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Finding Levees Faces and
Voices?
We have a
great researcher. Her name is Judy Aley. She made two trips to New
Orleans before we got there and she just walked around and met
people. She would send me email with their stories and I would make
the determination whether we should interview them or not….However,
we still can’t locate the lady who got in Condoleezza Rice’s face at
Ferragamo shoe store. So either she’s camera shy or she’s dead.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Finding Levees Distinctive
Footage?
Again,
Judy Aley. That’s her job. That’s her profession. She got me
everything that we knew of and it was our determination whether
or not to use it, but that’s her job. She found some amazing stuff.
[In the
footage that she found,] there were a lot of surprises, but I told her to
get everything. I was surprised by that teleconference with Max
Mayfield and [President] Bush, where Bush is told before [Katrina
hit] that the levees might top, and later on he contradicts himself
with Diane Sawyer saying that no one knew that this was going to
happen. Also, I liked the footage shot through a windshield of a man
walking in the water. He walks up and says that the levees just
broke.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Documenting Images of
Death?
When
you’re a director, you have many different choices. Talking about
bodies, we had this dilemma in 4 Little Girls because Judy Aley
found the post mortem photos of the four little girls. So when I got
them, the issue was whether we should include them or not. I prayed
on it and prayed on it and I made the decision that we had to show
what the 100 sticks of dynamite did to the four little Black girls.
[In
Levees,] I knew I
was going to show bodies, but it was just a matter of
how much. I wanted to show as much as I felt the audience could
take. And in a way, I felt it was like paying respect to those
bodies.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Affected by Your Own
Footage?
It affects
me and that’s why we knew we had to do this right.
For me,
the hardest aspect was the interview with Kim Polk. That’s much
harder to deal with than [showing] dead bodies. When I interviewed
her, she was holding a picture of her 5 year old daughter Serena….
The Polk
family was gracious and allowed us to bring our cameras to the
funeral. The most poignant shot, in my opinion, in the entire four
hours, is that final shot of Act III where Kim just completely
breaks down and her little boy runs in the frame completely unaware
that his sister is dead. You see him run after Kim and we fade to
black.
That
happened! We were just there. We didn’t direct the kid. It’s just
one of those magical moments that we were able to capture.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
An Unexpected Consequence
of the Film?
The big
surprise to me is how much humor there is in the film. You would not
think going in that this is going to be funny and it’s not a funny
subject matter. But, I think we captured the characters. There’s a
special breed of people, Black or White, in New Orleans.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Phyllis Montana LeBlanc –
A Star is Born?
[Phyllis]
was the first interview. We got to New Orleans the day after
Thanksgiving [2005]. We had her meet us at Louis Armstrong
[Airport]. The interview in the airport was the first day. She’s
funny!
Two days
ago, I told her, “You need to change your phone number!” She needs a
talk show! She’s going to be a star!
The thing
about her though, she can really write. She should put a book
together. The scene that we ended with, before shooting it, she
said, “I wrote something last night.”
I said,
“Alright, we’ll shoot it.”
I didn’t
know if it was going to be good or not, but then I was like, “Oh,
sh!t!”
I didn’t
know at the time that we would end the movie like that. She’s very
talented.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
To Question or Not to
Question Sean Penn’s Reason for Being?
I don’t
think I have to justify that. He’s a great humanitarian. He went
down there and he was saving lives. So, Sean is genuine. To me,
personally, I didn’t want to question why he was there.
Spike Lee (August 12, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Ever-Evolving Documentary?
With the
addition of Act V, the length is now 6 hours and it’s still
incomplete. We want to stay with the subject matter.
The film
is incomplete because what’s happening down there is incomplete. I’d
like to stay with this and come back in another year or so and
examine it 2 or 3 years looking back and see how much has changed or
has not changed.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Keeping in Touch with the
People?
I’m in
touch with a lot of people and they’re still struggling.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Act V’s Exploration of
Criminal Injustice?
There are
many people who were arrested or in jail prior to the breach of the
levees and some are still in jail now because their records got
lost. The whole judicial system is messed up. Records were lost.
People don’t know who’s in for what. It’s just chaos. A lot of
defense lawyers and district attorneys left. The whole
infrastructure of the city is gone.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Thoughts on Hip-Hop
Response?
There were
several benefit concerts and stuff like that. I know Jay Z has a
song on his new album about how the United States deserted the
citizens of the gulf region. But there are very few people who stood
up. They talk about their platinum chains all the time so it’s
disappointing more people didn’t stand up.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Impact of Governmental
Efforts?
Whatever
[Mayor Nagin] is doing, it’s not working. Whatever [Governor] Blanco
is doing, it’s not working. Whatever [President] Bush and the
federal administrators are doing, it’s not working. All that’s been
promised has not reached into the people’s hands. So it’s stuck
somewhere.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
What if You Were In
Charge?
This whole
thing about if a category 5 hit New Orleans – there had been many
studies as you saw in the film about what would happen. Not too many
people paid heed to them. In reality, Katrina missed New Orleans. It
was the breach of the levees that brought about the destruction.
Anybody, including Mayor Nagin, should have been working on the
levee system because people knew throughout that it was faulty. And
even today, it’s still faulty. Thank God hurricane season is about
to end in a couple of weeks because they got through. It’s like
rolling dice. They keep thinking they’re going to dodge a bullet.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Critical Acclaim Sure, But
What about Audience Response?
[Levees]
is the highest rated, most watched documentary [HBO] has ever had
and that’s not including HBO On Demand.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
Affected by Renewed
Interest in Your Career?
I don’t
really worry about that stuff. If I worried about that stuff, we
wouldn’t have been able to build up the body of work we’ve done.
We’ve done 20 films in 20 years. I’m too busy to worry about that
stuff.
Spike Lee (November 17, 2006, When the Levees Broke Press Junket)
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