Highest 2 Lowest — Spike Lee and Denzel Washington in Conversation | Apple TV

D's in the house! This is the year! IMDb. So this next movie we're going to do. Let's roll. Scene one, take one. Stacking hits record. Well, Malcolm X had that. Come on, get me hanging. That's right. Can they play the part? Spike, I got a question for you. How did we meet? I didn't. I don't remember. I don't either. So. Well, we did meet though. Evidently. And guess what? The more better made the world better. Terrible. And here's the thing for the people watching this, is that you have a relationship. A very close relationship. And you don't see them. You only see them once a year. But when you see them, it's like you saw them yesterday. And I think that's what's special about our relationship. That's just cleaning up the fact that you started. You're like, all right, D's over. I'm going to start hiring his son. God, David took over. He did not take over. I felt a certain way. I was like, oh, man. I'm done. It's over for me. But it's a beautiful thing. Over the years, our family has gotten very close. It's a blessing. And I've said this many times. So, please forgive me if it sounds like I'm being redundant. I did not know 18, 19 years had transpired. For instance. Time flies. And we've both been busy. When you called me. I didn't recognize the number at first. Unlisted or whatever. But he says, Spike, I got the script. I'm going to send it to you. And let me know what happens. So, why hung up the phone? I knew I was doing it. Even before. Oh, you said before you read it? The work review again? Why you keep calling me? Or vice versa. I called you. Well, Malcolm X had to have it. Yeah. Because that doesn't even count. So, if there was no Malcolm X, we would have gone from more better to. He got game. That's interesting. Well, you always talked about your exploits you had on the court. And many people don't know that. Yeah, that's true. PJ Carisma was your coach. JV, right? In Florida. I couldn't play. But, you know, I was a little football player. But what did inspire you to write He Got Game? Did you write it for me? No. Yeah. You did? Yeah. Oh. What inspired you to write that? I love basketball. Basketball. And. Had a lot of free time since the Knicks weren't going to the championship. Hey! This is our year! All in blue skies! But seriously though. I've come to understand, Mr. Denzel Washington, that. Even this film. At the. The spine. Something I don't even think about has happened. Father and son stories. Mm-hmm. Father and son stories like. Jake Shelsworth! Mm-hmm. And. The. Teachers. I remember the scene where the young Jesus. Not. The great Ray Allen where you're on the. It's like midnight. We're shooting in the court. Right. On the island. Everybody's. Trying to win. Asleep asleep. You, me. And. And Michael Jordan. What are you going to. What is the house going to buy for your mother? I got a question for you. And I love the answer because the film is the answer. And you were right. But what gave you this instinct about this kid? ASAP. Well ASAP started until my wife produced. So I came to the set once in a while. Oh while they were shooting? Yeah while they were shooting. And it's hard to explain. Because. Human beings give up energy. And. As a director. I think you have to learn to be receptive to this energy. Because that's going to give you a cue of. Some insight to who they are. And can they play. The part. Now. People might say well. You chose because he's a rapper. That. A little something to do with it. But there's more than that. Because you can't say automatically. Any rapper is going to be. Able to stand. Toe to toe. I'll give you what he said. You know you don't. Don't put him in that position now. Don't. I can't because it'd be a slaughter. Don't put me in that position. Don't put yourself in that position. All of us. Come on. Let me hang it. That's right. I don't know what y'all did work wise. But you know. In preparation. But you know. We did sort of a little mini. Screen. We psyched him out. We just. It was a. Yeah. We let him know. First of all. It's been in the last couple of days. We've been doing press and all of that. This is the most time I spent with him. Highly intelligent. Yeah. Very. I mean I get it Rihanna. I get it. You got a good one. No. This boy's boy is smart. You know. And humble. All of them. Yeah. Just humble kid. And not full of himself. And charismatic. Handsome. And talented. Because you. Like he said. I would have. I would have laid him. And you out. No I wouldn't. Yes you would have. I would have helped him. No no. You would have pulled me to the back. And now