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The film director offers unmade script as a gift during time of social distancing
For all you cinephiles in self-isolation who’ve burned through your watchlist, Spike Lee is here to assuage your boredom.
On March 29, Lee posted a video on Instagram to announce his release of an un-produced Jackie Robinson biopic script to the public.
“…[W]e’ve all had a lot of time to think about stuff [during this pandemic]…our life…what did and didn’t happen,” Lee laments in the video. “And I begin to think about one of my dream projects.”
Project Details
Lee says the script, which he “pulled…out of a vault”, is a fifth draft dated back to 1996. It is simply titled Jackie Robinson, and based on the famed baseball player’s 1972 autobiography I Never Had It Made. You can read and download the script online via Dropbox.
Lee wanted his frequent collaborator Denzel Washington to play Robinson, but the actor turned it down because he thought he was “too old”. The project was in many stages of production from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s before Lee moved on from it. (Although it wasn’t the same project, another Jackie Robinson biopic was released in 2013 in which Chadwick Boseman playing Robinson. Robinson also played himself in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, a poster of which can be seen in Lee’s video on the wall behind him.)
“It’s never getting made, but I wanted to share the script with you,” Lee concluded. “Don’t worry about it if you don’t like baseball or sports, this is a great American story.”
In these uncertain times, it’s inspiring to see level-headed artists like Lee become voices of reason while still being endlessly creative. Even in the wake of Lee’s own COVID-19-related setback, he still manages to stay engaged with the film community. But we’d still be wise to heed his warnings: “Be safe! Be safe! Social distancing! Peace.”
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