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  • -Welcome back to the show. -Glad to be here.

  • -Great... -Is Brooklyn in the house?

  • (applause and cheering)

  • Great to see you again, and let me start by saying this.

  • I-I have been in many a movie theatre.

  • I, uh, have watched many movies, Spike Lee,

  • and I will tell you this.

  • I have never experienced what I experienced watching this movie.

  • I watched this movie in Connecticut this weekend,

  • and the cinema was completely filled

  • with old white people, the area I was in.

  • It was Mystic Lake or something like that, right?

  • And the movie plays end to end

  • I think two hours and eight minutes,

  • and we sit there, and nobody gets up.

  • Like, credits start rolling. Nobody moves.

  • And then I stood up, and we're, like, in the middle,

  • and then, all the white people

  • around me we just like, "Yeah, yeah. Just..."

  • (laughter)

  • And then, like, even when we were walking out,

  • people were just like, "Yeah. No, you first. You first."

  • Like, everyone...

  • It's-it's a... it's a powerful film.

  • Are you feeling that in the responses you get from people?

  • I'm feeling it. I'm on Instagram, man.

  • I got several...

  • people telling me that they were...

  • you know, not...

  • One or two black people in the theatre.

  • And then, after the film,

  • when the lights finally go up...

  • the white people who love the film-- they were...

  • they were hugging 'em.

  • They're hugging the black folks in theatres saying,

  • "I'm sorry. I apologize. I apologize."

  • I never heard anything like that before in my life.

  • It's a beautiful film, and just to those

  • who don't know anything about the story...

  • BlacKkKlansman is inspired by the true story

  • of Ron Stallworth, right?

  • He's an African-American detective in the 19...

  • -The first. -In the 1970s. The first?

  • -First police officer in Colorado Springs. -Right.

  • And this is a black man who gets into a police department.

  • And, I mean, from the get-go...

  • Let's start with that part of the story.

  • You lay out how difficult it is

  • to play that-that role

  • -of being a black man and a police officer. -Mm-hmm.

  • -And this is in the 1970s... -Yeah.

  • ...but in some ways it feels like it hasn't changed.

  • Well, what we tried to do was--

  • even though it takes place in the '70s,

  • I still wanted it to be contemporary--

  • so there are many things that my cowriter Kevin Willmott and I,

  • we put in so people, it would click like, you know,

  • -Right. -this stuff is still happening today.

  • And then it-- I know, I'm not trying to spoil anything,

  • 'cause it's out already-- but the ending,

  • that really hammers home where we are in this world today.

  • It's a story that connects with you on so many levels.

  • So, you know, you have Adam Driver's character,

  • -Right. -who's a policeman

  • who has for so long passed as "white,"

  • just plain WASP white, in his neighborhood.

  • And in the story, Ron Stallworth is a black man

  • who goes undercover as a Klan member,

  • which is, I mean, the premise sounds ridiculous.

  • If you don't tell me that it's based on a true story,

  • I'd be like, this is the wildest thing from the imagination...

  • That's what I thought when Jordan Peele called me.

  • So he says to you, "This is the story," and...

  • Six words: "Black man infiltrates Ku Klux Klan."

  • -(laughter) -High concepts!

  • You can't get more... higher than that.

  • Right. But the real Ron Stallworth, like, he did this.

  • And David Duke got bamboozled by him.

  • -Yep. -And...

  • (laughter)

  • -(applause, cheering) -And what I... what I...

  • You know what, here's the thing, what I found fantastic about it

  • is, in your film, it illuminates the ludicrous nature of racism,

  • -because David Duke becomes friends... -It's insane. Right.

  • with a black man, because he doesn't know

  • -that he's a black man. -Over the phone.

  • -Right. Like, and you show... -Mm-hmm.

  • you show that these, like, it's a human being.

  • Like, that... maybe that's the biggest thing for me is,

  • how were you able to make a film where

  • you seem to approach it with a certain level of empathy

  • where you don't paint these people as caricatures.

