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Lee is absolutey correct. Hollywood, as an institution, is racist as fuck. The whole kerfuffle with George Lucas and Red Tails put it into sharp perspective.
If anything, things have gone backwards for blacks in film since Lee was at the peak of his powers in the 90's. Films with all blak casts were routinely greenlit by studios (even if many of them jumped on bandwagons like the "inner city gangster genre" or Terry McMillan romcoms/dramas). Black leading men were more plentiful (Wesley, Denzel, Fishburne, Will Smith, Cuba Gooding, Tupac, Sam Jackson etc). Now only a near 60 year old Denzel and Will Smith can get a studio to even think about greelinghting a film. The industry never wanted to bring in young blood to replace these guys. They always seem to be on the look out for Channing Tatums, Shia Lebeouf's etc. Even the quality ones like Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Tom Hardy.....you trying to tell me there are no young black leading men with that talent level, and looks/appea?. Of course there are. But in Hollywood, unless you specify otherwise, the default casting is always white. That's some institutionalised shit that not enough people in Hollywood are doing enough about. Steve Mcqueen (director of Shame and Hunger) had a Hollywood roundtable interview a few months ago with fellow directors, and was asked about the lack of minority casting in Hollywood pictures. McQueen said as much as Lee, and called the whole thing shameful. But all the other white directors were basically cowards and said they didn't want to talk about it. These directors/writers are part of the issue.
In the old days, Hollywood tended to blame the public for not wanting to accept films with black casts. I think something more sinster is at work now. The blatant refusal to promote credible new black leading men and women is becoming beyond a joke. How come blacks were good enough to become leads in the 90's, but now obvious leading man material like Anthony Mackie, Nathan Parker, Michael Ealy and Chiwetel Ejiofor are mostly playing second fiddle supporting roles in big films (wheras you get white actors jumping to instanting leading man status the moment they have some success). That British kid ( John Boyega) who looked like a young Denzel from Attack The Block (and was regarded as the breakout performer)....if he was white, you know he'd be the NEXT BIG THING!!! As it is, I can see him being allowed to fade away, like so many potential blaclk leading men.
I think there is a subconscious fear in Hollywood, by the people that control it. That if you lett too many blacks in the door, or in postions of power, it'll become like the music industry or sports, where blacks tend to have a dispropotionate influence and reprsentation. So they deliberately try to limit how many they let reach the top (hey, black people you've got WILL and DENZEL!!!! You should be happy. Stop complaining.lol!). And even for those with potential to reach the top, it's still a ridiculously slow grind (ie Idris Elba should really be where Fassbender, Bale or Gosling are. Yet he's 40 years old and still playing bit parts in Thor and carrying a TV show).
