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Denzel Washington is one of the most successful actors of modern times, although even a performer of his stature has had some duds at the box office. With a long and fruitful career that’s included two Academy Award wins and countless iconic roles, Washington can count himself among the most enduring and beloved stars in contemporary Hollywood. While Washington’s recent role in Gladiator II has fast become his highest-grossing endeavor, it’s important to look back on the underappreciated releases and questionable roles that make up his least commercially successful movies.

The best Washington movies all offer something unique, as he consistently imbues his roles with an urgency that makes them eternally memorable. From his ongoing collaboration with director Spike Lee to an artful interpretation of a Shakespeare classic, even Washington’s lowest-grossing films all had something to offer. While these films may not have hit it big at the box office,...

Spike Lee spoke warmly of his long-time working relationship and friendship with Denzel Washington in a conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival on Tuesday.

Lee is currently in post-production on Highest 2 Lowest, his latest collaboration with Washington, and their fifth film together after Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game and Inside Man.

“Someone pointed out to me that the last time we worked together was 18 years ago. I was surprised because it didn’t feel that way. I’m very blessed to have done five films together, he is arguably the best actor on the planet,” he said.

Lee, who also cast Washington’s son John David Washington’s son in BlacKkKlansman, suggested he shared a special bond with the actor.

“We’re brothers,” he said. “We just do our thing. We’re familiar with one another… our families are very tight.”

Talking about their collaboration in Malcolm X,...

Black leaders in the film industry have continuously broken barriers with their films in order to pave the way for upcoming voices, and many do so by forming their own production companies. Case in point—Oscar Micheaux, noted as America's first Black filmmaker, was the only man of color to ever produce a feature-length film in 1919. Micheaux, regarded as the most successful African-American filmmaker during the first half of the 20th century, worked as a film director and independent producer on more than 44 existing projects. He produced both silent and sound pieces throughout his career, creating opportunities for hundreds of artists along the way.

Spike Lee transformed the industry in '86 with his directorial debut, the acclaimed romantic comedy film She's Gotta Have It, centering on sexuality in the Black community; the main character, Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns), explores sexual relationships with three different men. Although deemed as controversial by some,...

Netflix has a huge collection of incredible Black movies on the platform, ranging across genres and displaying the creativity of several prominent filmmakers. Many of Netflix's best Black movies are contained under the site’s ‘Black Stories’ collection, which collates all these projects into the same place for audiences to browse at their own leisure, exploring the multiple styles and subgenres that are available.

The Black Stories Collection is an extremely diverse selection of films and television shows, ranging from classic cinema to recent hits and highlighting just how important and innovative Black filmmakers have been throughout the industry’s history. There’s a great mixture of critically-acclaimed projects and more underrated hidden gems that audiences might not have heard of before, with some of Netflix’s best movies being included in the collection.

She's Gotta Have It (1986)

Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It is a brilliant comedy that...

Amidst much speculation for his next project, Quentin Tarantino has hinted at the possibility that his tenth project is a directorial venture into TV miniseries. If this idea indeed turns into a reality, this would be the first time that the Reservoir Dogs director would be behind the camera for television.

Previously, some high-profile feature film directors have experimented with the TV format ranging from Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage to Mike Flanagan's various horror shows. While there have been directors who made the jump from TV to films (Joe and Anthony Russo's early stint on Arrested Development or Jordan Peele's work on Key & Peele being a notable example), many directors were already established as cinematic auteurs before they played around with a smaller screen.

Spike Lee - She's Gotta Have It (2017-2019) Stream On Netflix

Spike Lee broke out in the independent film...

Filmmaker Spike Lee has nearly 100 credits to his name. From documentaries to movies to short films (“don’t call them music videos”), Lee has covered it all.

And through his films, he tackles issues of race, class, and history. Lee who started as an independent filmmaker burst onto the scene with 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It” and in 1988 he made his first studio film, “School Daze.” From the get-go, Lee’s arresting opening credit sequences have become a signature. It’s a sign that audiences can expect a funny, provocative ride, one usually set to some killer music. In other words, a typical Spike Lee Joint.

Here, Lee breaks down his favorites and tells the story behind some of his most memorable opening credits, and he shares his favorite opening sequence of all-time. Watch the video above to see some of the opening sequences and the conversation with Lee in full.

Tony Sokol Jul 20, 2019

Spike Lee is expected to shop She's Gotta Have It series to other outlets as he works on Da 5 Bloods for Netflix.

She's Gotta Have It season 3 is up for grabs. Netflix has canceled Spike Lee’s series less than two months after its season 2 premiere, according to Variety. The series, which was titled after the filmmaker's 1986 feature film debut, follows Nola Darling as a young sex-positive, polyamorous pansexual graphic artist based in Brooklyn.

“Spike Lee is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and we’re thrilled he brought the series She’s Gotta Have It to Netflix,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. “While this is our last season, we’re very proud that it will be on our service for years to come, and excited to be working with Spike on his upcoming Netflix film Da 5 Bloods.

