Do the Right Thing
Short description
Do the Right Thing takes place in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn on the hottest day of the year. Mookie, a young Black man, delivers pizzas for Sal's, a pizzeria owned by an Italian-American man and staffed by his two sons. The business has long been a fixture of the mostly Black community, and Sal takes pride in it. The trouble begins when Buggin' Out, a neighborhood resident, notices that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame honors only Italian-American actors and asks why a shop in a Black neighborhood does not include Black faces. Sal refuses to change the wall, and the disagreement feeds into the heat, the crowding and the everyday friction of the block, drawing in others until the accumulated resentment of the day comes to a head. Spike Lee directed, wrote and produced the film, and also plays Mookie. Danny Aiello appears as Sal, with Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson and Giancarlo Esposito among the large credited cast of 44. It was Lee's third feature as director, following School Daze and preceding Mo' Better Blues.
Made for about 7 million dollars by Universal Pictures and Lee's 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, the film returned roughly 37 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 8 out of 10 from over 109,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.8 out of 10 from a much smaller body of around 2,000 votes. A critics' rating of 9.2 out of 10 from 108 reviews places it higher than either audience measure, indicating unusually strong critical standing alongside broad popular approval.
What's left behind the scenes
- Smiley wasn't originally in the script. Scenes with this character, played by Roger Guenveur Smith, were added after filming had already begun.
- Danny Aiello later recounted that he almost refused to participate in the project when he saw he was to play a pizzeria owner. Although Italian-Americans do indeed own many pizzerias, the actor felt it was a stereotypical portrayal.
- It took 8 hours to film the first scene, featuring the song "Fight the Power" and Rosie Perez dancing. The scene is a reference to a similar scene in "Bye Birdie" (George Sidney, 1963).
- In the original script, Spike Lee and Danny Aiello's characters were supposed to reconcile. Spike Lee changed the ending at the very last moment without any explanation.
- The film's title features words spoken by Malcolm X (1925-1965), an American Islamic spiritual leader and civil rights activist.
- The plot was based on a real-life incident where a group of young white people expelled a group of their African American peers from a pizzeria in one of New York City's neighborhoods.
- The key scene of the conversation between Danny Aiello and John Turturro was half-improvised (everything that happened after the character played by Roger Guenveur Smith approached the window).
- Spike Lee wrote the film's screenplay in just two weeks.
- Spike Lee wanted Robert De Niro to play Sal, but he stated that the role was too reminiscent of many of his previous roles and declined. Ultimately, Danny Aiello played the part.
- Filming took place within a single block in Brooklyn. Several residents of that block were even invited for minor roles in the film.
- Ossie Davis, who played the Mayor, and Ruby Dee, who played Mother Sister, were married to each other and frequently appeared together in films until Davis's death in 2005.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
