Lee and Chan - Perfect Together?

Tuesday, November 17, 1998 was set to be the big day. It would be the day that actor/director/producer Spike Lee would speak to a crowd of about 450 on the Busch Campus at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Since a guest lecturer of such high caliber was rare at RU, I got all my work done and arrived two hours early; so did about 200 other fans. I waited on line for the full two and talked with my friend for a good part of it about my lifelong hero, Jackie Chan. The time flew by like nothing at all as the discussion went deeper and before I knew it, it was time to go in. We got seats in the sixth row or so, and after the microphones were set up, Spike Lee entered the room to a standing ovation. As a great director and storyteller, he proceeded to talk about his life, growing up in Brooklyn, how he became interested in film, how he went to NYU film school and won the student Academy Award. He shared the lessons he through his hardships and gave advice to aspiring film students, as well as aspiring adults. Spike discussed issues in his movies, political views about the representation of African-Americans in film and in society, and answered a number of student questions. After almost two hours, the last question was fielded and Spike stepped down from the stage. A mad rush of autograph hounds an starstruck fans clouded the stage, myself included. After waiting and pushing patiently, I finally got in to the center and handed Spike my Air Jordan Flight Club membership card that I got when I was about 11 or 12, the Michael Jordan Fan Club card. Since Spike had done some of Air Jordan's first Nike commercials as Mars Blackmon, he looked autographed it, looked at it, laughed to himself, and looked at me. In a brief second, I threw a question at him: "Spike, would you ever do a movie with Jackie Chan?". His eyes lit up with an enthusiastic "Yeah!". I followed up with, "So, you're a fan?". His eyes got even wider as he exclaimed, "Yeah, big fan!!!". It seemed like in that moment, he stopped thinking about the wild crowd of adoring fans around him and drifted off into his thoughts of Jackie. For a moment, we bonded through a single common denominator, Jackie Chan. I thought after this that it was no coincidence that Jackie and Spike were in that Nike commercial together. From my extremely brief interview, I entertained the idea of movie, maybe Drunken Master 3 : A Spike Lee Joint? Maybe someday. Just something to think about...

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