The radical film was closer to French new wave than anything that had passed as ‘black’ cinema before – and it still resonates today

Read the rest of our coming of age films series

“I consider myself normal, whatever that means,” says Nola Darling, but she really isn’t. For one thing, she’s happily juggling three lovers. For another, she’s an African-American woman telling her own story in a movie.

What’s more, the heroine of Lee’s feature debut, played by Tracy Camilla Johns, is a confident, beautiful, independent, sex-positive woman. She seems to live the dream. She makes political collages in her loft apartment in pre-gentrification Brooklyn. Her candlelit bedchamber resembles a church altar, which is appropriate. It looks as if she’s got it all figured out.

She’s Gotta Have It has proved simply irresistible for Netflix: the streaming service has renewed the Spike Lee joint for a second season.

RELATEDCable/Streaming Scorecard: What’s Renewed? What’s Cancelled?

Lee made the big announcement in an Instagram post on New Year’s Day. Series star DeWanda Wise quickly followed up with a post of her own:

The well-received adaptation of Lee’s debut film stars Wise as Nola Darling (originally played by Tracy Camilla Johns), a Brooklyn-based artist struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job and her three lovers:...

"I want you to know the only reason I'm consenting to this is because I wish to clear my name." With those words, a twentysomething Brooklyn artist named Nola Darling introduced herself to the world – and, in the process, so did Spike Lee, a prodigiously talented twentysomething writer-director who invented the character for She's Gotta Have It, which hit theaters in the summer of 1986. Speaking directly to the camera, Nola (played by Tracy Camilla Johns) laid out her life's fundamental dilemma: how to be a free-thinking, independent woman who refused...

1. “Godless” Season 1 (available November 22)

Why Should I Watch It? “Godless” reunites the duo behind “Out of Sight”: Scott Frank (who wrote the 1998 crime romance starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez) pens and directs the new seven-episode limited series, while Steven Soderbergh serves as an executive producer. Aside from these two acclaimed artists (Frank also wrote “Minority Report” and “Logan”), the Netflix original stars Emmy winner Jeff Daniels, Emmy winner Merritt Wever, Emmy nominee Michelle Dockery, and future winner of all the awards, Scoot McNairy. Throw in a classic Western story about a notorious criminal (Daniels) with a gang of outlaws who seek vengeance on a former member (Jack O’Connell) holed up in a mining town governed by women, and “Godless” has all the makings of a great genre entry with all the right modern touches.

Best Episode: Reviews are embargoed until November 15, so we can’t say which...

This Thanksgiving, fans of Spike Lee’s revolutionary debut film can feast on a series update of She’s Gotta Have It.

RelatedGirlboss Cancelled at Netflix After One Season

Netflix announced that She’s Gotta Have It will release on Thursday, Nov. 23, with all 10 episodes directed by Lee. The series stars DeWanda Wise (Shots Fired) as Nola Darling (played in the 1986 film by Tracy Camilla Johns), a Brooklyn-based artist struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job and her three lovers: cultured model Greer Childs (played by Cleo Anthony, Divergent), protective investment banker Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent,...

by Kieran Scarlett

It was recently announced that Netflix has ordered ten episodes of a TV series adaptation of Spike Lee’s 1986 debut feature film She’s Gotta Have It. Lee will direct all ten episodes. The age of prestige television truly allows for more fluid movement (at least behind the camera) from film to TV and back again. Spike Lee’s last few features (despite good notices for Chi-raq) have had trouble catching fire outside of the arthouse the way his earlier work has, for this reason or that. He’s certainly a polarizing figure and resistance to his work is built in to certain audiences.

Tracy Camilla Johns and Spike Lee in She's Gotta Have It (1986)

Have you seen She’s Gotta Have It? It’s a very fascinating piece, both on its own and in the larger context of Lee’s filmography. There’s a beautifully bare-bones...

Netflix has ordered Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It (The 1st Spike Lee Joint Feature Film) to series. The 10-episode series is a contemporary update of Spike Lee's revolutionary debut independent film. She's Gotta Have It centers on Nola Darling, a Brooklyn-based artist in her late twenties struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her Friends, her Job and her Three Lovers. Her three lovers are The Cultured Model, Greer Childs, The Protective Investment Banker, Jamie Overstreet and Da Original B-Boy Sneakerhead, Mars Blackmon.

Spike Lee is directing the entire series and serves as creator and executive producer along with his producer wife Tonya Lewis Lee, who will also executive produce. She's Gotta Have It is produced by Netflix. Here's what Spike Lee had to say in his statement, which features its own unique punctuation.

"She's Gotta Have It Has A Very Special Place In My Heart.

Tony Sokol Sep 16, 2016

Spike Lee is set to direct and produce a 10-episode Netflix remake of his debut feature, She’s Gotta Have It...

Spike Lee is coming to TV. Netflix ordered 10-episode series based on Lee’s debut feature movie She's Gotta Have It.

Netflix says the She’s Gotta Have It series will be a contemporary remake of the film and Lee will direct all 10 half-hour episodes. He will also executive produce with wife Tonya Lewis Lee. The project was originally set up at Showtime two years ago.

