I first met Spike when Jim Riswold asked me to shoot a scene for a Spike commercial that he was directing for Nike. We were in Yankee Stadium with Ken Griffey and it was a scene with Spike and Griffey. Later I did an Apple spot with Spike. We’ve kept in loose touch through the years. I tried to get Spike to do a polish on the SPACE JAM script but it pissed off the producers. I felt the script could use some of Spike’s humor but they were panicked about other issues that I don’t care to mention. DO THE RIGHT THING is a watershed film. His spots with MJ are brilliant and unsurpassed. Some think they’re among the best sports spots ever done. I do know that it’s the first time ‘fuck’ is allowed (perhaps inadvertently) in a commercial. Jim Riswold helped Spike’s career tremendously through the Mars Blackmon campaign with MJ. The character came from Spike’s film SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT. More people saw the commercials than the film and I’m sure it helped Spike’s fame. I sometimes wonder what he would have done with the SPACE JAM script.
Shame.
Hollywood bullshit!