-I just saw your movie "BlacKkKlansman" last night,
and, oh, my gosh.
You just did it.
You just did it again, but, oh, my goodness.
-The times call for it. -It...
-You know, the world we live in today is crazy,
and I think the urgency you felt...
is what I feel being in America today.
-It´s like it was -- -It´s nuts.
-It´s crazy.
You -- You watch it, and you go, "Oh, this is set in the ´70s,"
and -- and you just -- you just kind of lose yourself,
´cause everyone´s wearing the ´70s clothes
and their hair is in the ´70s.
And you go, "Yeah," and then --
and then you -- you give a little...
-Well, that was something that I did
with my co-writer, Kevin Willmott.
We felt that.
We knew that this film could connect.
We wanted to make it hit.
It just could not be a period piece.
We had to put stuff in the film
to be able to connect it, again, to the world,
to the crazy world we live in today,
with this crazy guy in the White House.
-And you -- Yeah, I mean, yeah.
You connected it all right, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
You know, I mean -- you --
At the end, well, you´ll see it, but -- but you --
-I think you can talk about it, ´cause it´s out already
what the ending is since the premiere in Cannes.
-What happened in Virginia...
-Charlottesville. -...and Charlottesville.
-Yeah, and this -- this -- this weekend
will be the one-year anniversary of Charlottesville, too.
-It´s just bizarre.
You see all this racism and all this hatred,
and -- and you go --
It´s the grossest thing.
I just -- I hate it so much, and it makes me so upset.
And you go, "Well, at least that was then --
you know, times have changed,"
and unfortunately, it´s still relevant.
-Yes. Miss Susan Bro lost her daughter that day.
-Gosh. -Heather Heyer. August 12th.
-It was just -- Man, it just really just shakes you up.
But then, I -- getting there was --
it´s -- it´s a very --
it´s a great ride getting there, ´cause it´s very you,
´cause there is funny stuff in there,
and is... -Mm-hmm.
-This story -- how did you hear about this story?
-Jordan Peele called me up out of the blue.
He said, "Spike, I got something I want you to --
might want to take a look at."
I said, "What is it?"
He said, "It´s really six words --
black man infiltrates KKK."
Is that six? -Yeah.
-Anyway... -Six. Yeah. It´s like, yeah.
[ Light laughter ] -And I said --
I automatically thought about the David --
the famous Dave Chappelle skit.
He said, "Nah, that -- that -- that was --
This thing is real."
-That´s right. -And it happened.
Ron Stallworth in the ´70s --
he infiltrated the KKK. -Ron Stallworth.
And, also, the name Ron Stallworth is --
That´s his real name. -That´s his real name.
-That´s a great name. -Stallworth.
-Ron Stallworth, and he´s --
and, so, when -- when John David Washington --
-Denzel´s son. He´s a great performer.
-Denzel´s son is the lead in this movie.
-Right. -And he´s awesome.
-He´s great. -John David.
I go -- I never -- I don´t know --
I never saw "Ballers." -Mm-hmm.
-I don´t him that -- that well --
his -- his acting.
But he was fantastic.
So he´s talking on the phone, but then it´s Adam Driver
who actually goes and has to meet these guys,
and those guys were great, too.
-Yeah, well... -Well acted.
-Adam Driver plays the white Ron Stallworth.
-Ron Stallworth, yes. -So, John David´s character
only could talk to them on the phone,
but, in person, he can´t do that.
-Yeah.
-So, Adam Driver -- those guys team up.
-And they start kind of working on --
almost like an impression of each other´s voices,
so they can be like --
it´s like, "Hey, how are you doing?"
He´s like, "That´s not the way you sounded on the phone."
It´s like, "Uh, no, that was a --
Well, I had a -- I had allergies, so..."
[ Light laughter ] -Yeah.
-But it´s -- it´s -- Ah!
It´s just well done, and there´s good music.
I know you know your music... -Thank you.
-...and there´s some great music in there.
"Oh Happy Day."
-Another great score by Terence Blanchard,
my longtime composer, and...
-Well done. It´s a great score.
-But then, one of the songs I liked was really...
emphasized what the film was about,
the great Temptations´ song, "Ball of Confusion."
-"Ball of Confusion." -"Ball of Confusion."
-Oh, I loved it.
-One of the things that I think --
what makes the film work
is that we´re able -- able to balance humor
with very -- very serious subject matter.
And we´re like, you know, walking a tightrope,
because either way, you know, you could go -- pfft! --
fall between the World Trade Center, you know?
So...but we -- we -- we worked hard,
and we´re looking forward to sharing this
with the United States of America.
You know?
August 10th, which will be, again, the 10 --
the one-year anniversary of Charlottesville.
-You premiered this --
-I mean, that -- that was planned.
-That -- That you´d release it then?
-One-year anniversary, yes.
-I mean, it´s just awful when you look at it, and you go,
"I can´t believe that we´re living in these times."
You got to -- -But what is really awful
is that the so-called President of the United States of America
had an opportunity to condemn hate...
-Yeah.
-...and he didn´t do it. -Yeah.
-To condemn the KKK.
To condemn neo-Nazis.
To condemn the Klan.
And he said, "There´s bad people on both sides."
-I wish that that didn´t happen.
-It did. -But it did happen.
-And it´s in the movie.
-And it´s in the movie, and I was reminded.
I go, "Oh, I can´t believe it,"
but then, I can´t believe anything.
I -- At this point, I just believe everything,
because people come up, and they go,
"Do you believe what he --"
I go, "Yeah, I probably would." -Yeah.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-At this point -- And this point, it´s so --
but it´s a good wake-up call to anyone who just --
just watches and go like, "Ohh, we have to change,
and we have to just be nice to each other.
We have to love each other..." -Got to.
-"...and we just have to get together,
and everyone´s got to be equal."
And when you see it, you´ll -- you´ll be moved.
You´ll laugh. You´ll cry.
It´s -- Exactly. It´s -- It´s a movie.
[ Chuckling ] And you -- you made a great movie.
I hope you have your tuxedo picked out, ´cause --
-Don´t jinx it.
-I´ll be seeing you at those -- Yeah.
-Don´t jinx it. -I want to show everyone here.
Here´s John David Washington and Adam Driver
in Spike Lee´s new movie, "BlacKkKlansman."
Take a look.
-Why haven´t you bought into this?
-Why should I?
-Because you´re Jewish, brother.
The so-called "chosen people."
You´ve been passing for a W.A.S.P. --
white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
Cherry pie, hot dog, white boy.
Hmm.
It´s what some light-skinned black folks do --
they pass for white.
Doesn´t that hatred you´ve been hearing the Klan say --
doesn´t that piss you off? -Of course it does.
-Then why you acting like
you ain´t got skin in the game, brother?
-Rookie, that´s my...business.
-It´s our business.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Spike Lee, everybody!