Lee put out the following statement:

"She’s Gotta Have It Has A Very Special Place In My Heart. We Shot This Film In 12 Days (2 Six Day Weeks) Way Back In The Back Back Of The Hot Summer Of 1985 For A Mere Total of $175,000. Funds That We Begged, Borrowed and Whatnot To Get That Money. This Is The 1st Official...

In 1986, Spike Lee released his feature-length debut film “She’s Gotta Have It” about sexually independent Brooklynite Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) who juggles three suitors: Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell) and Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee). The film garnered much critical acclaim upon release and was credited with ushering in the American independent film movement in the 1980s. Now, Deadline reports that the film is being adapted into an episodic TV series for Netflix after being in development at Showtime for two years. Lee will direct all the episodes and will executive produce with his wife Tonya Lewis Lee.

Read More: Spike Lee’s ‘Birth of a Nation’ Short Almost Got Him Kicked Out of Nyu

In a statement about the series, the veteran director says, “We Are Getting An Opportunity To Revisit These Memorable Characters Who Will Still Be Relevant And Avant Garde 3 Decades Later.

Spike Lee’s first feature film, She's Gotta Have It, is coming to Showtime in the form of a new series, a rep confirmed to EW.

She’s Gotta Have It premiered in 1986 and had a huge impact on the independent film movement. The movie stars Tracy Camilla Johns as a woman who won’t commit to any of her three boyfriends, instead choosing to enjoy each of their company while still maintaining her independence.

The TV series will be a contemporized take on the film, with Lee set to direct and write.

Spike Lee is to make a new version of his film She's Gotta Have It for Showtime.

The Hollywood director will write and direct a new half-hour series for the TV network, reports Deadline.

His 1985 debut movie will be updated in the new version, including contemporary characters and Lee's views of race, gender, sexuality and relationships.

Lee's original film was shot in just 12 days on a budget of $175,000.

Tracy Camilla Johns starred as a sexually active Brooklyn resident who dates three men, played by Lee, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell.

The film grossed over $7,000,000 at the Us box office alone.

Last year, the Oldboy remake director said that his planned Inside Man 2 project had been shelved.

Of all the Spike Lee joints, "She's Gotta Have It" is the one getting a TV series adaptation. Lee is giving his 1985 film a makeover for Showtime, according to Deadline, with the project in development now. The new series' episodes will be a half-hour long, with Lee attached to write and direct this "contemporary look at the characters," to "explore Lee’s unique and provocative points of view about race, gender, sexuality, relationships and the gentrification in Brooklyn." "She's Gotta Have It" was Lee's feature film debut; it was shot in 12 days for $175,000 budget, ultimately grossing more than $7 million at the U.S. box office. It starred Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Lee. Showtime has picked up a number of other original scripted comedies/comedy-dramas in the last five years including "Episodes," "House of Lies" and "Nurse Jackie."...

Spike Lee is going back to She's Gotta Have It. The prolific writer-director is teaming with Showtime for a new take on his 1986 feature film debut, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. She's Gotta Have It, which helped spark the indie film movement in the '80s, explores race, gender, sexuality, relationships and the gentrification in Brooklyn. Lee's new take will be a contemporary look at the characters, portrayed in the movie by Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Lee. Photos: THR's Cover Shoot With the Stars of Showtime Lee is set to write and direct

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Exclusive: Spike Lee is revisiting his debut feature, 1985′s She’s Gotta Have It, on the small screen. Showtime has put in development a half-hour series adaptation that updates the film, with Lee set to write and attached to direct. The project is taking a new, contemporary look at the characters and will explore Lee’s unique and provocative points of view about race, gender, sexuality, relationships, and the gentrification in Brooklyn. Showtime is a fitting home for the project as the pay cable network has built a whole slate of half-hour series that straddle comedy and drama in the tone of She’s Gotta Have It. Lee made his breakthrough with She’s Gotta Have It, which he shot in 12 days during the summer of ’85 on a budget of $175,000 (watch the trailer below). The film, starring Tracy Camilla Johns as a young, sexually independent Brooklynite who juggles three suitors (Tommy Redmond Hicks,...

Back in 1986, the director recalled the low-budget shoot on She's Gotta Have It

In 1986, Spike Lee was devouring a veggie burger and milkshake in a swish London hotel. His first feature, She's Gotta Have It, had earned $7m from American punters, including, it's now said, Barack Obama on his first date with Michelle. During the low-budget production, his weight had "dropped to about 110lb".

"There were times we didn't know where the next nickel for a drink would come from," said Lee, sucking on two straws behind aviator specs. "We were cashing in bottles for change. Every few hours of the shoot I'd send my production supervisor to see if any cheques had arrived." Some funding came from Brooklynite Spike's southern grandmother Zimmie, who'd put him through Atlanta's historically black all-male college Morehouse, while feeding him soul food. Lee also admitted product placements of "H&H Bagels, Tropicana, Bunn-o-Matic Coffee Maker,...