Spike Lee is to have an exhibition part at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
During a private visit, Spike Lee looked at his career on display: “This is my pantheon”.
Visitors will be able to trace Lee’s career through props and memorabilia dating back to his 1983 award-winning student film “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads,” moving through his features (“Malcolm X,” “Do the Right Thing,” “School Daze,” “Jungle Fever,” “Bamboozled” and his most recent, “Da 5 Bloods”), documentaries (“4 Little Girls”) and his two Oscars — one honorary and one for his adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman”).
“I’m elated,” said Lee. “I’m happy and honored that this exhibition is here for the opening of the museum.”
The installation is filled with rare posters, film stills and lobby cards signed to Lee by a who’s who of elite directors, including Akira Kurosawa, Billy Wilder, Jean-Luc Godard, Lina Wertmüller, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. There’s an original Playbill from the 1943-44 Broadway production of “Othello” signed by its star, Paul Robeson, the first Black actor to play the role in a major production, and an original poster from the 1959 film version of “Porgy and Bess” signed by stars Sidney Poitier and Brock Peters.
The items from his extensive personal collection had been previously housed at his production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, in Brooklyn.
Said Lee, “This is really a very, very small part of all the stuff I have. I could fill the Brooklyn Museum. I’ve always been a collector. This is a real life’s work. People come to my office, and they say, ‘This is a museum.’ This is my pantheon.”
Also on display, a gold guitar gifted by Prince,
who had contributed several songs for Lee’s 1996 film “Girl 6.”
“I asked Prince for a guitar, and it showed up a year later,” said Lee. “He didn’t tell me it was coming — it just showed up. I said, ‘You gonna sign it for me?’ and he said, ‘Spike, you’re lucky you got the guitar!’”
He burst out laughing: “We had it like that, you know? We were good.”
However, Spike Lee was less than pleased to see that the exhibition does not include anything related to his work with Michael Jackson or for his Estate such as “They Don’t Care About Us”, “BAD25” and “Michael Jackson: From Motown to Off The Wall”.
“MJ should be up there!” said Lee. “You gotta have Michael in here. I know they’re going to rotate stuff, but Michael Jackson can’t be coming off the bench. He’s gotta be in the game when the horn blows!”
And Spike Lee is right to not be happy about it as he is planning more MJ related documentaries in conjunction with the Michael Jackson Estate. Hopefuly the rotation of items will see MJ on the Wall!
SOURCE: The Academy Museum
MJ toujours dénigré. Ce n’ est pas juste.