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Hitchcock-episode origin; revised ending; Stuyvesant Avenue location; security during filming; Lee on critics and Mookie; later references
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:00Read transcript
- As read on air, the idea came from the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode 'Shopping for Death', about hot weather increasing violence; it was also inspired by Howard Beach and Eleanor Bumpurs, and the screenplay was written in two weeks.
- As read on air, the original script ended with a stronger reconciliation between Mookie and Sal and it is unclear why Lee changed it; the hosts answer that it is better this way and the original would have been more Hollywood.
- One host argues the film was a Rorschach test: white people (and not only white people) had been conditioned to expect race movies on their terms with reconciliation, and blamed Lee for not solving the problem; the film cuts the bow like a play.
- As read on air, the film was shot entirely on Stuyvesant Avenue between Quincy Street and Lexington Avenue, and the production designer painted the street red and orange to convey a heat wave.
- As read on air, local crack dealers threatened the crew, so Lee hired Fruit of Islam members for security, and Samuel L. Jackson spent most of his time on set sleeping.
- As read on air, in a 2014 interview the director called the critical fears outrageous, egregious and 'I think racist', saying they still bug him and that no one said that about Schwarzenegger films.
- As read on air, only white viewers have ever asked Lee whether Mookie did the right thing; Lee believes those questioning the riot fail to see the difference between property and the life of a black man.
- Later references read on air: police bring Sal's pizza to hostages in Inside Man, a 2016 Radio Raheem Air Jordan, and the Obamas praising the film in 2014 and saying they saw it on their first date.