you rent me the ride out. I'd have helped him. He wouldn't have got the job. That's the bottom line. What gave you the idea for Inside Man? The world view again. Okay. And then I know with that script. Like all the things we've done. I could surround you. With the best New York actors. And so. You could. Like you've done again. Yeah like you can do what you gotta do. I hope you know like when we're doing something together. The people you're gonna be in a scene with. You've seen their work. You know what they can do. And you don't have to carry the whole thing. Didn't have to carry anything in this one. Michael Potts. Yeah. Needless to say Jeffrey Ilfenish. Wendell. How did you find the two youngsters? I knew Jeffrey had a son. And Jeffrey lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. So every now and then he would say. He has a daughter too. So we say you know. So we should tell that funny story. We brought Jeffrey's son in. And you took his phone. Oh that's right. Yeah yeah yeah. What do you say? Jeffrey goes well your son didn't do it. And then. Let me explain it. Jeffrey Wright's son auditioned for the film. And won the part. So I said well let me call his father to tell him. Let me call Jeffrey to tell him. So when I got on the phone. I started acting. I said man I'm so sorry you know. Your son's he's a great kid. But he's. I didn't say he was a terrible actor. I said he didn't get the part. But then Jeffrey realized that we were calling from his son's phone. So he's like wait a minute. When you got my son's phone. So that was sweet. But the two of them earned it. Yes. Now I'm not saying I believe in numerology 100 percent. But something just happened. The world premiere of Do The Right Thing 1989 was May 19th. The world premiere for this film was May 19th. And this May 19th was Malcolm X's 100th birthday. My brother here played Malcolm X. And this is the first time he was in Cannes. With the film. So I just kept thinking about that. That May 19th. You know for Do The Right Thing to this. And my brother gave one of the greatest performances. Biopic. And then first time in Cannes with this film. So it looked like everything was in alignment. Do you think I would have felt better had I won. For Malcolm X. And Al Pacino didn't win. Was that Al Pacino's greatest role? Heck no. Of course not. But that's the. Forget they. See it's so easy to point fingers and just say. Like there's some group somewhere that sits somewhere. But there are people that vote for the Oscars. Yes. And it's not a day. It's thousands of people in their homes. And they have different ideas. And sometimes. Here's the one thing that I wish would come out one day. As it relates to Oscars. The number of votes. I might have lost Malcolm X by one vote. I might have lost by 8,000 votes. Al Pacino was brilliant in Dog Day. After all those other films. He didn't win. Here's the thing though. This is my feeling. This thing called the makeup call. No. There's a thing called you're good or you're not. He's good. So maybe it took five times and he got one. I'm good. So maybe it took nine times. You're great. Whatever. That's for the next man to say. I'm the next man. All right. Then you speak for you. I'm speaking for me. Because I'm the one in these shoes. And I've been to the show more than anybody in this room. It's not that important because it doesn't determine. Who I am or what I do. It's just something for other people to talk about. People say where you keep your Oscar. That's next to the other one. That's not ego. Great is great. No one can give it to you. And no one can take it away from you. If someone were to take away your greatness. What would it be that they took? Wouldn't be my heart. See wouldn't be here. It's not that wouldn't be your mind. It can't take that from you. So your ability to create. Your ability to shake up things. They can't take that from you. Now I'll start this off with saying. You know. Can I borrow your hat for a second? You said it ten times already. I'm in mourning. One day fellas. This is the year. This is the year my brother. You can find a lot of lessons in sports. It's been done again and again. Where you put characters in situations. Someone who's overcome great obstacles. Or last minute victories. And so when you're a filmmaker. You're a director. If you're lucky you're able to. Your likes your loves to incorporate that. Into the movies you do. And I think that's one of the things we love about sports. Being in this business. I'll speak for myself. Where your so called validation. Is based on someone's vote. There's a purity in sports. Man he's going to hit this shot. Or