Spike Lee filmography

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Spike Lee in 2007 Spike Lee.jpg
Spike Lee in 2007

Spike Lee is an American filmmaker and actor, known for films that deal with controversial social and political issues. Each of Lee's films typically refers to itself as "A Spike Lee Joint" and the closing credits always end with the phrases "By Any Means Necessary," "Ya Dig," and "Sho Nuff." [1]

Contents

Lee received a Master of Fine Arts from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, which culminated in his thesis film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads , the first student film to be shown in Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films Festival. [2] Lee's first feature film, She's Gotta Have It, was released three years later in 1986. Lee directed, produced, wrote, and acted in his first three feature films: She's Gotta Have It, School Daze , and Do the Right Thing, and has since starred or acted in others. He reprised the role of Mars Blackmon from She's Gotta Have It for a series of Nike commercials that also starred Michael Jordan. [3]

Lee has directed music videos by artists such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Anita Baker and Eminem, and for songs featured in films he has directed, including "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, which was featured heavily in the 1989 film Do the Right Thing. [4]

Filmography

Feature films

YearTitleCredited as
Director Producer Writer Notes
1983 Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads YesYesYesAlso editor and assistant camera
1986 She's Gotta Have It YesYesYesAlso editor
1988 School Daze YesYesYes
1989 Do the Right Thing YesYesYes
1990 Mo' Better Blues YesYesYes
1991 Jungle Fever YesYesYes
1992 Malcolm X YesYesYes
1994 Crooklyn YesYesYes
1995 Clockers YesYesYes
1996 Girl 6 YesYesNo
Get on the Bus YesExecutiveNo
1998 He Got Game YesYesYes
1999 Summer of Sam YesYesYes
2000 Bamboozled YesYesYes
2002 25th Hour YesYesNo
2004 She Hate Me YesYesYes
2006 Inside Man YesNoNo
2008 Miracle at St. Anna YesYesNo
2012 Red Hook Summer YesYesYes
2013 Oldboy YesNoNo
2014 Da Sweet Blood of Jesus YesYesYes
2015 Chi-Raq YesYesYes
2018 BlacKkKlansman YesYesYes
2020 Da 5 Bloods YesYesYes
2025 Highest 2 Lowest YesExecutiveNo

Executive producer

Producer

Short films

YearTitleCredited asNotes
DirectorWriterProducer
1979Last Hustle in BrooklynYesYesNo
1980The AnswerYesYesNo
1981SarahYesYesNo
1995 Lumière and Company YesNoNoSegment
2001 Come Rain or Come Shine YesNoNo
2002"We Wuz Robbed"YesNoYesSegment of Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
2005"Jesus Children of America"YesNoYesSegment of All the Invisible Children
2017Brave: Visions for MonclerYesNoNo
2020New York, New YorkYesYesYes
3 Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George FloydYesYesYes

Documentaries

YearTitleCredited as
DirectorProducer
1997 4 Little Girls YesYes
2000 The Original Kings of Comedy YesYes
2012 Bad 25 YesYes
2016 Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall YesYes
2020 American Utopia YesYes

Acting roles

YearFilmRoleNotes
1986 She's Gotta Have It Mars Blackmon
1988 School Daze Darrell "Half-Pint" Dunlap
1989 Do the Right Thing Mookie
1990 Mo' Better Blues Giant
1991 Jungle Fever Cyrus
1992 Malcolm X Shorty
1994 Crooklyn Snuffy
1995 Lumière and Company Himself
Clockers Chucky
1996 Girl 6 Jimmy
1999 Summer of Sam John Jeffries
2000 Lisa Picard Is Famous Himself
2012 Red Hook Summer MookieUncredited

