Spike Lee has added another project to his ever growing schedule of potential flicks. This time it’s a World War II drama (aren’t they becoming popular again!) based on the novel Miracle at St. Anna written by American author James McBride.
The movie will be set in Italy, with shooting tentatively planned for next year.
And before you ask. Yes it’s Spike Lee, of course the flick has something to do with race…
High-profile project about the true tale of four members of the U.S. Army’s 92nd Division of all-black soldiers, who in 1944 became trapped in a Tuscan village, as they contended with their racist, incompetent commanders and the Nazis, is being shepherded by Italian producers Luigi Musini and Roberto Cicutto.
Lee says the movie will mostly use an American cast.
This is the fourth film that Lee has been attached to since his Inside Man opened in cinema’s last year. Those movies include a James Brown biopic, a movie about the L.A. Riots in the early 90′s and Inside Man 2.
So that’s three of his four upcoming potential projects dealing heavily with racism. How surprising!
source – variety
Want to write about the stuff you're passionate about and have your work read by an audience of over 10 million a month? Click here to become a contributor.
4 Comments
The James Brown biopic doesn’t deal with racism, so that’s only two of four that “deal heavily with racism.”
And this is a story that NEEDS to be told. Blacks were second-class citizens, lynched, portrayed as sub-human by presidents and the media and yet this same people drafted blacks for WWII and demanded they give their lives for that country that did all these things and would continue to do so long after the war. People need to see that while the US railed against the “racism” and “hate” of the Nazi’s the US was practicing the same sorts of policies. It’s a good contrast to show, and timely given how the US is acting in Iraq.
And Spike Lee does often deal with race, but given that Haggis’ Crash got an Academy Award when it was clearly crap, is it such a bad thing? There are many who are made uncomfortable at the prospect that Spike Lee will make a movie because they fear he’ll “point the finger” at them, but that’s what art is supposed to do, reveal truth, and in the process you’re going to make some people very uncomfortable. This story NEEDS to be told, and if Spike doesn’t do it, then who will? Michael Bay? Ron Howard? Who?
There are those who bristle at the thought of the “next” Spike movie. It’s as if they fear he’s going to wake them from the fantasy they’ve been hiding in. I look forward to that. It’s hard to keep the image of moral superiority when somebody puts a mirror in front of you. But that’s what real art demands.
I couldn’t have said it any better, I completely agree with JaySmack. Spike is one of those directors who’s movies arn’t afraid to tell it like it is, even if that means going against Hoolywood trends and protocol.
Of course the James Brown biopic will deal with racism.
I admire what Spike Lee has done and I have found his movies fascinating for many years now but he is such a talented director… I want him to blow me away with another type of subject matter.
I want him to shoot something like the thriller Selling Time that he has been attached to for a while now. I think he is so talented, I want to see him go out and try something a little different. Blow me away in a different kind of way.
On that you and I agree Matt. I also would like to see more “mainstream” material (“25th Hour”, “Inside Man” stuff) from him too, but not if he’s only doing it to avoid criticism for focusing more on race. A filmamker has to do what they’re DRIVEN to do.
And thank you Tino for the morale support.
Spike’s done five or so movies with racial overtones and really he seems to be the only filmmaker in the world with anything to say. Each of his “race” movies was different. Compare that to Mike Haggis’ “Crash” which was so heavy-handed I had to take half a bottle of Tylenol afterwards. He bashed me over the head with, “Can’t we all just get along?”
On another point, Spike Lee has criticized the flood of remakes of TV shows and old movies and vowed he’s going to stick to original properties. Inside Man was one of those. Love him or hate him, the man follows his own muse and ignores what the studios tell him he’s “supposed” to make. I personally can’t wait to see what he has to say next, and if it’s about race, then so be it. It’a ALWAYS fascinating.
His creative attitude is the kind that will keep cinema safe for adults and keep his movies in the public consciousness long after the “remake” craze has passed.