Entertainment
MySpecialsDirect
Lee: Eastwood omitted black troops in WWII films
09:48 AM MST on Wednesday, May 21, 2008
CANNES, France (AP) -- Spike Lee is slamming Clint Eastwood over his two recent Iwo Jima movies, saying the filmmaker overlooked the role of black soldiers during World War II.
Lee - whose next film is this fall's "Miracle at St. Anna," the story of an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during the war - said Eastwood's 2006 movies "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" were whites-only affairs.
"He did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black soldier in both of those films," Lee said Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was a judge in an online short-film competition.
"Many veterans, African-Americans, who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. I have a different version," Lee said.
Eastwood was in Cannes for his missing-child drama "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie. At a news conference for the film, a reporter tried to ask for his reaction to Lee's criticism, but the moderator cut her off and told journalists to limit questions to Eastwood's own movie.
Due in U.S. theaters in October, "Miracle at St. Anna" centers on four Americans - played by Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller - in the Buffalo Soldiers division in Tuscany.
---
On the Net:
http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
More Entertainment
Forums & Blogs
Fox 11 Sports Force View Forum to read and create posts about the Sidewinders, Wildcats, college sport, football and more!
General Discussion Forum - Discuss anything that interests you with your FOX-11 neighbors in Southern Arizona.
Most E-mailed News
Popular Stories







You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!
You are logged in as screenname | Log Out
You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Update Your Profile