's lack of diversity and there are big...

Black Stars Are Boycotting 'Lily White' Oscars

Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee will skip Academy Awards

(Newser) - Chris Rock lamented last week that the Oscars are essentially "the white BET awards." He can't exactly skip them, since he's the host —but other black stars can. Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee have both pledged to boycott this year's Academy Awards, for...

'Wake Up!' We Need Spike Lee's Chi-Raq

It doesn't always work, but it's a 'wake-up alarm,' say critics

(Newser) - Taking a page from the ancient Greek play Lysistrata and modern-day Chicago, Spike Lee's Chi-Raq centers on a women's movement to withdraw from sex in an attempt to curb gun violence on the South Side. It has particular meaning as homicides in the city rack up . Here's...

Amazon Has Its First Original Movie

Spike Lee's Chi-Raq stars Nick Cannon, Jennifer Hudson

(Newser) - Amazon Studios says it has acquired Spike Lee's new film as its first Amazon Original Movie . The film, with the working title Chi-Raq, stars Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Hudson, Teyonah Parris, DB Sweeney, Harry Lennix, Steve Harris, Angela Bassett, John Cusack, and Samuel L. Jackson. Chi-Raq, which focuses...

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