Lee is brilliant at finding investors ... On ‘Shadowboxer,’ he found this rich man in Philadelphia who paid for the movie, God bless him.
They’ve been to more bar mitzvahs than they’ve been to church
During ‘Shadowboxer,’ Mo’Nique was a great inspiration to me. Casting her is classic Lee — he loves the true outsider. Not the fake Hollywood outsider, like Brad Pitt or someone. Mo’Nique is part of the world he came from, and in his movies, he manages to make that outsider world universal.
I’m in another place right now
I knew killers. My uncle, who took care of me, murdered people, and yet he took care of me too. People who have gone to jail for murder are also human. Black people are not all saints.
In my early days, I loved the challenge ... Even now, I don’t think twice about raising money. It’s no different than a drug deal. People have trouble getting movies made, but how many people could go out and steal for their families? You go in, you go gangster, you get what you’ve got to get and go on ...
I came to L.A. with $7 to my name. I knew instinctively that the hustle was on.
Black women are the pillar of the family. Black men have left, and how dare I stab at the one thing that’s helped. So I told Mo’Nique, ‘They’re going to hate you for this movie.’ She said, ‘Let them hate me.’
I made this movie for my girls. People read so much into ‘Precious.’ But at the end, it’s just this girl, and she’s trying to live. I know this chick. You know her. But we just choose not to know her.
I had a 90-day option to raise the money for ‘Monster’s Ball,’ and on the 90th day, I had the money.
She’s crazy — look at her! She would throw herself under the train for you, as long as her hair was perfect.