Antoine Fuqua
*Spike Lee should have called Quentin Tarantino personally rather than criticize him in public with charges of racism, the director of 2001 Oscar winner “Training Day” said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee, the director behind “Do the Right Thing” (1989), “Malcolm X” (1992) and the thriller “Inside Man” (2006), made headlines before Christmas when he said he would boycott Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” because it was “disrespectful” to black people.
“American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western,” Lee wrote on Twitter. “It was a holocaust.”
Later, in an interview, Lee declined to elaborate, except to say he had no intention of seeing the film: “I can’t speak on it ‘cause I’m not going to see it,” he said.
It is not the first time Lee criticized Tarantino for racial insensitivity: after the release of Tarantino’s 1997 blacksploitation tribute “Jackie Brown,” Lee blasted Tarantino for what he said was an overuse of “the n-word,” saying, “I think there is something wrong with him.”
But Antoine Fuqua, who says he knows both Tarantino and Lee but is not close friends with either one, said Lee aired his concerns in wrong way.
“That’s just not the way you do things,” said Fuqua, speaking on the sidelines of the 17th Capri, Hollywood Film Festival. “If you disagree with the way a colleague did something, call him up, invite him out for a coffee, talk about it. But don’t do it publicly.”
Fuqua — at the Capri festival as part of a big Hollywood contingent that also includes “Leaving Las Vegas” director Mike Figgis, “300” star Gerard Butler, “Iceman” director Ariel Vromen and Franco Nero, the star of the original “Django” film that inspired Tarantino’s latest — also defended Tarantino.
“I don’t think Quentin Tarantino has a racist bone in his body,” he said. “Besides, I’m good friends with [“Django Unchained” star] Jamie Foxx and he wouldn’t have anything to do with a film that had anything racist to it.”
Fuqua continued: “I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t speak about it specifically, but we’re supposed to find some truth in films and if you set a film in the 1850s, you’re going to hear the word ‘nigger,’ because that’s the way they spoke then, and you’re going to discuss slavery because that was part of the reality,” he said.
“I want my kids to hear those kinds of words in the right context, so that they’ll know that language is not OK,” Fuqua said.
They’re always the first to jump to the defense of white men/women especially if there’s something to be had. Too bad he didn’t follow his own advice.
“If you disagree with the way a colleague did something, call him up, invite him out for a coffee, talk about it. But don’t do it publicly.”
@MelodyCool: I agree with you!
They’ll be lining up to signal their willingness to take Spike on just to curry favor with ‘you know who’. I would love to know how Spike feels about folks like Antoine.
Right Mel
also
How do you vouch for someone not being racist because you know someone who worked for them? Sounds stupid.
I saw the movie this weekend and was really impressed. The movie was really good and the acting done well. I don’t see what’s the hoopla with Spike and his statements? This brother is always ready to clown someone and their achievements – and for what? When all is said and done, I feel Spike’s a tad bit jealous because it has been a while since we’ve seen any of his films up on the marquee!
For some reason he seems to think he is the ambassador for black people! If he is so “black conscientious” why did he take the teaching job at the white(upscale Ivy-League) university instead of teaching at one of the several impoverished schools in New York”? This brother needs to quit it and “do something” besides whining like a little b**ch!!!!
Lol, I agree with you.
Spike said that was HIS personal opinion and he is speaking for HIMSELF. Stop making shit up.
My 2 cents……..
I debated whether or not to see the movie, and ultimately decided to go check it out.
I’ve gotta say the plot and acting was pretty good, and YES, the N-word was used too many damn times, even for a slavery-era type movie. They didn’t use it this many times in ROOTS, and this was like the cinematic bible, when it came to slavery themed cinema.
Now, this is where I may lose some folk…. Blacks/Liberals despise the movie because of a White director’s use of the N-word, yet mainstream America (White folks) have said nothing. BUT, if a Black director made this movie, the use of the N-word wouldn’t have been an issue, because it’s been done many times in hip-hop/urban theme movies, instead the fact that Django violently killed all those White folks the way he did, would have sent mainstream America (White Folk) into a frenzy!!
I contend that a Black director couldn’t have made this same movie. No studio would have green-lit the production of a movie w/ such content by a Black person. You can use the N-word all day in movies, but killing White Folk for their injustices toward Black folk, and then putting it in their faces for all to see would be unfathomable. Something to think about….
In conclusion, overall this project invoked feelings of anger, laughter, sadness, and a sense of justice all in one movie. Now, that’s entertainment, no matter which way you look at it, and it accomplished IMO, what a good movie should have.