Wednesday, May 27, 2009

spike lee brought barack and michelle obama together

Director Spike Lee has mentioned this story before, but he brings it up again in connection with the 20th anniversary of the release of his seminal film, Do the Right Thing. The Los Angeles Times put together an oral history about the film's production history over the Memorial Day weekend, and Lee couldn't resist:
Spike Lee: There was a benefit for Barack Obama on Martha's Vineyard when he was running for the Senate. I didn't really know who he was. He came over and said, "You're responsible for me and my wife getting together." Then he told me how they saw "Do the Right Thing" on their first date, and then went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream and talked about it.

Roger Guenveur Smith [actor]
: We're actually responsible for a whole new era in American political achievement.

Lee:
I think he is a very smart man, because if he had taken Michelle to see "Driving Miss Daisy," things would have turned out a whole lot different.
Driving Miss Daisy is, of course, the film that won the Best Picture Oscar that year.