Spike Lee develops post-Katrina drama for NBC
Ubiquitous
Mon Sep 11, 1:12 AM ET
Spike Lee will follow his documentary on Hurricane Katrina with a
scripted drama for NBC set in New Orleans.
Titled "NoLa," after the local slang for the Big Easy, the project is a
multicultural ensemble exploring the post-Katrina lives of New Orleans
residents from different social and economic backgrounds.
"It's a show about the city trying to rebuild itself and the people who
are trying to put their lives together," said Lee, who will travel to
New Orleans this week with screenwriter Sid Quashie to meet with
residents.
Lee began thinking about a TV series set in post-Katrina New Orleans
while he was filming his HBO documentary "When the Levees Broke: A
Requiem in Four Acts." Like the documentary, "NoLa" will be infused with
humor. Lee is set to executive produce and direct the project if NBC
decides to turn the script into a pilot.
"It's our goal to make great cinema for television," Lee said of his
approach to the show.
Stylistically, he will pay homage to the great tradition of Italian
neorealism, a 1942-52 movement in Italian cinema that involved such
acclaimed filmmakers as Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini and
spawned such films as De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" and "Miracle in
Milan."
Set among the poor and working class and filmed on location, Italian
neorealist films contend mostly with the difficult economic and moral
conditions of postwar Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian
psyche and the conditions of everyday life: defeat, poverty and
desperation.
Lee is taking similar approach to the stories of Katrina survivors who
are picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.
"NoLa" would be filmed on location in New Orleans.
"We don't have to build sets," Lee said wryly. "Things there still look
like the city's been bombed out."
Taking another page from the book of Italian neorealism, Lee plans to
add to the authentic feel of the show by having some of the most
colorful people featured in the documentary -- like Phyllis Montana
LeBlanc -- written into the script as supporting characters and appear
as fictional versions of themselves.
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It is simply breathtaking to watch the glee and abandon with which
the liberal media and the Angry Left have been attempting to turn
our military victory in Iraq into a second Vietnam quagmire. Too bad
for them, it's failing.