  • You see different people in the Klan,

  • you see human beings who are doing

  • what they believe is right, or what they believe is

  • their divine, God-given, like...

  • Like, how do you begin that journey

  • when creating that character?

  • It starts with the script.

  • But... without, I mean,

  • without Ron's book, I mean, it's all...

  • that's what makes it insane, that it's... true.

  • -Right. -So when Jordan Peele said...

  • I said it sound...

  • automatically, I thought of a David Chappelle skit.

  • -Right, right, right. -But he said it's true,

  • and then I read the book, and it was a great opportunity

  • for me, even though it took place...

  • even though the story took place in the '70s,

  • I still thought it was a great opportunity

  • to comment on the world we live today

  • with Agent Orange in the White House.

  • Let me ask you this.

  • I don't say his name.

  • -Shout out to Busta Rhymes, -Let me, let me ask...

  • that's where I got it from.

  • Busta. (chuckles)

  • Let me ask you this, why do you think

  • a story about the 1970s and the Klan

  • and a black man on the police force

  • comments on what's happening today in America?

  • Because... I don't like to say--

  • I think one of the mistakes people are making, I feel,

  • is that they're saying this is just an American phenomenon.

  • The rise of the right, this is, this is happening globally.

  • And with this guy in the White House,

  • he's made it okay for these supremists,

  • white supremists to come out in the open.

  • Th-they're coming out from under the rocks,

  • -and he's legitimized them. -Right.

  • And I wouldn't even call it a dog whistle,

  • he's, like, on a bullhorn.

  • Have you seen anything like this?

  • I mean, you've been making movies that speak

  • to what's happening in America for a long time--

  • have you seen anything like this?

  • Not in my 61 years on this Earth.

  • I mean, this-this is, this is...

  • as they say, this is bananas.

  • This is insane, it's topsy-turvy.

  • And, what I-- the one thing I'd like to say to the audience

  • and to the people watching tonight...

  • If we don't-- if what has happened the last 18 months,

  • if that doesn't mobilize us to register to vote,

  • I don't know what will.

  • We have to get ready for these midterms,

  • and after that, he's-he's got to be a one term president.

  • You know, we we have to...

  • (cheering and applause)

  • Because we're going for the flimflam,

  • the snake oil salesman, and the okeydoke.

  • And-and another thing, we can't get distracted by these tweets.

  • That's like a misdirection play in football,

  • -American football. -Right.

  • And, uh, we just... we know what's coming,

  • then we just should, should just, like...

  • and keep focused what we got to do.

  • I feel.

  • That's my opinion, that's what I feel.

  • (cheering and applause)

  • When you're making a story

  • about a black man who becomes the first black police officer

  • to work in a police force,

  • you deal with so many issues

  • that are relatable to what's happening today.

  • There's a powerful line in the movie where he stumbles upon

  • an officer who has done something that's bad,

  • -he's a repeatedly bad offender, -Mm-hmm.

  • he's killed a black kid in the story,

  • shot him and claimed that he had a gun.

  • And one of the other officers, who's a good guy,

  • says to him, "Well, the reason we haven't outed him

  • "is because we're a family.

  • We in the police are a family."

  • -And... -The blue wall of silence.

  • Right. And you portray these people

  • as being well-intentioned

  • and flawed at the same time.

  • -Was it important for you... -Those are human beings, though.

  • Right. Was it important for you to show it in that way where...

  • 'Cause I didn't walk away from the film

  • going like, "Oh, I hate these police."

  • But I walked away going like,

  • "I see the dilemma that these people are facing.

  • I don't agree with the decision many of them are making, but..."

  • Was that important to you?

  • Yes, because as an artist...

  • Just, well, for myself, I try to be...

  • tell the truth the best way I can,

  • the best way I know it.

  • -And that's something I been doing for 32 years. -Right.

  • And, well, how do you think you told the truth

  • when it came to these police officers?

  • That no one's black or white.

  • There's-there's shades of gray,

  • and people do things for different reasons.

  • And so I really...

  • What I like to do with my films

  • is show repercussions

  • -of decisions people make. -Right.

