European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 09, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A a a a a a a a a a. Tho new York times Annabella Sciorra and Wesley Snipes Are interracial lovers in Spike Lee s latest a Jungle  fever. Heats up outside movie mainstream by Bob Thomas associated press Spike Lee admits he makes a the kind of films that the studios Don t  but. He keeps producing movies that stir up. The Public and bring him plaudits As Well a ,. As brickbats. A. A a f his new film is no exception. Jungle fever describes the Romance of a married Black architect Wesley Snipes and his italian american Secretary Annabella Sciorra and the violent reaction from their families and their communities a Harlem and Bensonhurst. It was in the Brooklyn neighbourhood where a. Gang of whiles killed a Young Black Man. Yusuf Hawkins in 1989 because they thought he was dating a local White woman. Lee dedicates Jungle fever to Hawkins. A a. Quot people make what they think the studios v. Want and they make the same thing  and. Again and again  34-Ycar-old.Lee. A Lew filmmakers combat the sameness he said citing Oliver Stone. Martin Scorsese John sulcs Jonathan Demme Francis Ford. Coppola. Jim Jar. A Musch and others. A a. In the six years since winning the Best new director award at the Cannes film festival for his first commercial feature she a gotta have ii Lee has emerged As a major Filon maker. Like. Orson Welles he does the entire project writes directs produces acts. And he Sells the product too expressing his Frank opinions in a quiet voice and Deadpan manner. He was born Shelton Jackson Lee in Atlanta _ and raised in Brooklyn where he observed the attitudes and experiences he sets Down in his. Films. His father Bill Lee is a jazz musician and his Mother was an Art teacher. Spike was his. ,. Mothers name for him. Lee became hooked on film at Morehouse College and was later awarded a masters degree in filmmaking at new York University his first film was Joe a bed Stuy Barbershop we Cut Heads in 1982. It was his thesis work at Nyu film school and won the student Academy award from the Academy of motion picture arts and sciences in 1986, Lee filmed she a gotta have it about a sexually Independent Young woman and her three suitors in 12 Days for si75.0,00. Jungle fever Cost Quot a basement bargain Quot s14 million. As in school Daze. Do the right thing and. Mon better blues Lee continues to Challenge the thinking of both whiles and Blacks in Jungle a fever Quot. A a. A a a a. A a a a a during an interview in los Angeles let Cov a cred a variety of subjects in  outspoken manner. Here Are highlights a a you seem to have a Good relationship a with Universal pictures which financed and re leased his last three films. Does the studio have. Any input  a a they have input  Don t  say. 1 give them a a capt and they decide if they want to do it. Then it becomes a conversation As to what this project will Cost. But i have final Cut. A a like your other films. Jungle fever seems Likely to Rouse Strong feelings. Do you like to provoke people into thinking about matters such As interracial Romance a. I Don t think i get any great Joy and pleasure in doing it i think our films serve a purpose i done to think they re going to change anything. But hopefully they will evoke discussion and discourse. Maybe through that process we can try to arrive at some solutions to the stuff that ails us. A 0, do you know of couples who have gone through what you portray in Jungle fever. A a. I know interracial couples but none who. Had to go against what these two had to lace. The neighbourhood plays a Pari in it he being from. Harlem and she from Bensonhurst. 1 Hope. The  realize that ibis film is not a Means to represent what is happening in the rest. Of the  this is a couple who came together because of a sexual myth. A 0. Other interracial marriages have sue needed. Is that a matter of geography a a. Geography has a lot to do with it. You can see an interracial couple walking hand in hand in new York City in the neighbourhood of. Greenwich Village but it might not be Loo Wise to do that in Bensonhurst. Also if these two people came together on the basis of love they could probably withstand anything. But if its something other than love there a a Good Chance they a fail a q. What was the reaction to Jungle fever at a Cannes a a a v ?. A a. Very Good except for the jury two years ago Lee complained when do the right thing lost the prize to sex lies and videotape 0-you�?Tre not getting paranoid about that. Jury Are you. A a. Noj in a not getting paranoid. We be come to expect it. We done to know if Well be going Back there  have no problems with the festival the audience or the critics the jury is something else. A a a a a a q. Did you have any trouble persuading. Spike Lee to appear in. The movie. A a a a. Not this time. But Spike wont always appear in a film he writes and directs. I done to really consider myself an actor. A. Malcolm x is my next film Denzel washing ton will play Malcolm x. It will be for Warner Bros. The project was there so that a Why we had logo there. A a a a q. Will you have revelations about Malcolm a a a a. I think so. I think we will a that is 1 Hope we will shed a lot of new Light on Malcolm not. Just the Public figure but a lot of the private Man also. 1�?Tvc done a lot of research live read every. Thing in print on Malcolm and talked to people a who worked with him. A a q. What was his legacy a a. I think Malcolm x really defined what it meant to be a. Black Man. That s very important \ something we definitely need now. With More. Black males in prison and the rate that they Are killing each other a especially Here among the. Gangs in los Angeles something a got to split