A Look at Spike Lee’s Journal

By Charlie Wachtel

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Do the Right Thing
On June 30th it will have been 20 years since Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing was screened in theaters. Lee’s controversial yet bold exercise in filmmaking proved himself a pioneer in understanding race relations and certainly one of the best black voices in film. Self-aware of his unique position in a film industry dominated by white filmmakers, Lee kept a journal of the time he spent bringing to life Do The Right Thing. From inception through eventual production, Lee candidly documented his thoughts and emotions. What resulted was an insightful and intriguing catalog of Lee’s passion for filmmaking, frustration with the studio system, and even the challenge of experiencing writer’s block.

The journal allows us to pick Lee’s brain. It reveals that unlike many master auteurs of the industry, Lee himself was no natural genius. He was a man with a creative vision who simply wanted to say something about the world. Available to the public in academic libraries, Spike Lee’s journal is a goldmine of content for any aspiring filmmaker who wonders how good ideas blossom into theatrical films.

Organized by date, Lee’s journal entries often were days apart from each other. In conceiving Do The Right Thing, his kernel of an idea was rooted in “a hot summer day.” Lee expressed his fascination in “circular stories” wherein each character represents a certain idea or contributes to a specific theme within the script. As he came up with the character of Sal played by Danny Aiello, Spike aimed high for “Bob” Deniro. After having lunch with Deniro to discuss the script, Deniro opted to pass on the script because he thought his character was too typecast like the roles he was used to playing. Other casting considerations included Spike’s attempt to secure Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne into supporting roles. Spike was frustrated to learn that both Dillon and Fishburne sought leading roles in order to be apart of the project. After weeks of failed persuasion Spike eventually moved on to find newer actors, claiming “[Dillon and Fishburne] weren’t worth it.” While many may consider Do The Right Thing as the masterwork which ascended Spike into rock-star status, his ease of scheduling lunch with the big boys in between doing shoots with Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan proved that he was already pulling the right strings to make a bigger name for himself.

His previous picture, School Daze, seemed almost a distraction to Lee who was awaiting its theatrical release. His focus was more on preparing a script for Do The Right Thing which he believed would make him a serious industry player. Said Lee, “It’s important that I follow up School Daze right away. This is crucial, no recent Black filmmaker has been able to go from film to film like the white boys do.” Lee’s journal also reveals his anger towards the studio system. Excerpts in the journal between School Daze and Do The Right Thing show how Lee felt the odds were pitted against him because his status as an unproven black filmmaker was putting him at a disadvantage with studio execs. His rhetoric even signals the existence of racism in the studio system:

“Universal pictures is dicking me around. They won’t budge from the $6.5 million budget, won’t go a penny over it. It’s ridiculous. White boys get real money, fuck up, lose millions of dollars, and still get chance after chance. Not so with us. You fuck up one time, that’s it. After the commercial successes of She’s Gotta Have It and School Daze I shouldn’t have to fight for the pennies the way I’m doing now. But what else can I do? I’ll make the best film possible with the budget I’m given.“

Lee was also irked by Paramount which wanted to change the end of the film because “the riot scene scared them.” An important demand of Lee was that he have complete artistic control and final cut of Do The Right Thing because he did not want a black film to be made by white people (which is what he claimed had happened with The Color Purple).

Lee also complained about the Hollywood system for its polarizing of talented filmmakers. Lee remarked that he didn’t want to be pigeon-holed to work with just a “Spike Lee crew” and instead wanted the experience of working with many different filmmakers on future sets. He notes the unfortunate state of the industry as one which promotes competition among competing crews of filmmakers instead of collaboration. Lee expressed that he was not worried about competition or of being surpassed by other black filmmakers as long as cinema was being advanced.

In terms of how Lee wanted Do the Right Thing to be received by audiences, his journal writings reveal that he was very race-conscious and race-sophisticated in terms of what buttons he was going to push with people. Every decision he made with regard to a character was meticulously considered. Many of his entries signaled a sense of responsibility in making a film which he knew dealt openly with race. Lee maintained that he did not want be preachy and that he “doesn’t like movies like that.” Some films which inspired Spike during pre-production were Night of the Hunter and Powaqaatsi. Radio Raheem’s brass “love and hate” knuckles were inspired by Robert Mitchum’s character. In his entry on Powaqaatsi, Lee wrote “They had this vicious shot of kids racing straight into the camera. Nasty. We should do the same.” Usually when Spike would write about a good idea he came up with he used the word “vicious.”

Lee’s journal comes off more like a diary as his entries appear honest, open, and genuine. What is most fascinating about the journal is that Lee never appears pretentious or even brilliant. He comes off as a normal guy who just wants to share his vision. His faith and certainty in Do The Right Thing and the conquered challenge of bringing his dream-film into reality is what separates the edgy, no-nonsense Lee from the rest. After 20 years, Lee’s can-do attitude continues to inspire.

Charlie Wachtel is a Senior Writer for The Film Crusade and Founder of www.filmcrusade.com.