madeincharlie:

Funny Read: Spike Lee Interview Martin Scorsese ”WE WERE OFFENDED!” -Martin Scorsese

How friendly were you with Frank Sinatra, when he was alive?

MS: [laughs] I met Frank Sinatra maybe two times.

SL: Had he ever seen any of your films?

MS: Yes. I spoke to him on the phone about Raging Bull[1980] and put a couple of his songs in there. He was very gracious about it. He gave us permission for two of them. I wanted three, but he said, “No, that’s it. Two.” I said, “Okay.” Then I met him backstage at the Academy Awards, and he was a gentleman. I think it was the night Ellen Burstyn won for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore [1974]. He was the emcee, I think. I may be wrong about that. But he was at least the presenter of that one section. People wouldn’t go nearer than, like, 10 feet around him. It was like a wall. He just moved, and the atmosphere moved with him.

SL: I’ve got a funny Frank Sinatra story. In Do the Right Thing [1989], the wall of fame was of all Italians. One of the pictures burned was Frank Sinatra’s. So a couple of films later, I’m doing Jungle Fever [1991], and there are three songs I want to use of Frank Sinatra’s. Frank Sinatra doesn’t want to speak to me. I have to speak to his daughter Tina. I said, “Tina. Miss Sinatra. Frank, your father, I adore him. He was my mother’s favorite performer. I chose these songs from September of My Years [1965] because that was her favorite album, and I meant no disrespect by burning his picture at all!” [laughs] So they made me squirm a little bit, but they relented and let me use the three songs in Jungle Fever. 

MS: It’s so funny because nobody had ever done that before. You’re in the middle of Do the Right Thing, and your character says, “And fuck Frank Sinatra.” We were offended.

SL: If you look at Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever andSummer of Sam [1999], there’s a relationship between African-Americans and Italian-Americans. You’re an Italian-American. I’m an African-American. We both grew up here in New York. What is it about both of our groups that has such a dynamic here in New York City? Is it because we’re so similar? 

MS: There is a similarity, culturally. There is a similarity especially in the way the two groups live near each other and interweave cultures.