Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese Discuss the Past and Future of Cinema

The greatest gift Awards season bestows upon us is the collaboration of directors in conversation. And today, I stumbled upon an all-timer: Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee talking about Killers of the Flower Moon, New York, and cinema.

The conversation comes to us from GQ magazine.

When these two masters of the medium speak, it's important to listen. The video to watch this convo is located on the GQ website.

Let's go over some highlights here.

'Killers of the Flower Moon'

Behind the scenes of Killers of the Flower Moon

Apple Original Films

One of the things I loved about this conversation is that Spike Lee knew what questions to ask Martin Scorsese. As a fellow director, he was able to probe Scorsese into telling unheard stories of interacting with the Osage leaders, and what grew him to cast Lily Gladstone.

They also laugh about "the director disease" which is the false idea that any shoot could be an easy shoot.

That feels like a conversation that only two auteurs could have.

A Friendship That's Lasted Decades

BTS with Spike Lee on BLACKkKLANSMAN

Universal

The familial nature of these two men is also incredibly evident. They met in 1985, when Scorsese showed After Hours to some NYU students and Spike was among them.

Since then, the two have worked in a and around New York, as well as many other places.

They share lively stories of encounters over the years, including Spike wanting to know why so many other directors are bad at using music in their movies, which cracks both of them up.

This is what we all should strive to have in this business. You need friends as a sounding board. You need them for advice and ideas and to help you sort through it all.

Seeing these two aging men still admire one another's art warms the soul.

Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments.