Spike Lee On Where He’s Been, Where He’s Headed and the Dangers of A.I.

Veteran filmmaker Spike Lee is set to release a new documentary on Colin Kaepernick this fall—and he and I do go into it—but he’s keen to discuss the latest hot topic in the cultural world: artificial intelligence.

Sometimes, he muses, we’re taking it too far, and he warns of the dangers A.I. poses to the film industry and maybe to us all in no uncertain terms. “I’m not going to mess with it because it’s like playing God and creating machines that will eventually do things beyond our control,” he tells me.

It also gets tricky when it comes to the arts, according to Lee. How can we determine what’s original and what’s A.I.-generated? He’s not in favor of studios using A.I. to write scripts or television shows—something that probably doesn’t come as a revelation to anyone with a passing knowledge of his long, storied and groundbreaking career.

For those unfamiliar with his early work, Lee made his debut in the 1980s with an independent short film titled “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads,” and rose to fame with his first feature-length film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” which was released in 1986 and won the Award of the Youth, Foreign Film at Cannes that same year. Fast forward through the decades, and you can still find him making a splash at Cannes, where he recently earned the Creative Maker of the Year award.

At the moment, Lee is gearing up for the release of the aforementioned seven-part Kaepernick documentary for ESPN titled “Da Saga Of Colin Kaepernick.” He’s been working on the high-profile project for a year, chronicling Kaepernick’s journey, dispelling untruths and emphasizing his unwavering commitment to spreading awareness of police violence targeting black and brown people. Despite challenges and setbacks, Kaepernick continues to train diligently, preparing for an opportunity to showcase his skills and prove his worth on the field that may never come. This fall will mark the football player’s seventh year of being denied a chance to play.

“There have been false narratives spread about him wanting a higher salary or a guaranteed contract, but all he wants is a shot to try out and prove what he can do,” Lee explains.

Whether the documentary will change minds remains to be seen, but Lee’s work, which explores social justice, identity and history, carries a weight and impact that resonates long after the credits roll. “Da Saga Of Colin Kaepernick” will no doubt be a deep dive in true Spike Lee style—a style largely defined by Lee’s dedication to bringing attention to lesser-known events or marginalized experiences.

“I don’t think that many people knew about the black detective in ‘BlacKkKlansman’ or the events in ‘Da 5 Bloods’ that touched on the Vietnam War,” he tells me. “Films that shed light on unknown events or tackle important historical moments have been made before, but there are always more stories to tell.”

I ask him to share more about depicting issues related to social justice and history in “Da 5 Bloods.” He tells me his goal was to acknowledge the lived experiences of Black Vietnam veterans by depicting what they went through in a very real way.

“The purpose of the film was to give light, love and recognition to young Black men who were brought around the world to fight and kill,” says Lee. “We wanted to address the unjust war, the Vietnam War, and the sacrifice of our brother Muhammad Ali, who refused to participate in that unjust war. African American soldiers suffered a higher death and casualty rate than white soldiers, and many who returned home were hooked on heroin.”

The trajectory of Lee’s forty-year career is fascinating and will be on view in Spike Lee: Creative Sources, opening at the Brooklyn Museum in October. The show, co-organized by curator Kimberli Gant and curatorial assistant Indira A. Abiskaroon, brings together 300 movie props, posters, paintings, musical instruments and more in thematic segments built around Lee’s films and the Black culture, history, politics and experiences that inspired him.

I ask Lee to share a memorable moment from a career marked by memorable achievements. Reflecting on his past, he tells me that “working with Michael Jackson on ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’ was a lot of fun.”

It’s an unexpected answer. Spike Lee is someone who uses film as a tool with which to tackle significant social issues—someone whose contributions to the film industry can aptly be described as profound. But who says profundity and fun can’t go hand-in-hand, in the past as well as in the future? The filmmaker, as he tells me himself, is very much “not done yet.”