Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm not the go-to guy. Everybody is trying to tell their story and have different ways of telling it.
He revolutionized music videos. Before Michael Jackson, MTV refused to play African-American artists.
I tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces.
All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.
I collect names for characters. Names are valuable; they can be your first source of insight into a character.
I respect the audience's intelligence a lot, and that's why I don't try to go for the lowest common denominator.
I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated.
Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. It's been a matter of grappling for control over what we do.
Since the days of slavery, if you were a good singer or dancer, it was your job to perform for the master after dinner.
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.
We're the most violent nation on earth. There's no getting away from that. But you've got to look at it on a broader level.
I get offered to do stuff where the money's nice but it's not something I want to do - I get offered a lot of commercials too.
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.
First of all, what in this world does not revolve around money? But money is a big part of film, unlike a lot of other art forms.
I'm worried just as much about Donald Trump as that crazy guy in North Korea - and he has a nuclear code. I'm worrying about that.
People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world.
I don't see any negativity with what Brad Pitt is doing with his Make It Right Foundation, or what Sean Penn is trying to do in Haiti.
I never understood the concept of showing everything in the trailer. Why go to a movie if there's no surprise? I can't do it like that.
There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.
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.
American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.
It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.
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.
I'm very careful about how I portray violence in my films. I do believe that violence, especially violent video games, are not a good thing for young kids.
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.
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.
One of the great things about African-Americans is that we've always had this attitude: We make do with what we got. It comes from our ancestors being slaves.
We grew up in a very creative environment and were exposed to the arts at a very young age, so it's not a surprise that all of us are in some form of the arts.
I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.
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.
It is really important that young people find something that they want to do and pursue it with passion. I'm very passionate about filmmaking. It's what I love to do.
The truth is I've been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter; there was no Internet. Social Media was writing letters, making phone calls, beating the bushes.
Racism in America absolutely exists - it is an issue. We need to fix it. We're a great country - probably the greatest country but we could be a hell of a lot greater.
Music is, for me, a great tool of a filmmaker, the same way cinematography, the acting, editing, post-production, the costumes are. You know, to help you tell a story.
A woman who is very secure in herself, what she's about, what she wants to do, who probably figures that she's a prize catch-sooner or later he's going to come around.
I think it would be very boring dramatically to have a film where everybody was a lawyer or doctor and had no faults. To me, the most important thing is to be truthful.
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.
Right now a lot of people are still choosing to go to Toronto instead of shooting in New York City, something I haven't done and something I hope I'll never have to do.
'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.
My people, my people, what can I say; say what I can. I saw it but didn't believe it; I didn't believe what I saw. Are we gonna live together? Together are we gonna live?
There's a lot of Americans, black and white, who think that we've arrived where we need to be and nothing else needs to be done and affirmative action needs to be dismantled.
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.
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.
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.
We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who determines what is black?
Surprises are good. I'm not of the thinking where you tell the audience everything. Sometimes I don't even want to see the trailers. You see the trailer, you've seen the movie.
I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.
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.
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.
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 Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.