Clint Eastwood doesn’t take crap from anyone and certainly not from someone like Spike Lee. At least, that’s the impression we’re left with now after Eastwood decided to defend himself against some remarks Lee has made about him in the recent past.
It all started at the Cannes film festival where Spike Lee got his panties all in a wad over Clint Eastwood’s portrayal (or non-portrayal) of black people in Eastwood’s highly acclaimed films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. Lee had this to say at the time:
“There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint for not having one [in the films]. That was his version: the negro soldier did not exist. I have a different version.
“Here’s the paradox,” he said. “These African-American men wanted to fight against fascism in the name of democracy. At the same time, they were still second-class citizens.” Although Lee emphasized his respect for Eastwood as a film-maker, he claimed that the director had been told of the African-Americans who fought at Iwo Jima, and had chosen to ignore that “information”.
Lee’s “different version,” which he mentions in the quote, is his film Miracle At St. Anna which chronicles the story of four black American soldiers who are members of the US Army as part of the all-black 92nd “Buffalo Soldier” Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II. That film is set to hit theaters on October 10.
Well, Eastwood didn’t comment on what Lee said at the time, but he has since given an interview to The Guardian in which he said plenty:
“The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn’t do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people’d go: ‘This guy’s lost his mind.’ I mean, it’s not accurate.” Referring to Lee, he added: “A guy like him should shut his face.”
Come on! You gotta love Eastwood! He just told Spike Lee to SHUT HIS FACE! That’s freakin’ awesome! That article mentions that Clint once also said that he would kill Michael Moore if he showed up uninvited to his house.
Eastwood wasn’t done with Lee yet, though. He had plenty more to say:
Defending the racial make-up in his films as historically accurate, Eastwood referred to another of his films, Changeling, which was set in Los Angeles before the city had a large group of African-Americans. “What are you going to do, you going to tell a fuckin’ story about that?” he said. “Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I’m not in that game. I’m playing it the way I read it historically, and that’s the way it is. When I do a movie and it’s 90% black, like Bird, then I use 90% black people.
“He was complaining when I did Bird (the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker). Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that’s why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else.”
Eastwood’s next project, The Human Factor, will be about Nelson Mandela’s attempts to foster national unity in post-apartheid South Africa. Asked if he would remain historically accurate with depictions of the former president, he said: “I’m not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy.”
In fact, Morgan Freeman, who actually brought Human Factor to Eastwood, will be playing Nelson Mandela in that film. Matt Damon also recently joined the cast.
“I’m not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy.” – rotfl
Does Lee know that Eastwood made the phrase, “Feelin’ lucky, punk?” famous? What the heck is that guy thinking?
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
@APE lol. we think alike I was thinkin the same thing…wayyy too funny… I would have liked for Eastwood to toss in “I doubt Spike wants to mess with the 3 of us…” “3?” “Yeah… Smith, Wesson.. and me!!”
@ Cap’n – that’s great! lol
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
@Ape hey I just noticed your logo/icon is gone…where’d it go? We want it back… or a new one…
Gone? I’m still seeing it when I post.
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
Does Spike Lee really wear panties, as mentioned above, “Spike Lee got his panties all in a wad”? Just checking.
I don’t see the Ape either… and I want to.
I don’t see the Ape anymore either
By the way, I love Eastwood even more for this article…good for him to stand up for what he does, and not give into this over-sensitivity people have these days.
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Michael Moore.
*BOOM!*
I can still see me and I can see you. Mike – do you think this is related to disqus and them using Gravatar’s? I’ll go over and sign up and see if I return for you guys.
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
@ PrincessAnaDVR – ROTFL! That was so funny, my sides hurt.
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
All we see is popcorn for the big hairy guy…
That’s my new look – you don’t like it?
I’m planning on changing my name to The Trousered Popcorn.
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
it looks like a lumpy nipple to me.
Nickys last blog post..Update from my bed.
Ape, I have no idea other than you are using a different email address here to comment than you have on Gravatar…
@ Mike – nope, I haven’t changed it at all. It’s actually saved when I come to the page so I never even have to enter it. Weird, I can still see it perfectly fine.
@ Nicky – LOL…I think.
The Trousered Apes last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
Spike Lee is an idiot who thrives on controversy. He’s probably glad to have gotten the publicity. He may or may not have believed what he said, who knows? If he’s counter-pitching another movie (which still hovers in the “what’s it again?” territory) then his motivation behind the comment is quite clear.
@ Nicky: LOL! You’ve ruined PopCritics’ popcorn for me! Time to get a new logo!
LOL @ Nicky – That’s our logo yer talking about here!
[...] we told you the other day, Spike Lee is upset with Eastwood for not putting black actors in his WWII movies, [...]
Why can’t Spike Lee just do his movies, and let Clint do his.
Everything is always racial with him (Spike)No wonder there is no peace between blacks and whites. Because there is always someone out there to stir the pot. And I am a little disappointed in Clint for lowering himself by the language. He’s been in the movies longer than ever, and love his movies. But I would just drop this crap and get back to making more movies for us to go and see that aren’t racially motivated which I have never seen him do.
So both of them need to go and do their thing and let it drop.
God Bless our veterans and troops state side and over seas, Black,White,Hispanic,and other ethnic backgrounds that have protected us and still protecting us.
damn. clint eastwood is a badass.
Yeah, ole Clint would surely wipe the floor with Mr. lee like the old days where his monkey did the punching for him!
ROTFL
Man, you guys have to check out this article I ran across. You can find it here. This guy is kinda nuts.
I replied to his last comment but it doesn’t look like he’s going to post it. Coward.
I just replied as well and it’s not showing up – they must have admin rights on or something. What a bunch of ignorant cowards.
Jason’s posts seem to be showing up now…but I would just ignore that site, looks like it’s full of complete idiots.
True – I just wanted to get my one comment it. I’m guessing it is just a bunch of ignorant kids who don’t have the first clue about anything.
It’s disturbingly sad…
The comment that’s up on that site from me is the first one I made (well, first two). I made another where I pointed out how libelous his completely fabricated Morgan Freeman quotes were and how he could actually be sued for posting something like that, but I guess he didn’t want to let me say that.
Ignorant cowards typically hide behind self-censorship.
Wow, thats amazing…. its the group of people I often like to call BBTK (Brave behind the Keybord) what a bunch of dolts…