Spike Lee Talks Getting ‘Financing from the Fans’ to Create “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus”

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — When Spike Lee turned to the crowdsourcing site Kickstarter to raise $1.25 million for a new film, he offered little about the project except that it was about the addiction of blood. Two years later, and after well exceeding his fundraising goal, Lee is out with his latest joint, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, which he tells ABC News Radio is a remake of a 1973 vampire film.

“We re-imagined a film that was made in the mid-seventies; a cult classic. A film called Ganja & Hess, written and directed by the late great Bill Gunn,” Lee explains. “I saw the film the first time when I was a graduate film student at New York University Graduate Film School and it’s a very hypnotic trippy film.”

Although Lee’s use of the Kickstarter site is new, the filmmaker said crowdsourcing is not new to him.

“It was not called crowdsourcing back then. It was just getting money. For example, the first film She’s Gotta Have It, we raised 170,000 dollars back in 1985 for the film,” he says. “So we’ve always used principles of crowdsourcing, but now it’s just the technology makes it that much easier to get the financing from the fans.”

Lee’s remake centers on an affluent archeologist Dr. Hess Green, portrayed by Stephen Tyrone Williams, his insane assistant, Lafayette Hightower, played by Elvis Nolasco, and Hightower’s wife, Ganja.

British actress Zaraah Abrahams portrays Ganja, continuing Lee’s knack for uncovering new talent. He’s responsible for introducing audiences to stars such as Rosie Perez.

So how did Lee come to meet Abrahams? Lee says it wasn’t hard. “I’m a professor of film and I saw one of my student’s thesis films. I got her contact and flew to London and auditioned her and had her come back to New York and audition with the other actors and she got the part,” he explains.

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is set in two primary locations — Brooklyn, New York and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Although Lee is known for using the backdrop of Brooklyn in his films, he tells ABC News Radio why he chose the New England island to film.

“I’ve had a house there for 20 years and it’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I love Martha’s Vineyard. Even though they know I’m from New York, I get mad love in Martha’s Vineyard,” he says. “So we didn’t advertise it, but many people stepped up to and helped get that film made.”

In particular, Lee says the islanders help make Dr. Green’s upscale lifestyle come to life. “The cars — that Rolls Royce in the film, that red MG — those were cars that were donated to us for the film,” he notes.

Viewers will also be taken by the film’s soundtrack, helmed by Bruce Hornsby, and featuring all largely unknown artists.

“In the spirit of this whole movie, using my social media though Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, I put out a call for unsigned artists to submit songs to be used within the film. So 800 songs were submitted. I listened to every one,” Lee tells ABC News Radio. “I selected 12 that worked best with the film, but still could stand up on their own. And then I went to my friend, L.A. Reid, chairman of Epic Records, I told him this idea and we have a soundtrack album.”

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, also starring The Wire’s Felicia Pearson, is out in limited release Friday.

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