-Welcome back to the show. -Glad to be here.
Uh, I could not help noticing your hat and your hoodie:
"1619." If Governor Northam has taught me anything,
it’s that that is a very significant year
in America’s history.
Yes. So, um, four...
400 years ago today--
this year--
slaves were brought from Africa to Jamestown, Virginia.
-Right. -400 years.
So I just felt that, uh... that’s part of American history,
-and we need to know about it. -Right.
400 years...
to... this year...
Jamestown, Virginia.
And you think it’s ironic all this stuff’s happening
about race in Virginia?
Starting back to... recently, back to Charlottesville.
When you look at the news today,
and you look at the movie you made, BlacKkKlansman,
I remember watching that film and going: I cannot believe
that this story takes place this many decades ago
and yet feels like a movie from 2018.
I think it’s an example of, uh,
how we make progress,
but not as much...
as we hope to be.
Right.
When our brother, Obama...
President Obama, 44th, when he put his hand...
when he put his hand on that Bible...
I kept reading stuff about "post-racial" something.
Like the moment his hand touched that Bible,
hocus-pocus...
-whatever it was... -It was gone.
-Gone! Evaporated. -Right.
I did not drink that Kool-Aid.
I didn’t believe it one second.
It’s-it’s an interesting time.
And you know what I think connected with so many people
about your film is that-- if you haven’t watched it,
it genuinely is, it’s an amazing film.
It’s funny, it’s gripping, it’s...
it’s historical at the same time,
and it’s a powerful story about a black man
who infiltrates the KKK...
over the phone just by saying the right racist things to them.
But what’s interesting,
especially in that clip that we saw,
is that even then the KKK is starting to evolve,
and they’re saying, "Guys, we can’t function
-as an overt racist organization..." -David Duke.
-Right. -The Grand Wizard.
-He’s saying, -David Duke.
"We need to be racist in a way that’s palatable
to other white people."
-Why is that so important? -Take off the hood, the cape,
-and put on a suit and tie. -Right.
Why was that so important for you to put into the movie?
What I tried to do, along with my cowriter, Kevin Willmott,
we wanted to connect the past with the present.
We just didn’t want people to look at a film and say,
"Oh, this stuff just happened in the ’70s, and forget about it."
-Right. -To make it...
to tell the story that we knew as filmmakers,
we had to connect... the past with the present.
That’s why, I think, it’s resonated so, so...
-not just the United States, but globally, -Right.
this film has made an impact.
It’s made an impact not just with audiences
but with, uh, the Academy as well.
-Yeah. -Nominated for six Academy Awards.
-Which is amazing. -(applause, cheering)
Really amazing.
-(laughing) -That’s amazing.
And... this honestly surprised me--
your first nomination for Best Director.
-And Best Picture. -And Best Picture.
-Yep. -That-that seems like a long time coming for Spike Lee.
(applause, cheering, whistling)
No. No, no, like, like, what’s interesting is, I mean,
it’s hard for you to say this of yourself,
but it feels like for a long time people have said:
Look, we’re not saying that this is against black people,
but you have to think of voters.
Who are the people who are voting for...
Anytime-- for me-- anytime, you know,
there’s some type of award, the first thing I ask myself:
-Who is voting? -Yes.
And it was...
April...
Reign...
who started the hashtag, #OscarsSoWhite...
-Right. -and Cheryl Boone Isaacs,
who was the president
of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences,
those two sisters, African American women,
both of them put stuff forward
so...
the voting members would be more diverse.
I would have not got six nominations,
or anybody, since then,
since #OscarsSoWhite,
if not for the diversity
of the voting membership.
-And when you... -It wasn’t like that back in 1989.
No, not at all.
When you... when you look at... when you look at the year
-when Do the Right Thing was... -1989.
-Right. -Another summer.
-Uh-huh. -Bring the funky drummer.
(laughter)
That’s Public Enemy, "Fight the Power."
You-you had a film that was...
many people, uh, said was snubbed
in favor of Driving Miss Daisy,
which was a movie about a...
black person in a car with a white person.
And Green Book is nominated this year, another movie
with a black person and a white person in a car.
-Are you having flashbacks? -(laughter)
You know what? I hope the New York Knicks get Zion.
(laughter)
That one player in college basketball, Duke University.
So we’re losing games. Hopefully you get him.
-That’s my answer. -I’ll take it.
I’ll take it. Good luck to you with the show.
And congratulations on your Oscar nominations.
BlacKkKlansman is currently in select theaters
and available on demand. Spike Lee, everybody.