Television

YearTitleCredited asNotes
DirectorProducerWriter
2004 Sucker Free City YesYesNoTelevision film
2005 Miracle's Boys YesNoNoEpisodes: "New Charlie" and "Bond of Brothers"
2006 Shark YesNoNo Pilot
2007M.O.N.Y.YesNoNoUnaired pilot
2011Da BrickYesYesNoUnaired pilot [5] [6] [7]
2014 Katt Williams: Priceless: AfterlifeYesExecutiveNoStand-up special
Jerrod Carmichael: Love at the StoreYesNoNo
2017–2019 She's Gotta Have It YesExecutiveYesCreator

Documentary

YearTitleCredited as
DirectorProducer
1990 Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella YesNo
1999Pavarotti and Friends for Guatemala and KosovoYesNo
2002 Jim Brown: All-American YesYes
2006 When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts YesYes
2009 Kobe Doin' Work YesYes
2010 If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise YesYes
2021 NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½ YesYes
2022 The Captain NoYes
2025 Katrina: Come Hell and High Water YesYes

Stage show

YearTitleCredited as
DirectorProducer
1998 Freak YesNo
2001 A Huey P. Newton Story YesNo
2008 Passing Strange YesNo
2013Mike Tyson: Undisputed TruthYesYes
2017 Rodney King YesYes
2018 Pass Over YesNo
2020 American Utopia YesYes

Acting roles

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986 Saturday Night Live Mars BlackmonEpisode: "Malcolm-Jamal Warner/Run-DMC"
1992 Ghostwriter Special Agent PeteEpisode: "Into the Comics: Part 1"
2017–2019 She's Gotta Have It Joe the Bartender / Drum Major2 episodes

Music videos

YearArtistSongAlbum
1983 Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)"Non-album single
1987 Anita Baker "No One in the World" Rapture
1988 E.U. "Da Butt" School Daze OST
1989 Public Enemy "Fight the Power" Do the Right Thing OST
and Fear of a Black Planet
1991 Fishbone "Sunless Saturday" The Reality of My Surroundings
State of Art"Understanding"Community
1992"Laughing at the Years"
Prince and the New Power Generation "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" Diamonds and Pearls
Arrested Development "Revolution" [8] Malcolm X OST
1993 Naughty by Nature "Hip Hop Hooray" 19 Naughty III
Eros Ramazzotti "Cose della vita" Tutte storie
Bruce Hornsby "Talk Of The Town" Harbor Lights
1994 Buckshot LeFonque "Breakfast at Denny's" Buckshot LeFonque
1996 Michael Jackson "They Don't Care About Us" (Prison Version) HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
"They Don't Care About Us" (Brazil/Olodum Version)
2000Mau Maus"Blak Iz Blak" Bamboozled
2009Michael Jackson"This Is It" This Is It
2014 Eminem "Headlights" The Marshall Mathers LP 2
2019 The Killers "Land of the Free"Non-album singles
2020Michael Jackson"They Don't Care About Us" (2020) [9]

Video games

YearTitleCredited as
DirectorExecutive
Producer
Writer
2015 NBA 2K16 YesYesYes

See also

References

  1. "Spike Lee Biography – Yahoo! Movies". Yahoo! Movies . Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  2. "Spike Lee – Profile, Latest News and Related Articles". E! . Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  3. Curtis, Bryan (June 1, 2008). "Bro Knows Football". The New York Times . Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  4. Black, Johnny (August 2002). "The Greatest Songs Ever! Fight the Power". Blender . Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  5. Andreeva, Nellie (June 21, 2011). "Spike Lee, Mike Tyson, Doug Ellin & John Ridley Team For HBO Drama Series Inspired By Tyson's Youth". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  6. Andreeva, Nellie (August 31, 2011). "HBO Boxing Pilot 'Da Brick' Casts Lead". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  7. Andreeva, Nellie (March 13, 2012). "HBO Passes On Drama Pilot 'Da Brick'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  8. "Revolution – Arrested Development - Music Video". MTV. Archived from the original on January 9, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2008.
  9. Kreps, Daniel (August 29, 2020). "Spike Lee Updates Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us" Video With Protest Footage". Rolling Stone. rollingstone.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.

Bibliography