'It's my pantheon!' As the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum finally opens its doors, Spike Lee gives us a personal tour of the opening exhibit dedicated to his four decades of filmmaking.
). Photographs of iconic athletes, political leaders and musicians dot the walls; a video compilation of the man’s signature double dolly shots plays on repeat. The jazzy title cut from thesoundtrack plays softly on the overhead speakers. Understandably, Lee isn’t interested in a sitting down for an old-fashioned interview. He’d much rather walk around the exhibit and riff.
“I had nothing to do with putting this together,” he says, having only recently seen the finished product himself. How does it feel to be immortalized in a museum? “Great,” he replies. “They said, ‘I want to come to New York,’” the director recalls. “I said, ‘Come to my office,’ and they said, ‘I want this, I want this, this, this, this, this’” — Lee points emphatically around the room at different items. “They just packed that shit up and drove it across the country to L.A.
The Academy Museum has taken great pains not just to preserve Hollywood history but also critique it, with several of the rooms offering commentary on the industry’s racist past practices, including in the art of makeup or the offensive depiction of different ethnicities in animation. Lee has long criticized the film business’ bigotry, but today he doesn’t seem inclined to discuss the museum’s addressing of the subject beyond saying, “They’re on it.
, which is signed by writer-director John Singleton, who died two years ago. Lee starts reading Singleton’s inscription: “Spike, for six years I’ve looked towards you for inspiration and guidance. Your success has made it possible for me to realize my own dreams of being a true filmmaker. I thank you just for your existence. Peace to a real Black filmmaker.
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