'Do the Right Thing' was my first union film. I looked at the rosters, and for the most part, it was white males. Especially the Teamsters. So we had some conversations.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.
When I started out, there were three things that made film people look at me with condescension, I was young, I was black, and I was female. I have won a certain respect, but I think the film community still sees directing as a male job.
I had seen 'Do the Right Thing' when I was at college, and it was incredibly inspiring as a piece of cinema. Just brilliant, I thought. But saw 'Malcolm X' with a crowded audience. It was my first time in an American cinema, hearing an audience respond. You know, in England, everyone is so restrained.
I'm a huge Spike Lee fan. I saw 'Do The Right Thing' twice in the same night when it first came out and had long conversations with all my friends about the issues in it.
I was fascinated that everybody in the story thinks that they're in the right.
When I work on a film, I always tend to relate to the crew.
Like any director working today, I started out when somebody took a shot at hiring me. It's how we all start out - male, female, white or minority.
When I did 'Good Guys Wear Black,' I had a lot of dialogue in that movie.
I remember being amazed that actors had a union. I thought only coal miners had unions, or guys that worked in automobile plants. That's an indication of how naive I was.
I liked the fact that there were so many different representations of black women and black men in the movie. It wasn't like we all had the same agenda.