Racial Double Standard Puts Spike Lee at a Disadvantage

In recent days, I’ve heard more talk than usual about director Spike Lee and much of it has been negative. Some of Lee’s critics call him a whiner and an ingrate when he complains that Warner Bros. won’t give him money to complete his “epic” on Malcolm X. They wonder why he continues to lay a guilt trip on a studio that already has poured more than $30 million into the project.

The last straw for them came when Lee asked his celebrity pals, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Prince, to name a few, to make up the alleged financial shortfall that prevented him from completing post-production editing on “Malcolm X” (as reported in “Spike Lee Gets by With a Little Help From His Friends,” Calendar, May 21).

“It was because of them that we were able to keep working,” he said in the story, stressing that the money was not a loan but “a gift.”

The article said Lee believed he got “caught” between Warner Bros. and the completion bond company that took control of the film when it went $5 million over budget. It noted that in the past Lee has said Hollywood is more willing to gamble on big-budget projects by white filmmakers, and it said that even the bond company president, who is black, has not escaped his current criticism.

How could anybody be that arrogant? Lee, of course, has always been an easy target. His brash, damn-the-critics style has marked him as one of the media’s genuine “bad boys.” His current wrangle with Warner Bros. and the bond company over “Malcolm X” won’t add any luster to that image. But Lee’s critics evidently haven’t been looking very closely at the dollars Hollywood shells out on its films.

This summer, movie studios will spend about $2.5 billion to release and distribute 80 films. That averages out to slightly more than $30 million per film. But even that doesn’t tell the whole story. When you consider that the big dollars will go to about 50 of those films, the average for them jumps considerably higher.

Now let’s sharpen the pencil a little more. This is what Hollywood has spent on films, now playing at theaters or soon to be released: “Far and Away,” $60 million; “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid,” $40 million; “Patriot Games,” $65 million; “Batman Returns,” $55 million. Now consider this: Arnold Schwarzenegger earned $12 million for his role in “Terminator 2,” and Tom Cruise will take home about $12.5 million for starring in “Far and Away.” Their salaries would nearly cover the cost of the Malcolm X project.

As for the argument that these are no-risk, bankable films, I say nonsense. There’s no such thing and movie studio executives know it. That’s why they nervously cross their fingers and pray that these films will bring in the receipts. It’s also why they worry over such “trifles” as whether these movies have the right plot lines, star popularity, market strategies and release dates.

Movie executives know that no matter how big the star’s name, how talented the director, how successful the sequel’s original or how much money they spend, a movie can still bomb. In recent years, the field has been littered with overhyped “blockbusters” that have flopped at the box office. Yet, this hasn’t stopped the studios from tossing out the bucks for “white”-themed movies.

So Lee’s complaints are hardly off base. Thirty million dollars these days barely moves a production out of filmmaking’s low-rent district. Lee chalks up Hollywood’s tightfistedness to the old racial double standard. And so do I. Put simply, the unstated Hollywood maxim is: When it’s a black film, take no chances, spend as little as possible and hope for the best.

But is this realistic anymore? Lee’s low-budget early films, such as “She’s Gotta Have It” and “School Daze,” made money. His “Jungle Fever” and “Do the Right Thing” were hits. And nearly all the other recent black films, including “Boyz N the Hood,” have blown away the myth that black films don’t sell.

That’s not all. Look at the theme of Lee’s new film, Malcolm X. Malcolm’s life is a Hollywood scriptwriter’s dream. His rise from semi-literate street hustler and convict to national and international fame has the necessary ingredients to attract crossover audiences and ensure commercial success.

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, Malcolm is big business now. Young blacks, and many whites, proudly quote Malcolm as if his words were those of a divine oracle. Many of the rappers pay homage to Malcolm on their popular-selling albums.

Major retail stores now sell “X” T-shirts, caps and sweat tops. Readers snap up his autobiography, biographies as well as collections of his speeches. Undoubtedly, the racial disturbances in Los Angeles will further heighten interest in Malcolm X. Already publishers have noted an upswing in sales of books that touch on racial issues. Many are rushing to reissue titles by black authors.

The audience is there not only for the film on Malcolm, but also for other quality films on the black experience.