7 Directors Who Went To Extraordinary Lengths To Fix Past Mistakes

7. Spike Lee Made She's Gotta Have It Into A TV Series And 'Fixed' The Rape Scene

Released back in 1986, She's Gotta Have It announced Spike Lee as an important, authentic voice in U.S. cinema, but while the movie's messaging and plot were largely strong, especially for the era, the writer-director made what he considers the biggest mistake of his career with one particular scene.

The movie sees protagonist Nola seeing three different men, and one of them - Jamie - ends up raping her, while also mocking her at the same time. It's a badly handled sequence, which Lee himself has admitted, telling Deadline:

"If I was able to have any do-overs, that would be it. It was just totally ... stupid. I was immature. It made light of rape, and that’s the one thing I would take back."

While the rape scene isn't the explicit reason Lee made a TV version of She's Gotta Have It, it likely played a part in his motivation, and the series did offer him the opportunity to right the wrong. It would've been quite easy for the show to simply avoid to altogether, given the controversy of the movie's version, but Lee instead opts to depict a man attempting to assault this take on Nola.

It's not as violent as the movie, but the TV series nonetheless makes sure to explore the impact that harassment and abuse have upon the person, in a considered, timely fashion.