Film Director Self-Portrait
Autograph Sentiment with Self-Portrait
Publication: Cannes: 1992.
Notes: A handwritten page removed from the Cannes restaurant L'Echiquier's autograph book:
5/13/92 / [Self-Portrait smoking, possible a pun on Lee's typical producing credit in his films, "A Spike Lee Joint"] / KETTY enjoyed the food very much and so did I. It, we had a very romantic dinner here at your restaurant her in the beautiful city of Cannes. Peace and Love, Spike Lee."
On the back of the Spike Lee autograph are signatures of Etienne Chicot, Lambert Wilson (Warszaw: Year 5703), Dominique Besnehard, Florence Darel (The Stolen Children), Wadeck Stanczak (Return of Casanova) and others, all French actors and filmmakers, several of whom had films at Cannes that year. Lee did not present a film in 1992, but he made news when Mickey Rourke suggested that Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing helped incite the Los Angeles riots. Lee pointed out he hadn't made a film in 1965 when the Watts riot broke out.
In 2002, the London Evening Standard described L'Echiquier as "the last place you might expect to run into the A-list, in the touristy backstreets behind the vieux port. For 16 years, though, it has lured the likes of Sharon Stone, Michael Keaton, Bjork, and Robert Altman," although, the paper noted, by the 21st century, "standards seem to have slipped."
Spike Lee was the youngest person to receive an honorary Oscar; he also won the Academy Award for his screenplay BlacKkKlansman. Mark Urman (1952–2019) was an actor and producer.
6-3/4 by 9-1/4 inches; one edge cut to remove it from the book, not affecting any text.
SOURCE: A long-time New York-based film reporter who retired to Portland.
Edition + Condition: Autograph material from Spike Lee is scarce on the market.
Item No: #364308
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