"[20], His 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, about the girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. 2:07. "[96][97] Lee said he intended it as a joke. Unlike Oldboy, the film is most definitely "A Spike Lee Joint. Lee inherited the project after original director Steven Spielberg and star Will Smith walked away, but producers took Lee's version and forced him to cut an hour out. A renowned film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor famous for dealing with controversial issues such as racism, … [27] The film was also a financial success earning almost $24 million against a $5 million budget. Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia, and soon moved to Brooklyn, New York. There are numerous duplicates on my list. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. The film was released by Amazon Studios in select cities in November. Directed by Spike Lee. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU - where Hawkeye is clearly the best character - to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle. The busy young drummer commuted to Hollywood studios in a station wagon that was a veritable junkyard on wheels. [92], In response to the 2020 Presidential election, Spike celebrated Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump by celebrating in the streets of Brooklyn cracking open a bottle of champagne among a crowd of onlookers. In 2002 he was appointed as artistic director of the school. 4 for Ebert). Spike Lee has seemingly never explained why he chooses to call them joints, with fan theories taking often literal meanings, with the credit either referring to joint as a place to hang out, to a good old fashioned cannabis joint. Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Jacqueline Carroll (née Shelton), a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor, noted for his films that deal with controversial social and political issues.Lee's films are typically referred to as "Spike Lee Joints" and the closing credits always end with the phrases "By … [93] Photos and videos of Spike went viral on twitter. Spike Lee, pseudonimo di Shelton Jackson Lee (Atlanta, 20 marzo 1957), è un regista, sceneggiatore, attore, produttore cinematografico e scrittore statunitense.. Considerato uno dei più grandi registi afroamericani, i suoi film trattano temi politici e sociali, quali il razzismo, le relazioni interrazziali, la violenza e le droghe.. La sua casa di produzione cinematografica si … The King's Man Release Date Delayed To August 2021. "[11], In 1989, Lee made perhaps his most seminal film, Do the Right Thing, which focused on a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension on a hot summer day. [38] It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director (Lee's first ever nomination in this category). Very popular. [114][115], In June 2020, Lee defended filmmaker Woody Allen despite his sexual abuse allegation during a radio interview stating: "I'd just like to say Woody Allen is a great, great filmmaker and this cancel thing is not just Woody. [5], On May 18, 2016, Lee delivered the Commencement address for The Johns Hopkins University Class of 2016. [23] A. O. Scott,[24] Richard Roeper[25] and Roger Ebert all put it on their "best films of the decade" lists. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. [75] Lee received the award as "a champion of independent film and an inspiration to young filmmakers". The front papers explain that it's his choice of American Christmas favourites. One film that notably didn't meet the criteria is his 2013 version of Oldboy. Tommy Lee Jones, Actor: The Fugitive. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was originally scheduled to premiere out-of-competition at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, then play in theaters in May or June before streaming on Netflix. Based on actual events. He said he could not make an antisemitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and "that's a fact". At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. [66], In 1983, Lee won the Student Academy Award for his film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. [94][95], In May 1999, the New York Post reported that Lee made an inflammatory comment about Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association, while speaking to reporters at the Cannes Film Festival. He has since written and directed such films as Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), 25th Hour (2002), In… Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and professor. The film's cast included Lee, Danny Aiello, Bill Nunn, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, Martin Lawrence and Samuel L. Jackson. Spike Lee is a fan of the American baseball team the New York Yankees, basketball team the New York Knicks, the ice hockey team the New York Rangers and the English football team Arsenal. Spike Lee last directed the … The film gained critical acclaim as one of the best films of the year from film critics including both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert who ranked the film as the best of 1989, and later in their top 10 films of the decade (No. [6][7] Lee has three younger siblings, Joie, David, and Cinqué, each of whom has worked in many different positions in Lee's films. The film was an unusual film for Lee considering it was a studio heist thriller. Lee chose to call Oldboy "A Spike Lee Film" as a result. The film won a Student Academy Award. [109] A Seminole County judge dismissed the McClains' suit, agreeing with Lee that the issue had already been settled previously. The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix and opened the following August. