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" 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. "

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" I always give the example, if you turn on the radio today, black radio, Lenny Kravitz is not black. Bob Marley wasn't black: in the beginning, only white college stations played Bob Marley. "

Spike Lee

You

Today

College

" People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world. "

" I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets. "

" My cousin Malcolm Lee is also a filmmaker. "

" First of all, what in this world does not revolve around money? But money is a big part of film, unlike a lot of other art forms. "

" I think my work shows that I love women. I understand where these types of criticisms are coming from because black people have been so dogged out in the media, they're just extra sensitive. "

" 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. "

" And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels. "

" 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. "

" People sometimes forget all the films that we've done. They remember the likes of 'Malcolm X' and 'Do the Right Thing.' But I've been working since 1986. From the beginning, I was determined to not just be a flash in the pan. I've got to keep up with Woody Allen. He's lapping me. "

" 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

Consequences

Choices

" Fight the power that be. Fight the power. "

Spike Lee

Power

Fight

" I don't like acting; not in front of the camera. "

" I think the best actors in the world are here in New York City. And this city is just so vibrant the energy is just phenomenal. Great crews here. All the technicians, all the artists that work in this industry. I've just been very happy with the body that we've been able to do, especially those films we shot here in New York City. "

" 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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" My grandmother lived to be 100 years old. Her grandmother was a slave, yet she was a college graduate in the Spellman class of 1917. She taught art for 50 years and she saved her Social Security checks for her children's education. "

" I tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces. "

" I'm riding my man Obama. I think he's a visionary. Actually, Barack told me the first date he took Michelle to was 'Do the Right Thing.' I said, Thank God I made it. Otherwise you would have taken her to 'Soul Man.' Michelle would have been like 'What's wrong with this brother?' "

" A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there. "

" All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love. "

" What's the difference between Hollywood characters and my characters? Mine are real. "

" I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated. "

" We grew up in a very creative environment and were exposed to the arts at a very young age, so it's not a surprise that all of us are in some form of the arts. "

" 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. "

" 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

" 'She's Gotta Have It' and 'School Daze,' I really didn't know what I was doing. And the biggest indicator of that was the acting. 'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors. "

" Since the days of slavery, if you were a good singer or dancer, it was your job to perform for the master after dinner. "

" 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. "