  • That's the interesting thing for me.

  • You go here, you go here,

  • and there's gonna be a repercussion here,

  • repercussion this way.

  • You have a scene in the movie

  • where Harry Belafonte is on-screen.

  • -Give it up. -(applause)

  • And...

  • -honestly... -91 years old.

  • honestly one of the most powerful moments in cinema.

  • He's on the screen,

  • and you can feel everyone in that cinema.

  • You can feel the goose bumps as he tells a tale.

  • Recounting the lynching of Jesse.

  • -Recounting a lynching. -A real lynching.

  • Took Jesse Washington, Waco, Texas.

  • -I think 1915 or '16. -Right.

  • And this character was his friend

  • who hid and saw this lynching.

  • When you're making a movie

  • and you're telling that story...

  • how hard is it for you

  • to not, like, skew the way you tell the story

  • to make the bad guy seem even badder

  • than-than they were in the film?

  • -Like, how do you... -Just-just tell the truth.

  • And I just like to say--

  • because I remember it-- that scene,

  • we shot Mr. B, Harry Belafonte,

  • was the last day of the shoot.

  • And so no one knew who was gonna play this role.

  • I kept it on the low-low.

  • But I told everybody on the crew,

  • "When you come to work that day, the last day of the shoot,

  • wear... suit and tie."

  • Ladies, we were clean,

  • -'cause he deserved that. -Right.

  • We walked on to set, we were sharp.

  • We had to give him respect.

  • Freedom fighter. With Dr. King all throughout.

  • Always-- Freedom fighter.

  • No, we had to-- we had to give him love.

  • (applause)

  • Everybody was dressed to the nines!

  • Before I let you go, um, the film ends--

  • and I won't-- I won't spoil the ending of the film for you--

  • -but the film ends-- -Yeah, go ahead. Peo-- It's been--

  • Well, I won't-- Not the-- not the ending.

  • 'Cause I-I still want people to enjoy.

  • Th-There's a magical ending.

  • It's a beautiful film.

  • Um, but what happens post-the movie part

  • is we get thrust into modern day.

  • We go from the 1970s to 2017.

  • -We go to a Charlottesville-- -We go to a year ago,

  • -what happened. A year ago yesterday. -Right.

  • And, again, I could feel an audience

  • that was taken from a world of make-believe which was real

  • to, like, very much what you don't want to believe is real.

  • Right.

  • When you were putting that onscreen,

  • when did you make that decision?

  • Because this movie, you-you had been creating.

  • When did you make the decision to put

  • current-day Charlottesville into a 1970s film about the Klan?

  • Well, we didn't start shooting till the fall.

  • So, I was in my summer home in Martha's Vineyard,

  • and... it hit me just like that.

  • This has to be the ending.

  • But... I got Susan Bro's number,

  • the mother of, uh, Heather Heyer, who was murdered,

  • and I got her blessing.

  • So, she gave me the permission to, uh,

  • -use, uh, her daughter's photo at the end. -Right.

  • So, that was a year ago yesterday.

  • She was murdered. And it was nothing but--

  • Trevor, it was nothing but American,

  • homegrown act of terrorism,

  • when that car drove down that crowded street

  • and-and... and murdered her.

  • It's-it's-- That's a fact.

  • And the president of the United States

  • had a opportunity to tell the world

  • that we are not for hate.

  • And he did not denounce the Klan,

  • the alt-right,

  • the KKK.

  • He didn't do it.

  • And a lot of times, for me, I-I've found, like,

  • you know, he'll say something and then they pull him

  • in the back and say, "You got to change it."

  • Then he says-- You know, he--

  • But what I feel, whatever comes out his mouth the first time,

  • that's the truth,

  • and that's-what's what's in his heart.

  • (cheering and applause)

  • I just want to say thank you for making another amazing film.

  • -Thank you, thank you. -Thank you so much for being

  • on the show.

  • BlacKkKlansman is in theaters now.

  • You want to watch this movie. Spike Lee, everybody.

-Welcome back to the show. -Glad to be here.

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