NEW YORK — Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee had a semi-family reunion this month at New York City’s Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn for a celebration to dedicate the cineplex to him.
The movie theater that also serves food, cocktails, and beer has been unofficially renamed Spike Lee Cinema and is also celebrating an expansion and remodeling. Lee took part in a traditional champagne sabering ceremony at the event hosted by Alamo Drafthouse co-founder Tim League.
After the ceremony, the theater hosted a screening of Lee’s 1994 comedy/drama film “Crooklyn” (loosely based on his family’s story) in one of the remodeled screening rooms followed by a Q&A with the Brooklyn-raised filmmaker, younger sister Joie Lee, and younger brother Cinqué Lee, who co-wrote “Crooklyn” with Spike, the movie’s director. They shared behind-the-scenes stories of filming “Crooklyn,” a movie that follows the ups and downs of a lively and complex Brooklyn household based on the Lees’ own younger years.
The event was one of several recent public outings by Spike, including his appearances at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Spike Lee’s name has been tied inextricably to New York City’s Brooklyn borough, where he grew up and based much of his work. Many of his movies take place in Brooklyn, including “Crooklyn,” 1989’s “Do the Right Thing,” 1990’s “Mo’ Better Blues,” 1995’s “Clockers,” and 2012’s “Red Hook Summer.” Lee was also a Brooklyn resident for decades. “Crooklyn,” which takes place in the summer of 1973, follows the lives of a family of five underage siblings (four brothers and one sister) being raised in a Brooklyn brownstone by a schoolteacher mother named Carolyn Carmichael (played by Alfre Woodard) and a musician father named Woody Camichael (played by Delroy Lindo and based on the Lees’ real father, late renowned jazz musician and composer Bill Lee). Spike and Joie both have small supporting roles.
“I love Brooklyn, and it’s reflected in the films that I’ve done,” Lee said at the ceremony, where he posed for photos next to a newly installed Spike Lee Cinema plaque. “When I got this honor, I knew I wanted to show ‘Crooklyn.’ I’ve been making films for four decades. Total strangers come up to me all over the world. They don’t say ‘Do the Right Thing’ is their favorite film. They don’t say ‘Malcolm X.’ They say ‘Crooklyn’ is their most favorite film. And I think that has to do with family.”
At the Q&A following the screening of “Crooklyn,” the Lee siblings shared some inside stories about the making of the movie, which was originally going to be titled “Hot Peas and Butter” after a street game the Lee kids would play in the neighborhood.
“You had a belt, and whoever was ‘it’ had to hide the belt. And you had home base. Once you had the belt, you had to hide the belt and say, ‘Hot peas and butter! Come and get your supper!’ And everyone would try to find the belt. … And the person who could find the belt could whip anybody.”
Several scenes in the movie happened in real life, such as oldest son Clinton (played by Carlton Williams and based on the real-life Spike Lee) having to decide between his father’s piano recital or a New York Knicks playoff game. Clinton chooses just as Spike Lee did in real life.
“Crooklyn” features a death in the family that happened to the Lee family in real life. Joie Lee said at the Q&A that she still can’t watch the entire movie for that reason, and revealed the only time she saw the entire film was at the world premiere.
“Crooklyn” has universal and enduring appeal, she said. “It’s a story about childhood. It’s a story about family and loss.”
Filming the movie “ … was almost like a summer camp: this immersion of the period, of the language, the relationship between the siblings,” she said.
Joie Lee also said she loved working closely with Zelda Harris, who played Troy Carmichael, the character based on Joie as a 9-year-old. “She just inhabited the character,” Joie Lee said. “IIt was an incredible experience … with all the children [in the movie].”
Cinqué Lee agreed.
“Working with the kids was so much fun,” he said, sharing that actor Chris Knowings, who played youngest sibling Nate Carmichael (based on Cinqué), was short for his eight years and everyone assumed he was younger. “He did not like anyone picking him up,” Cinqué Lee said with a laugh.
“Crooklyn” explores issues of pursuing artistic dreams that aren’t paying the bills. In the movie, Woody struggles to earn money from performing his original music. Carolyn pressures him to get work performing songs by other artists, which is something Woody resists.
Lee said during the Q&A that in real life, his late father, Bill Lee, was not a movie fan. Spike’s mother, Jacqueline Lee, was the one who inspired her children’s love of cinema. Bill Lee would later compose the music scores for some of Spike’s films, including “Do the Right Thing,” “Mo’ Better Blues,” 1988’s “School Daze,” and 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It.” Spike and his siblings have all ended up working in the movie industry. Spike’s younger brother David Lee has been the still photographer on all of the films that Spike has directed.
“We were lucky because our parents never tried to crush our dreams,” Spike Lee said. “For some African American families, when they hear their child say, ‘I want to be a dancer or a writer,’ they can’t see how it’s going to get them where they want to be. … A lot of parents kill their children’s dreams by telling them what they can’t do and what they should do. For our parents, the arts were always encouraged. It’s not a mistake that we [Lee siblings] ended up in the arts.”Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn, which opened in 2016, is part of the Alamo Drafthouse chain of movie theaters that Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired in June. Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn has expanded from seven screens to 12 screens, all with state-of-the-art laser projectors that can have RealD 3D, 70mm, and 35mm capabilities on select screens. The newly minted Spike Lee Cinema is hosting retrospective programming of six of his films: “Crooklyn,” which took place on Sept. 17; “Mo’ Better Blues” on Sept. 21; “Jungle Fever” on Sept. 22; “Do the Right Thing” on Sept. 28; “Clockers” on Sept. 29; and “Inside Man” on Oct. 6.