she's going to hit it. Or they're not. And yeah the refs or whatever. I was going to talk about the refs. Yeah but when it comes down. If there's eight seconds left. And it's me and you. Or those two. There's a purity in that. In front of everyone. You know for all to see that. I think anyone of any profession. Whether we're actors or directors. Whatever we are. We appreciate that. We love that. And yearn for that. Why? Why do you love the Knicks so? Highest moment. Lowest moment aside. You know like the movie. My father. Great musician. But loved sports. So he was dragging me to the old garden. Just before the new one. And we'd be in the last row. Where you could touch the ceiling. So he was dragging you there. It wasn't your idea at first. I don't think it's abnormal for. Fathers to introduce their. Their sons to sport. And also. It's father's duty. To make sure. That his team. Is. I mean. I see New York. And I see these New Yorkers. Fathers. And their sons. Wearing their. Boston Red Sox. Hat. I'm like. What the. I stop them. I say. Where you from New York? How's your son? How's his Red Sox hat on? What is that? You're not doing your. Fatherly duties. It's the law. Your son. You said it's the law. It's the law. I don't care where you are. Your son or daughter. Your team. Has to hand it down to their team. They don't have a choice to choose. As we pan down. Hand on down. And we come on up. Oh here here here. You got the Nick. Bracelet on too. Orange and blue skies baby. This is our year. We haven't won since 1972-73. Which. For those doing the math at home. Is. Over 50 years. Over what 50? F-I-D-D-Y. 53 years? I stopped counting after 50. You know what Spike. That's why we love you man. You love them when they're up. You love them when they're down. We should be. There are very few like you man. You're a rare dude. That's why I love you man. I trust you. I love you. I believe in you. Talent aside. You know. It's part of your job to talk about your films. More than it is for me to talk about past films. Because you're an educator. Is it like a class? One film could be a semester. Or your films. One film will be a singing class. Is there one film in particular. That my students want to see? Yeah more than others. Or the one that you. Well they don't want to see Do The Right Things. I rarely show that. But Malcolm. Because they want to see it? They see it. Many times. So that's why I'm trying. They haven't seen all my films. All the joints. I'd rather introduce them to stuff I haven't. They haven't seen. Speaking of which. Yes. How many films have you made? IMDB. Uh oh. You don't know yourself? I don't know. Oh wow. I don't know. That's a compliment. That's a testament. You don't even know. You do the same thing. I know how many films I've made. Ish. I think it's 25 or something. How many documentaries? D I'm a lot like you. In some ways. I'm onto the next. Right I hear you. Keep it going. I hear you. Because you know. You can't. What's the thing? You can't be dragged down by the past. What's the film that you haven't had a chance to make yet? Oh. Uh oh. I got it. Okay. It's called Save Us Joe Louis. Save Us Joe Louis. I wrote it with the great Bud Schulberg. Bud Schulberg won Oscar on the waterfront. There ain't no part in it for me. He's also in the Boston Hall of Fame. Is this a feature? A feature. You wrote it already? We co-wrote it. Joe Louis was hanging out. Did not train for the first. He got knocked out. Both flights went to Yankee Stadium. And the second flight, 938. People around the world thought the winner would determine World War II. FDR summoned Joe Louis to the White House. You know, FDR at that time was a realist. Come here Joe. These are the muscles that can help us beat the Nazis. So in this film you have Hitler, Goebbels, Lena Horne, Sugar Ray Robbins. It's epic. That's what I admire about you. How stupid you make me feel. No! No, because you know so much. I got to meet Bud when I met Illy Kazan. He directed On the Waterfront. He said, Spike, you should meet Bud, the writer. You're dropping names, huh? I'm a cinephile. There you go. And that's my favorite film of all time, On the Waterfront. Denzel. Yes. When we all leave this earth, or we all will, what do you want to be remembered for? A man of faith. A man of God. A human who's made a ton of mistakes. A humble man. God-loving. Wife-loving. Children-loving. Who did the best he could with what he had. And I don't know if that was a quote from Malcolm X, but to God be the glory. Only the mistakes were mine. That sums it up. Deuces. Thank you. Alright. So this next movie we're going to do. I got this idea for this movie.