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the direction of Mike D and Adam Horovitz and … [109][112] The lawsuit, which a court filing reportedly valued at $1.2 million, alleged that the couple suffered "injuries and damages" that continued after the initial settlement up through Zimmerman's trial in 2013. What is "A Spike Lee Joint" and which of the iconic director's films count as one?Spike Lee made his directorial debut with low-budget comedy She's Gotta Have It, and it was already clear he was a distinctive new voice.He followed up with a series of acclaimed projects like School Daze, Do The Right Thing, and Malcolm X, which confronted issues like race, … They criticized the characters of the club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush, described as "Shylocks". [10] New York Times film critic A.O. His mother nicknamed him "Spike" during his childhood. [74], In 2015, at the age of 58, Lee became the youngest person ever to receive an Honorary Academy Award. [87][88], When asked by the BBC if he believed in God, Lee said: "Yes. [56] He said that, rather than blaming manufacturers of apparel that gained popularity, "deal with the conditions that make a kid put so much importance on a pair of sneakers, a jacket and gold". Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went … Scott wrote that the film "ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. Chi-Raq received generally positive reviews from critics. A signature of the filmmaker's work is calling his movies "A Spike Lee Joint." [42][43][44], Lee's Vietnam war film Da 5 Bloods was released on Netflix. [102][103][104] He added that he and Eastwood were "not on a plantation". In June 2003, Lee sought an injunction against Spike TV to prevent them from using his nickname. In November 2015, he was given the Academy Honorary Award for his contributions to filmmaking. [120], American film director, film producer, writer, and actor. Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. The couple has been married since 1993. In 1983, Lee premiered his first independent short film titled, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. By The Associated Press June 8, 2020 GMT. Thanks to some slick lens work and a cast on cracking form, Lee proves (perhaps above all to himself?) They are performed by choirs who are fine if you like that insipid American Disney sound but thats all it is. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites. Citing historical accuracy, Eastwood responded that his film was specifically about the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, pointing out that while black Marines did fight at Iwo Jima, the U.S. military was racially segregated during World War II, and none of the men who raised the flag were black. "[35], Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, a true crime drama set in the 1970s centered around the true story of a black police officer, Ron Stallworth infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. in mass communication from Morehouse. He has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Student Academy Award, a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, two Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and the Cannes Grand Prix. "[18] Ebert and Martin Scorsese, who was sitting in for late At the Movies co-host Gene Siskel, both ranked Malcolm X among the ten best films of the 1990s. For example, Bell Hooks said that he wrote black women in the same objectifying way that white male filmmakers write the characters of white women. New this week: Spike Lee flick, ‘Artemis Fowl,’ Norah Jones. [30] In 2013, he won The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the American arts worth $300,000. And I think when we look back on it we are going to see that short of killing somebody, I don't know you that you can just erase somebody like they never existed. [36] The film received near universal praise when it opened in North America receiving a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critics consensus reading, "BlacKkKlansman uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events – and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way. [1][2] Lee's films Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, 4 Little Girls and She's Gotta Have It were each selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4][5]. Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Washington lost to Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman), a decision which Lee criticized, saying "I'm not the only one who thinks Denzel was robbed on that one. Spike Lee made his directorial debut with low-budget comedy She's Gotta Have It, and it was already clear he was a distinctive new voice. He angrily said that Lee should "shut his face". [46][47] The film's plot follows a group of aging Vietnam War veterans who return to the country in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader, as well as the treasure they buried while serving there. I created my list way back in 1994, its changed a little to include new films. [80], Lee met his wife, attorney Tonya Lewis Lee, in 1992, and they were married a year later in New York. Film critic Roger Ebert added the film to his "Great Movies" list on December 16, 2009. He has since written and directed such films as Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods (2020). See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Lee stated he wouldn't attend the rest of the games for the season. [79], Lee's films Do the Right Thing,[3] Malcolm X,[4] 4 Little Girls, and She's Gotta Have It were each selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". "[108], In March 2012, after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Spike Lee was one of many people who used Twitter to circulate a message that claimed to give the home address of the shooter George Zimmerman. Lee's career came full circle in a strange way in 2017 when he adapted She's Gotta Have It into a Netflix series. 6 for Siskel and No. ), and Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born). What IS "A Spike Lee Joint" (& Which Of His Films Don't Count)? He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B.A. Very polarizing. Esteemed filmmaker Spike Lee expresses his thoughts on Quentin Tarantino's latest film. He attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighborhood. Spike refuted Dolan's story alleging that he had been using the same entrance for the past 28 years. [14] The film that did win Best Picture was Driving Miss Daisy a film which focused on race relations between an elderly Jewish woman (Jessica Tandy) and her driver (Morgan Freeman). They have also lived in Lehigh Acres, FL and Miami Gardens, FL. Still, he's delivered a pacy, vigorous and frequently masterful take on a well-worn genre. that playing it straight is not always a bad thing. Director Malcolm D. Lee is his cousin. Spike Lee Talks About What Made Ali Great. Spike Jonze, Producer: Her. [61] His 2013 film, Oldboy, used the traditional "A Spike Lee Film" credit after producers had it re-edited. It was there that he received his master of fine arts. I don't find it too far-fetched that they tried to displace all the black people out of New Orleans. [118][119] Spike has also defended Nate Parker who was accused and charged with sexual assault. The show received mostly positive reviews and ran for two seasons. Lee won his first competitive Academy Award in the category Best Adapted Screenplay. While the director himself isn't explaining the exact meaning behind the term, he did reveal in a 2015 Atlantic interview that "A Spike Lee Joint" is '...really all the ingredients that I put into my film. [76][77], In 2019, Lee's film BlacKkKlansman went on to receive 6 Academy Award nominations. When he was a child, the family moved from Atlanta to Brooklyn, New York. ... MORE: Spike Lee just texted me to say that he thinks he was "set up" with the handshake photo. The New York Knicks released a statement saying, "The idea that Spike Lee is a victim because we have repeatedly asked him to not use our employee entrance and instead use a dedicated VIP entrance — which is used by every other celebrity who enters The Garden — is laughable. [81] They have one daughter, Satchel, born in 1994, and a son, Jackson, born in 1997.[82][83]. Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, to Jacqueline Carroll and William James Edward Lee III. [9] Lee's classmates Ang Lee and Ernest R. Dickerson worked on the film as assistant director and cinematographer, respectively. "The problem is guns", he said. The film filmed in black-and-white, concerns a young woman (Johns) who is seeing three men, and the feelings this arrangement provokes. Price New from Used from Paperback "Please retry" $13.45 — $2.44: Paperback $13.45 38 Used from $2.44 5 Collectible from $14.99 [109] Lee issued an apology and reached an agreement with the McClains, which reportedly included "compensation", with their attorney stating "The McClains' claim is fully resolved". "[37] In 2019, during the awards season leading up to the Academy Awards, Lee was invited to join a Directors Roundtable conversation run by The Hollywood Reporter. ... Jiggy Jones… "[89], While Lee continues to maintain an office in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, he and his wife live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He has also received an Academy Honorary Award, an Honorary BAFTA Award, an Honorary César, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. A post shared by Spike Lee (@officialspikelee) on May 7, 2020 at 6:47pm PDT He ends the film with The Empire State Building in red in … As Flip hoots and hollers with the KKK during the … Select this result to view Spike A Jones Sr's phone number, address, and more. Teyonah Parris, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Cannon, Dave Chappelle, Wesley Snipes, John Cusack, and Samuel L. Jackson starred in the film. He made his directorial debut with She's Gotta Have It (1986). Roy Jones Jr. relives the travesty of the 1988 Olympic boxing match. Whatever film it is, whatever subject matter is. [100][101], At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Lee, who was then making Miracle at St. Anna, about an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during World War II, criticized director Clint Eastwood for not depicting black Marines in his own World War II film, Flags of Our Fathers. [53], In mid-1990, Levi's hired Lee to direct a series of TV commercials for their 501 button-fly jeans. Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. [78], Two of his films have competed for the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, and of the two, BlacKkKlansman won the Grand Prix in 2018. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. The closing credits always end with the phrases "By Any Means Necessary", "Ya Dig", and "Sho Nuff". Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and professor. [52] He is now a tenured professor at NYU. Spike Lee (Author), Lisa Jones (Author) 5.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings. "[49] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". This began with She's Gotta Have It in 1986 and nearly all his movies possess this credit. [50][51], In 1991, Lee taught a course at Harvard about filmmaking. Lee said that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg, or Tom Pollock, the Jewish heads of MCA and Universal Studios, were unlikely to allow antisemitic content in a film they produced. Lee himself was nominated for 3 Oscars for Lee for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film is a modern-day adaptation of the ancient Greek play "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes set in modern-day Chicago's Southside. The film was Lee's first feature-length film that launched Lee's career. [105] Lee later claimed that the event was exaggerated by the media and that he and Eastwood had reconciled through mutual friend Steven Spielberg, culminating in his sending Eastwood a print of Miracle at St. [39][40] When asked by journalists from the BBC if the Best Picture winner Green Book offended him, Lee replied, "Let me give you a British answer, it's not my cup of tea". Lee was quoted as saying the National Rifle Association should be disbanded and, of Heston, someone should "Shoot him with a .44 Bull Dog. The film was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films Festival. [33] Friends and frequent collaborators Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson presented Lee with the award at the private Governors Awards ceremony. The film dramatizes key events in Malcolm X's life: his criminal career, his incarceration, his conversion to Islam, his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his later falling out with the organization, his marriage to Betty X, his pilgrimage to Mecca and reevaluation of his views concerning whites, and his assassination on February 21, 1965. "[99] In later comments, Lee cited the government's past including the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. All this cannot be an accident. When the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7 million at the U.S. box office. Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. Lee's remake of the cult South Korean thriller starred Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen, and while it retained the same violence and shocking twist, it was an inferior film and ultimately flopped. Between 1979–1994, the category was a juried award. He was responding to coverage about whether Hollywood was responsible for school shootings. The film received widespread critical acclaim including from critic Roger Ebert ranked the film No. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. They wanted to pair Lee's character, Mars Blackmon, who greatly admired athlete Michael Jordan, and Jordan in a marketing campaign for the Air Jordan line. The credit is a way to put his personal stamp on a project and ensure that even if the subjects are all different, the voice behind them is the same, down to the themes and style of camera work. I have faith that there is a higher being. Lee also acted in ten of his films. With John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace. In 2008, he received the Wexner Prize. In 1993, he began to teach at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in the Graduate Film Program. [15] Lee said in an April 7, 2006 interview with New York magazine that the other film's success, which he thought was based on safe stereotypes, hurt him more than if his film had not been nominated for an award. