You don't often hear much in the way of criticism of legends like Clint Eastwood and critical darlings the Coen Brothers, but leave it to Spike Lee to bust some out anyway, like he did at Cannes. First, the expected sorts of jabs directed at Eastwood, wondering why there were no black soldiers in Flags of Our Fathers.
"If you reporters had any balls you'd ask him why. There's no way I know why he did that -- that was his vision, not mine. But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed it. It's not like he didn't know."
The implication isn't pretty. But when he talked smack about the Coens, it didn't sound as though he was familiar with their entire body of work.
"I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don't.. Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It's like, 'Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!' I see things different than that."
Watch Miller's Crossing and say that again, Spike. Look into your heart.
