Spike Lee has surpassed his Kickstarter goal of $1.25 million, with 4 days remaining in his campaign.
The 56-year-old director launched his campaign on July 21, in an effort to raise money to make his next film. Lee describes the movie as a “psychological bloody thriller,” about human beings who are addicted to blood (and not a remake of Blacula).
Since launching his campaign 26 days ago, Lee as amassed more than 5,400 financial backers, and raised $1,304,000.
But Lee’s Kickstarter campaign wasn’t a seamless endeavor.
The Do the Right Thing director generated strong criticism from the media. Weeks ago Lee made an appearance on Bloomberg TV’s Street Smart and had a heated debate about the backlash he’s received for using Kickstarter.
During an interview with theGrio’s Chris Witherspoon, Lee talked about his reason for using Kickstarter.
“I needed to go to Kickstarter to get this film made because this is not necessarily a Hollywood film, Lee said. “It’s more like an independent film.”
The 56-year-old Brooklyn native then said he doesn’t envision his contemporaries in the industry, like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg or Clint Eastwood, following in his footsteps and turning to Kickstarter to fund their future films.
“Anybody could do this, but Steven Spielberg,” Lee said. “Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Scorsese, they don’t have to do that.” Why? “Because they don’t have to do it,” he said. “They’re great filmmakers and they’re beloved by the studios.”
Lee’s next film, which is scheduled to hit theaters in October, will be his remake of the Korean thriller Oldboy.
Click below to watch part 1 and part 2 of Chris Witherspoon’s interview with Spike Lee
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC