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" 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. "
Spike Lee
Movies
Doctor
Me
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" Fight the power that be. Fight the power. "
Spike Lee
Power
Fight
" I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit. "
Spike Lee
Principles
Friends
She
" 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. "
Spike Lee
Women
Black
Change
" I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films. "
Spike Lee
You
Hope
Pessimist
" If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they're killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We'd not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism. "
Spike Lee
Now
Men
Black
" 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. "
Spike Lee
Quest
Down
Here
" For me, I believe in God, God is real. "
Spike Lee
Real
God
Believe
" I'm blessed, I can afford to send my children to private school. "
Spike Lee
Children
Blessed
Afford
" 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. "
Spike Lee
People
City
Done
" I don't get tripped up in technology. I use technology as a tool. 'Oldboy' we shot Two Pro 35mm. For 'Da Blood of Jesus,' we shot digitally. We shot the new Sony F55. It's a 4K camera. "
Spike Lee
Camera
Up
Two
" People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world. "
Spike Lee
Color
People
World
" 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. "
Spike Lee
You
Perfect
Law
" I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated. "
Spike Lee
I Am
School
Education
" And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels. "
Spike Lee
One Thing
Well
Hollywood
" Amongst black people, you have always heard it said that once a black man reaches a certain level, especially if you are an entertainer, you get a white trophy woman. I didn't make that up. "
Spike Lee
People
Man
Black
" 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. "
Spike Lee
Summer
Dream
Know
" I don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully. "
Spike Lee
Dictate
Stevie Wonder
Wonder
" A spine to my films that's become more evident to me is that many are about the choices people make, and the reverberations of those choices. You go this way, or that way, and either way, there's going to be consequences. "
Spike Lee
Me
Consequences
Choices
" Mike Tyson is the most complex person I've ever met in my life. I've known Mike since 1986. We're both from Brooklyn. I didn't know him growing up, but once he became heavyweight champion, I knew him then. "
Spike Lee
My Life
Champion
Growing Up
" A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there. "
Spike Lee
Even
Before
Censor
" When I went to school, you had to take art, you had to play an instrument. You had to play an instrument. But it's all degraded since then. I do not know what kind of nation we are that is cutting art, music, and gym out of the public-school curriculum. "
Spike Lee
School
You
Music
" 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. "
Spike Lee
Think
Action
Black
" I don't like acting; not in front of the camera. "
Spike Lee
Front
Acting
Camera
" I respect the audience's intelligence a lot, and that's why I don't try to go for the lowest common denominator. "
Spike Lee
Respect
Intelligence
Go
" People think I'm this angry black man walking around in a constant state of rage. "
Spike Lee
Man
People
Walking
" I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect. "
Spike Lee
People
Perfect
Interesting
" 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. "
Spike Lee
Professional
Never
Loved
" 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. "
Spike Lee
I Can
Get
Work
" '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. "
Spike Lee
Film
Do The Right Thing
Right
" Violence is a part of America. I don't want to single out rap music. Let's be honest. America's the most violent country in the history of the world, that's just the way it is. We're all affected by it. "
Spike Lee
America
History
Music