Spike Lee has recently launched a campaign to raise money for his next film project on Kickstarter, and he already has a substantial donation from a prominent fellow director — Steven Soderbergh.
The veteran director of Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic and Magic Mike has personally given $10,000 to Lee’s fund.
“I’m taking him to dinner and we’re going to the game together,” Lee told NextMovie. “I’m giving a huge shout-out to my man Steven Soderbergh for the support and I’m really humbled with Steven coming on board and doing that,” Lee said. “Thank you, Steven.”
Soderbergh has infamously announced that he would be retiring from film-making after his most recent project, the HBO Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra, citing his disenchantment with the commercialization of the movie business.
Lee, an outspoken auteur himself, appears to be a kindred spirit in this regard.
“With the current climate in The Hollywood Studio System it’s not an encouraging look for Independent Filmmakers. I’m not hating, just stating the facts,” Lee wrote when announcing the Kickstarter project. “Superheroes, comic books, 3D special EFX, blowing up the planet nine times and fly through the air while transforming is not my thang [sic]. To me it’s not just that these films are being made but it seems like these are the only films getting made. To the studios it seems like every film must be a home run on a global scale, a tent pole enterprise, able to spin off sequel after sequel after sequel after sequel after sequel after sequel.”
Contributions to the site can range up to $10,000, which earns a trip with Lee to a New York Knicks game in his famous courtside seats.
His Oldboy, a remake of the 2003 South Korean thriller, is to be released in October.