Interview

Composer

Oscar-Nominee Terence Blanchard on Scoring Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods”

This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on June 12, 2020. Terrence Blanchard is nominated for Original Score. Spike Lee’s films’ timeliness speaks to his prescience, and to his fearless, decades-long willingness to examine the continued and persistent injustice experienced by Black Americans. His new film Da 5 Bloods ...

By Leslie Combemale  |  April 22, 2021

Interview

Cinematographer

How Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” Got Its Signature Look

Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, known for his work on films like Bohemian Rhapsody, Drive, Three Kings, numerous X-Men installments, notes that his first feature with director Spike Lee always “felt like a distant dream.” Not because he hadn’t crossed Lee’s path before, since the two had collaborated on numerous commercials, and he mentions having “known ...

By Mark London Williams  |  June 26, 2020

Interview

Cinematographer

Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel on Shooting Spike Lee’s Epic Da 5 Bloods

On its surface, Spike Lee’s latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, is about four Black Vietnam war veterans who return to the country decades later to bring home the remains of their leader, Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman), who was killed in action. Secondary to this mission, the remaining four of the five Bloods (played by Delroy ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  June 19, 2020

Interview

Screenwriter

Oscar-Winning Writer Kevin Willmott on Re-Teaming With Spike Lee For Da 5 Bloods

What happens when four Black Vietnam vets re-unit in present-day Ho Chi Minh City to retrieve a CIA shipment of gold left behind in the jungle forty years earlier? As imagined by Spike Lee in his new Netflix film Da 5 Bloods, the old soldiers’ quest leads to carnage, flashbacks, greed, and nervous breakdowns. As ...

By Hugh Hart  |  June 12, 2020

Interview

Composer

Composer Terence Blanchard on Scoring Spike Lee’s Must-See New Epic Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee’s films’ timeliness speaks to his prescience, and to his fearless, decades-long willingness to examine the continued and persistent injustice experienced by Black Americans. His new film Da 5 Bloods lands in the midst of a pandemic disproportionately affecting Black, Hispanic, Latino and Indigenous communities, and a wave of demonstrations protesting police brutality and ...

By Leslie Combemale  |  June 12, 2020
Review Roundup: Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is a Timely, Must-See Epic

“Da 5 Bloods feels as timely as a minute ago,” writes the San Jose Mercury News‘s Randy Myers in his review. That often seems true of a Spike Lee joint. He has an uncanny ability to capture the moment in films that are often set in the past. He did as much with his stellar, Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman, and ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  June 10, 2020
Netflix Reveals the Trailer for Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods

The first glimpse at Spike Lee’s new feature Da 5 Bloods is here, and it immediately claims our attention as every Spike Lee joint does. Da 5 Bloods sees the tirelessly inventive, always curious Lee delivering a Vietnam war movie, a caper, and a story of brotherhood all in one. Lee directed from a script he co-wrote ...

By The Credits  |  May 18, 2020
Spike Lee Reveals Poster & Release Date for His Netflix Movie Da 5 Bloods

You have to love a surprise Spike Lee film announcement, which is what the news of Da 5 Bloods will be for most folks. Lee teased his new Netflix film in a Tweet, revealing both the poster and the June 12 release date. The film tracks four African-American Vietnam veterans who return to the country to search ...

By The Credits  |  May 7, 2020