Spike Lee Says ‘Malcolm X’ Could Not Be Made Today: ‘Not an Exaggeration’
Spike Lee is speaking out on how Donald Trump is impacting the film industry. The auteur told THR amid Trump’s announcement of international film tariffs that his own 1992 Oscar-nominated film “Malcolm X” could not be made today.
The biopic, which starred Denzel Washington as the civil rights leader, was notoriously a grueling shoot to finance as Warner Bros. infamously shut down production due to budget concerns. “That movie almost killed me when Warner Bros. let the bond company take over the film in postproduction and shut it down,” Lee said. “That’s probably the most I’ve been depressed in my life with the exception of my mother dying. Half my salary went into the movie. I was broke.”
However, despite the film’s later success, Lee isn’t sure if Wbd or any studio would even finance the film today. “I don’t like to get into what-ifs,...
The biopic, which starred Denzel Washington as the civil rights leader, was notoriously a grueling shoot to finance as Warner Bros. infamously shut down production due to budget concerns. “That movie almost killed me when Warner Bros. let the bond company take over the film in postproduction and shut it down,” Lee said. “That’s probably the most I’ve been depressed in my life with the exception of my mother dying. Half my salary went into the movie. I was broke.”
However, despite the film’s later success, Lee isn’t sure if Wbd or any studio would even finance the film today. “I don’t like to get into what-ifs,...
- 5/6/2025
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
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