WRG: Having helped pioneer so many changes in the film community, one can only assume that confidence is an underlying theme in everything that you do. What role has confidence played in the life and career of Spike Lee?
Spike Lee: I don’t think that you can do anything well if you don’t have confidence, no matter what it is. If you’re like, ‘Well, I don’t know if I’m good enough, I don’t know if it’s going to work’–that’s not going to get it. You’ve got to be confident.
You get confidence by doing something over and over and over again. So if you’re doing something for the first time, you’re not going to have the confidence that you will have five or ten years down the road. So you just have to continue doing what you’re doing and work on your craft. And the better your craft gets, the more confidence you get. The more confident you are, the more skillful you get, because you’re not worrying about other stuff. You’re just very focused. You’re doing what you have to do, so whatever endeavour you’re working on is going to be successful. And I don’t think that I said anything that you don’t already know.
Now, sometimes you might not have it at the beginning but I did. Not necessarily about filmmaking but just in general. Unlike a lot of filmmakers, especially young filmmakers who know right away–they saw Star Wars or some film and decided they wanted to be a filmmaker–that was not the case for me.
But I knew I was going to be successful. In fourth grade, I used to practice my autograph. Instead of taking notes in class, I used to practice my autograph. I didn’t know what I was going to be successful in–I’m not going to lie–but I used to practice my autograph, fourth grade. I didn’t know where the success was going to be, but i knew i was going to be successful.
WRG: Having helped pioneer so many changes in the film community, one can only assume that confidence is an underlying theme in everything that you do. What role has confidence played in the life and career of Spike Lee?
You get confidence by doing something over and over and over again.Spike Lee: I don’t think that you can do anything well if you don’t have confidence, no matter what it is. If you’re like, 'Well, I don’t know if I’m good enough, I don’t know if it’s going to work'–that’s not going to get it. You’ve got to be confident.
You get confidence by doing something over and over and over again. So if you’re doing something for the first time, you’re not going to have the confidence that you will have five or ten years down the road. So you just have to continue doing what you’re doing and work on your craft. And the better your craft gets, the more confidence you get. The more confident you are, the more skillful you get, because you’re not worrying about other stuff. You’re just very focused. You’re doing what you have to do, so whatever endeavour you’re working on is going to be successful. And I don’t think that I said anything that you don’t already know.
Now, sometimes you might not have it at the beginning but I did. Not necessarily about filmmaking but just in general. Unlike a lot of filmmakers, especially young filmmakers who know right away--they saw Star Wars or some film and decided they wanted to be a filmmaker--that was not the case for me.
But I knew I was going to be successful. In fourth grade, I used to practice my autograph. Instead of taking notes in class, I used to practice my autograph. I didn’t know what I was going to be successful in--I’m not going to lie--but I used to practice my autograph, fourth grade. I didn’t know where the success was going to be, but i knew i was going to be successful.