Despite memorably dismissing “Green Book” as “not his cup of tea” the year that it beat “BlacKkKlansman” at the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Spike Lee appeared to forget Thursday the title of the Peter Farrelly feature that took home that year’s top prize.
It may have been feigned forgetfulness, though — Lee joked that “someone was being driven in that film too,” nodding to “Driving Miss Daisy,” the film that won Best Picture in 1990 when his “Do the Right Thing” was up for two Oscars.
The conversation came up during Lee’s appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast “WTF with Marc Maron.” At the time, the two were discussing Dean Winters’ role in the film when Maron asked Lee, 68, if he was relieved when “The BlacKkKlansmen” finally earned him an Oscar, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay.
“Was there a part of you that was sort of like, ‘About f–king time?’” Maron asked.
“That Oscar thing is a, I mean, here’s the thing: ‘Do the Right Thing’ was even nominated for an Oscar and ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ won,” Lee replied. “‘BlacKkKlansmen’ lost out to — what was the name of that film?” Lee questioned.
“What? For the Best Picture?” Maron replied.
“Yeah,” Lee responded, adding with a laugh: “Someone was being driven in that film, too.”
Whether it was authentic forgetfulness or subtle shade, Lee nevertheless said that none of his losses have prevented him from continuing his passion for filmmaking.
“I’ll not let that deter me from what I’m doing,” Lee said. “I understand that Oscars don’t necessarily mean that’s the best thing, so just keep it moving. I’m mad for a day, then it’s just keep it moving. On to the next. Keep it going.”
“Green Book” starred Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen and portrayed the real-life story of the friendship between classical pianist Don Shirley and his white Italian-American driver Tony Lip during the Jim Crow era.
Previously, Lee has rebuked the film. Asked shortly after his Oscar win in 2019 about some of his apparent disdain for the project (he physically turned his back to the stage during the evening’s acceptance speeches for “Green Book” and tried to walk out the theater after it won Best Picture), Lee pragmatically said, “Look, the Academy voters didn’t see it fit that we were worth of Best Picture. And I guess it’s progress, you know, ‘Do the Right Thing’ didn’t even get nominated. So I guess it might take another 20 years for me to come back, so we’ll see.”
Pressed on what his personal thoughts on the period drama were and if anything “offended” him about the movie, he said in a carpet interview that quickly went viral: “Are you British? Let me give you a British answer. It wasn’t my cup of tea!”
“Green Book” had its share of critics at the time in addition to Lee, receiving some backlash from other critics, specifically getting called out for upholding “white savior” tropes and sanitizing the history of systemic racism.
