Spike Lee is reflecting on the impact that Jim Jarmusch‘s “Stranger Than Paradise” had on his own film career. Lee said during the Criterion Channel‘s “Adventures in Moviegoing” that he admired fellow auteur Jarmusch while the duo were both at the Tisch grad school for film.
When asked by host Sheril Antonio, the New York University Tisch School of the Arts’ Senior Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives, which directors most influenced his filmmaking while he was in school there, Lee said, “The first has got to be Jim Jarmusch. He was two years ahead of me [in grad school]. I worked in the equipment room, so I checked out the equipment. I mean, Jim’s hair was white even back then! So when ‘Stranger Than Paradise’ hit [in 1984], that was like a revelation to everybody. He still is our hero.”
It was only two years later when Lee had his own directorial debut with 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It.” Jarmusch wasn’t the only NYU staple that Lee was inspired by: Martin Scorsese, whose name is now the moniker for the Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies at NYU thanks to beneficiary George Lucas, had a special moment with then-grad student Lee.
“He had a screening of ‘After Hours’ for the school, and after the screening, he had a Q&A. There was a long line, and I was the last person in line. I could tell, he was like, ‘I’ve got to get out of here,’” Lee said of Scorsese. “But we had a conversation, and we talked for 20 minutes. He always said that, you know…I’m not going to say his exact words, but I made an impression on him.”
Lee later lists his top films about New York City, singling out films like “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Network,” and of course “Shaft.”
Up next for Lee, he’s releasing a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low,” titled “Highest 2 Lowest,” with the film first premiering at Cannes. Lee’s frequent collaborator Denzel Washington stars alongside A$AP Rocky, who plays Washington’s on-screen son.
Lee previously shared that he screened “Highest 2 Lowest” for Scorsese and wrote that Scorsese “gushed about Denzel’s magnificent acting,” adding that Scorsese was “so happy” for Lee. He added of A$AP, “A$AP, man, he fire. I mean, there’s some scenes where him and D head to head — he ain’t backing up. Like, ‘I’m here too.’ So very, very happy with the way the film turned out and looking forward to sharing it with the world.”
Check out Lee on the Criterion Channel‘s “Adventures in Moviegoing” below.
