Oct. 22--Spike Lee has a few choice words for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a new interview with Chicago magazine about Lee's upcoming film "Chi-Raq" which is set for release in December.
The movie was filmed in Chicago over the summer (click here to read about my exclusive set visit), and when news of the title first leaked a number of elected officials, including the mayor, publicly expressed their displeasure.
"What I didn't like was him trying to paint me as this villain," Lee told writer Bryan Smith. "I'm not the bad guy, but that's how he (Emanuel) was trying to portray it. Do I have the guns? Am I the one pulling the trigger? To be honest, he's a bully.
"He's not gonna bully me. My tactic with the mayor -- any bully -- is to come out swinging. I said, 'Mayor, Your Honor, you're gonna be on the wrong side of history."
In the interview, Lee has plenty to say about violence in the city and the nuances of how Chicago gangs operate; he remained tight-lipped about the movie itself, although he did name-check "Dr. Strangelove" for its blend of dark subject matter and satire.
Screenwriter Kevin Willmott also cited that 1964 political satire about nuclear annihilation as an influence when I spoke with him on set in July. "It doesn't get much more serious than atomic warfare," he said, "but you're able to see the serious side of the point and also laugh at the absurdity of the problem."
Despite concerns that Lee's film would be something akin to "Scarface" (glorifying or exploiting gun violence), Willmott said he and Lee were looking for ways to highlight some of the "absurdity of the problem, to some degree. Spike's made a lot of movies that straddle that line and he's very good at that. We spent a lot of time trying to structure a script that could walk that line."
nmetz@tribpub.com
