MasterClass rocks. Spike Lee's class is epic wisdom. We direct; we cast. We tell the story. Lee shares what his grandmother said, "how about crawling before you walk?"
"We'll come to the set and we'll figure it out...no, no, no, no. You're not ready to do that."
"Everybody's not going to be a star." Can you be epic in performing your role?
You have to look the part. "And how I saw it; it's be like somebody's really, like, lost their soul and you see it on your face." Lee describes Halle Berry auditioning for Jungle Fever as a drug-addled prostitute. When she auditioned, she just didn't look the part. She kept returning, looking worse every time. She got the part. Sometimes players show defeated body language. We can't have that.
"There's this thing called chemistry...you feel it in your gut whether somebody has it."
"Let me know about people I don't know about."
"There are many, many talented people...and they need a shot, they need a platform to show what they can do." Lee introduced Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence, Halle Berry, Queen Latifah, and others.
"Don't be shy...you've gotta plead your case to total strangers." (Tryouts!)
"You have to be really prepared...you never know when opportunity is going to happen again."
"Actors can come up with something that's better than you wrote (see Lagniappe today)...you have to take your ego out of it."
"You may be a big giant star...but you might not be the right person for the role."
"You want to get pieces that fit..." (to make the best film)
"Cliches become cliches because there's some truth in it."
Lagniappe: "I didn't see that coming."
We had ten players at practice...one group was working on "spread development" (above) and I had the other four with me, including 3 bigs, working PnR.
I needed one big to play PnR ballhandler. She was outstanding running PnR to either side, attacking the basket, finishing, hitting the roller. I did not see that coming. There's an app for that!