SHORT TAKES : Spike’s Sister Puts Foot Down

Sibling rivalry played a role in Spike Lee’s latest film, “Mo’ Better Blues.”

The director’s 29-year-old sister, Joie, stars in the film as Indigo, a teacher whose relationship with a trumpet player, portrayed by Denzel Washington, is challenged by another woman and his love for his music.

“We went at it all the time,” Joie Lee says in the Aug. 7 issue of US magazine. “I would yell, ‘I’m not disagreeing with you as your sniveling younger sister. I’m disagreeing with you as an actress. And you’re not talking to me as a director, you’re talking to me as my older brother.’ ”

But she loves the part her brother wrote for her.

“I think Spike has captured some sort of essence of me,” she said. “And there are so few positive roles out there for women, let alone black women, that I’m grateful for it.”

Lee’s sister also had roles in his films “She’s Gotta Have It,” “School Daze” and “Do the Right Thing.”