Best 103 quotes of Spike Lee on MyQuotes

Spike Lee

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    Spike Lee

    '25th Hour,' like a lot of my films, takes place in New York City. I've been very fortunate to make films in the city that I live. I mean, it's great going home at night instead of being on location.

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    Spike Lee

    All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

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    Spike Lee

    A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.

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    Spike Lee

    America doesn't have the moral right to tell other people what to do. To say the whole world has to fall into line is you-know-what. I hope more people will rise up.

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    Spike Lee

    American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.

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    Spike Lee

    Amongst black people, you have always heard it said that once a black man reaches a certain level, especially if you are an entertainer, you get a white trophy woman. I didn't make that up.

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    Spike Lee

    Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith.

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    Spike Lee

    Any time you talk about the look of the film, it's not just the director and the director of photography. You have to include the costume designer and the production designer.

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    Spike Lee

    As a people we do not need anyone else's stamp of approval.

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    Spike Lee

    As a writer I want everybody to get a chance to voice their opinions. If each character thinks that they're telling the truth, then it's valid. Then at the end of the film, I leave it up to the audience to decide who did the right thing.

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    Spike Lee

    A spine to my films that's become more evident to me is that many are about the choices people make, and the reverberations of those choices. You go this way, or that way, and either way, there's going to be consequences.

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    Spike Lee

    As we move toward the millennium, the year 2000, the most powerful nations are not those that have nuclear bombs, but those that control the media. That's where the battle is being fought; that is how you control people's minds.

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    Spike Lee

    Because many advances have happened, we've lost the urgency (and that's just human nature) that we had before, when we couldn't vote, couldn't use mass transportation, or drink from the fountains.

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    Spike Lee

    Critics like to build you up, tear you down, and then, if you're lucky, build you up again.

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    Spike Lee

    Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

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    Spike Lee

    'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.

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    Spike Lee

    Do the Right Thing' was my first union film. I looked at the rosters, and for the most part, it was white males. Especially the Teamsters. So we had some conversations.

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    Spike Lee

    For me, I believe in God, God is real.

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    Spike Lee

    He revolutionized music videos. Before Michael Jackson, MTV refused to play African-American artists.

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    Spike Lee

    I ain't Martin Luther King. I don't need a dream. I have a plan.

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    Spike Lee

    I always give the example, if you turn on the radio today, black radio, Lenny Kravitz is not black. Bob Marley wasn't black: in the beginning, only white college stations played Bob Marley.

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    Spike Lee

    I am a hybrid. I do independent films and also do Hollywood films - I love them both.

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    Spike Lee

    I am trying to stay away from this position of me "returning to my roots." As if my roots are that I'm only comfortable working on low-budget, small films. That's not the case at all.

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    Spike Lee

    I am very fortunate I can send my kids to private school, but everybody does not have the money. If you cannot get your kid in a good school today, your kids are going to be behind the eight ball.

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    Spike Lee

    I believe in destiny. But I also believe that you can’t just sit back and let destiny happen. A lot of times, an opportunity might fall into your lap, but you have to be ready for that opportunity. You can’t sit there waiting on it. A lot of times you are going to have to get out there and make it happen.

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    Spike Lee

    I collect names for characters. Names are valuable; they can be your first source of insight into a character.

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    Spike Lee

    I consider Madonna a friend, and she sure knows how to work the publicity machine. Of course, I don't have breasts. If I did have, I'd be in the number one spot over Madonna.

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    Spike Lee

    I decided to be a filmmaker between my sophomore and junior years at Morehouse. Before I left for the summer of 1977, my advisor told me I really had to declare a major when I came back, because I'd used all my electives in my first two years. I went back to New York and I couldn't find a job. There were none to be had. And that previous Christmas someone gave me a Super-8 camera, so I just started to shoot stuff.

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    Spike Lee

    I didn't dream about being a director. I didn't know I wanted to do something with film until the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Morris College in Atlanta, Georgia.

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    Spike Lee

    I'd like to state that Spike Lee is not saying that African American culture is just for black people alone to enjoy and cherish. Culture is for everybody.

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    Spike Lee

    I don't get tripped up in technology. I use technology as a tool. 'Oldboy' we shot Two Pro 35mm. For 'Da Blood of Jesus,' we shot digitally. We shot the new Sony F55. It's a 4K camera.

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    Spike Lee

    I don't like to use the word 'remake', I think reinterpretation is a better word. It's just a matter of respecting the source, and then trying to make your own film, and trying not to be inhibited by being so beholden to every single thing... We respect the source, but we make changes to it.

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    Spike Lee

    I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films.

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    Spike Lee

    I don't think my films are going to get rid of racism or prejudice. I think the best thing my films can do is provoke discussion.

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    Spike Lee

    I don't think racism can be eliminated in my lifetime ... or my children's or grandchildren's. But I think it's something we have to strive for. I'm going to keep working toward that day coming.

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    Spike Lee

    If people go to IMDB, they will see that I'm very comfortable with independent cinema, and doing studio films too. For me this is not an either/or situation.

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    Spike Lee

    If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they're killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We'd not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.

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    Spike Lee

    If you have a talented family, you should be shot if you don't use them.

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    Spike Lee

    I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street.

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    Spike Lee

    I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated.

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    Spike Lee

    I knew I was never going to play professional sport, but I loved playing and I went to all the games I could afford to.

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    Spike Lee

    I like to work with the same people when I can, and you want to get people with the same interests that you have, and the same aesthetic.

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    Spike Lee

    I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I'm a New York filmmaker.

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    Spike Lee

    I'll be vilified if I shoot a film in Toronto for New York. And rightfully so!

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    Spike Lee

    I'm always open. I try not to have a closed mind. In fact the only reason why I'm able to continue to make films since 1986 is I have been adaptable. If I weren't flexible I sure wouldn't be making films this many years as I've been doing it. I've been making a film a year almost since 1986 and that's hard. That ain't easy.

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    Spike Lee

    I'm always open to new, innovative stuff and people trying to do stuff in a different way. I knew that the theatrical release would be like getting on the launch pad for Amazon Prime but I was okay with that because I think what Jeff Bezos and Ted Hope are doing is innovative.

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    Spike Lee

    I'm an independent filmmaker with complete creative control of my films. I hire who I want. I have final cut. But at the same time, I go directly to Hollywood for financing and distribution. I find it's best for me to work within the Hollywood system.

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    Spike Lee

    I'm a storyteller, and there's some genres I like. I don't think I'm ever going to do science fiction, but I want to do a musical one day. I want to tell stories, I don't really try to get boxed in by a specific genre.

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    Spike Lee

    I may have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night.

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    Spike Lee

    I mean, I think there's a lot of hope in my work. I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films. Some more than others, but there's definitely... I think we want to convey the feeling of hope with the montage at the end.