Spike Lee Is The Latest Figure To Join Controversial Craze
Famed director Spike Lee is the most recent figure to get into the controversial craze that has gripped Hollywood and beyond.
This article is more than 2 years old
It seems as if there are a ton of celebrities getting into the NFT craze. Quentin Tarantino, Brie Larson, Sylvester Stallone, and Bill Murray have all signed on to bring unique and one-of-a-kind digital artworks to the internet-loving world. Now it appears as if famed director Spike Lee is getting in on the controversial craze, as he is set to release a line of his own NFTs. These NFTs will be special in nature, as they focus on Lee’s debut feature film, She’s Gotta Have It.
Spike Lee will be releasing a line of 3,945 NFTs that will feature original art for She’s Gotta Have It, with many focusing on the protagonist of the film, Mars Blackmon. Blackmon was played by none other than Lee. The film cemented the director as a full-fledged filmmaker, as he produced, directed, starred in, and edited the entire thing himself. Based on a budget of $175,000, the film would go on to secure over $7 million at the box office. It was a cultural and critical success, as it changed the way that African American people were portrayed in films. Instead of appearing as pimps and whores, it showed them as upscale and intelligent suburbanites. The film was selected to be included in the Library of Congress in 2019, as it was “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” These new NFTs will focus on the film’s importance with art for the NFTs being designed by Tre Seals and Adrian Franks.
One of the most important aspects of this new collection is that Spike Lee can make them as he wishes. The director owns the rights to She’s Gotta Have It, so there will be no blowback from any studios that have produced the film. That wasn’t the case for the above-mentioned Quentin Tarantino, as he tried to make NFTs based on Pulp Fiction. Miramax owns the rights to the property and swiftly came in to sue the director for his attempts to release NFTs without their permission. Lee will not face any of those issues, and he plans to release his NFT line via The Visible Project. The director will sit on the board of directors for the content producer. He is going to be instrumental in showcasing The Visible Festival. This festival will showcase the NFT line, and even more art and films. Sometimes it’s better to go all in, and it seems as if Lee is doing just that. He is releasing his own line through a festival that is meant to showcase other artworks as well. There has been no mention that these artworks will be of the NFT style or in the digital space.
She’s Gotta Have It is one of the many Spike Lee films that have gone on to be critical successes. He won his first Oscar in 2019 for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film BlacKkKlansman. The man is a celebrated director, and now he is getting into the digital art space to showcase one of his most important films. While not everyone agrees with the NFT craze, it seems to be taking over in the terms of collectibles.