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, a historically black college, where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. The best result we found for your search is Spike A Jones Sr age 60s in Fort Myers, FL in the Love Joy Park neighborhood. [54], Marketing executives from Nike[55] offered Lee a job directing commercials for the company. He followed up with a series of acclaimed projects like School Daze, Do The Right Thing, and Malcolm X, which confronted issues like race, politics, and relationships. ... “Da 5 Bloods”: It’s always the right time for a Spike Lee joint and thankfully Netflix has his latest ready to debut Friday. Born in Atlanta, Spike attended Morehouse College and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned his master of fine arts degree in film production. The roundtable included Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me? But he had little opportunity to employ cowbells, sirens, and automobile horns in his work at the time. [113], In March 2020, a video of Spike was released on Twitter showing the director having an altercation with the security team near the elevators at Madison Square Garden. Spike Lee, Director: Do the Right Thing. Defining childhood incidents, including his father's death, his mother's mental illness, and his experiences with racism are dramatized in flashbacks. [70], Lee was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Do the Right Thing[71][72] and Best Documentary for 4 Little Girls, but did not win either award. His films are also noted for their unique stylistic elements, including the use of dolly shots to portray the characters "floating" through their surroundings, which he has had his cinematographers repeatedly use in his filmography. Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia). Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. I was like, I don't want to do this. Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary, San Francisco International Film Festival, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, List of awards and nominations received by Spike Lee, Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, CNN – U.S. film registry adds 25 new titles – November 16, 1999, Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X' among 25 film registry picks – The Philadelphia Sunday Sun, "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks", "Oeuvre: Spike Lee: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads", "Siskel & Ebert 1989-Best of 1989 (2of2)", Hollywood Flashback: A Snubbed Spike Lee Trashed Wim Wenders at Cannes in 1989|Hollywood Reporter, "Q&A with Spike Lee on Making 'Do the Right Thing, "Spike Lee's Jews and the Passage from Benign Cliche into Bigotry", "2017 National Film Registry Is More Than a 'Field of Dreams, "A. O. Scott's Ten Best Films of the 2000s", "Spike Lee Is Writing A Video Game Campaign", "Spike Lee, Debbie Reynolds And Gena Rowlands To Receive Academy's 2015 Governors Awards", "Spike Lee receives an Honorary Award at the 2015 Governors Awards", "Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman wins Grand Prix award from Cannes", "BlacKkKlansman" wins Best Adapted Screenplay-Oscars on YouTube, "Oscars 2019 Spike Lee says Green Book 'not my cup of tea, "Spike Lee on 'Green Book's' Controversial Oscars Best Picture Win", "Spike Lee Gets 'Driving Miss Daisy' Deja Vu From 'Green Book' Win: 'Ref Made a Bad Call, "Why Do the Oscars Keep Falling for Racial Reconciliation Fantasies? [13], To many people's surprise, the film was not nominated for Best Picture or Best Director at the Academy Awards. A one-stop shop for all things video games. [21] In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Empire gave the film four stars out of five, concluding, "It's certainly a Spike Lee film, but no Spike Lee Joint. Anna.[106]. The connective tissue is that it's coming through me, but all the stories I feel are different.' [98] Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey condemned Lee as having "nothing to offer the debate on school violence except more violence and more hate". Lee submitted the film as his master's degree thesis at the Tisch School of the Arts. Spike Lee is a name that most know because of how many notable films he has directed. The New York Knicks, focuses partly on Lee's interaction with Miller at Knicks games in Madison Square Garden. While Oldboy may have been a bomb commercially, the director has since bounced back with BlacKkKlansman, which earned Spike Lee his first Academy Award nomination as Best Director. [17], In 1992, Spike released his biographical epic film Malcolm X based on the Autobiography of Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington as the famed civil rights leader. Even when he moves into more traditional mainstream fare like heist movie Inside Man starring Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster, the film's retain his singular style and mood. I know he's going through it right now. "[29], On May 2, 2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee with the San Francisco Film Society's Directing Award. @kn8. "A Spike Lee Joint" is how the filmmaker chooses to credit himself on his work, but what does it mean and which of his films don qualify? Spike Jones does not actually appear on this CD at all! He did graduate work at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in film and television.[8]. Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (pronounced as "Jones"), is an American filmmaker, photographer, musician, and actor, whose work includes film, television, music videos, and commercials.. Jonze began his career as a teenager photographing BMX riders and skateboarders for Freestylin' Magazine and Transworld Skateboarding, and he …