![]() In "Crooklyn," he dipped into many movie influences, mainly Hector Babenco's searing study of Brazilian slum kids, "Pixote." In the back of his mind also: Truffaut's "The 400 Blows," Rob Reiner's "Stand By Me" and Vittorio de Sica's "The Bicycle Thief." Filmmaking is what makes me the happiest, what gives me the most joy." "I get satisfaction out of every film," Lee says, apropos of "Crooklyn." "I consider myself a filmmaker-that's what I do. And it's a normal family who fight and fuss and love. I wanted to show that, despite what white America thinks, there's at least one family-one family in Hollywood this year-where both parents are there, where the mother's not on crack, walkin' the corner, where the family's not on welfare, the sons aren't rapists and muggers, and the daughters aren't out gettin' pregnant at the age of 8. "For all those reasons, I made this film. The violence now follows you no matter where you go-even the suburbs. That combination is really just devastating generations upon generations. ![]() "I think Reagan cutting the federal programs and tinkering with the Supreme Court, and trying to take back a whole lot of civil rights stuff that people had fought and died for over the years. Lee considers the government priorities of the '80s largely to blame. Not to say there wasn't heroin or pot, but kids were not as exposed to it." "The worst that could happen to us was some kid would bloody your nose comin' home from school. Shaking his head, he recalls a newspaper story about a shooting by a 12-year-old. And there's been a deterioration not just in Brooklyn, but I would say in the United States of America-all of urban America." "The difference is really two things: Crack (cocaine). See, I didn't want mannered, cutesy-cutesy commercial children."Īsked how the Brooklyn of 20 years ago compares to the Brooklyn of today, Lee frowns. I want the audience, when they leave the theater, to be thinking and wondering about what happened to this family."Īs for the children, three of whom had no previous professional acting experience, Lee, at first, laughs: "If the parents were on the set, I would have choked them all!" He grins. ![]() But I think the most important thing for me is to get to some kind of truce. "As an African-American artist, I've always tried to keep myself out of this whole positive-negative image debate. He's flawed-but we also understood that he's an artist, trying to be uncorrupted. "Delroy's concern, my concern also: We did not want Woody to be perceived as a weak man, not providing for his family. And, what happens to me, whenever I have a really great experience working with somebody, I say I gotta use 'em right away again." "One scene that kills me in `Malcolm X' is the last scene where West Indian Archie is a broken-down numbers runner in some flophouse. It was Denzel (Washington) who told me this was the guy for West Indian Archie (the Harlem numbers king in "Malcolm X"). ![]() "Delroy-The first time I saw him was in August Wilson's play "Joe Turner's Dead and Gone." I remember Delroy spinnin' around it like a madman. I also owe a great debt to her because she was the actual disciplinarian on this film. But, like most things, it just had to be right. Law.' I've always wanted a chance to work with her. "I loved her since I first saw her on television on `St. I said to her: `Look, Joie (he pronounces it "Joey"), that's just the realities of filmmaking.' "Īmong its many other virtues, "Crooklyn" boasts two great lead performances by the actors who play the mother and father-the marvelous moon-eyed Alfre Woodard as Carolyn Carmichael, seemingly indefatigable teacher, disciplinarian and main family breadwinner, and huge, sometimes explosive Delroy Lindo (the unforgettable West Indian Archie of "Malcolm X") as Woody Carmichael, who, like Bill Lee, has given up a lucrative career as a recording artist and bass accompanist (for '60s folk acts like Theodore Bikel and Peter, Paul and Mary) to chase a dream of uncompromising, and non-electrified, composition. She felt, like every screenwriter feels, that her vision wasn't brought to the screen 100 percent. I said, `OK, let me put my spin on it.' That's how it happened."ĭoes Joie now want to direct? "Yes, definitely! Especially after this film. It was all over the place, but it was there. Just write it.' So she and Cinque got together, wrote the first draft. Not coincidentally, it was Joie Lee, actress in four of Lee's films, who first came up with "Crooklyn." "My sister said, `I got an idea for a script.' I said, `Look, don't tell me. ![]()
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