She Hate Me
Encyclopedia
She Hate Me is a 2004
independent
comedy-drama
film directed by Spike Lee
and starring Anthony Mackie
, Kerry Washington
, Ellen Barkin
, Monica Bellucci
, Brian Dennehy
, Woody Harrelson
, Bai Ling
and John Turturro
.
The film garnered controversy, and, as with many of Lee's films, touches on comedy
, drama
, and politics
. Unlike many prior works, Spike Lee does not have an acting credit in this film.
The film was shot mostly on location in New York City
, including each of the city's five boroughs. It was nominated for various awards (see below), but did not win. She Hate Me was released in July 2004 and grossed almost half a million dollars at the box office
in limited release, with overall revenues of around $1.5 million. The shooting budget was estimated at $8 million.
The movie is rated R by the MPAA
for strong graphic sexuality/nudity, language, and a scene of violence.
) is a financially successful and upwardly mobile executive at a biotechnology
firm who, following the suicide of a colleague, Dr. Herman Schiller, is falsely accused of securities fraud
by his superior, Leland Powell (Woody Harrelson
). Armstrong's assets are frozen, and he finds himself unable to maintain his quality of life.
In order to make ends meet, he becomes a sperm donor, initially by acquiescing to the desires of his former fiancée, Fatima Goodrich (Kerry Washington
), who had come out as a lesbian
, to have a child. Although there is still unresolved bitterness and tension between them over Armstrong and Goodrich's prior relationship, she and her girlfriend, Alex Guerrero (Dania Ramirez
), offer him a substantial sum of money to impregnate them both. This leads to Goodrich goading Armstrong into establishing a business in which groups of lesbians come over to his house and pay him $10,000 each to have sex with them in order to become pregnant.
One of the women who Armstrong impregnates is the daughter of a mafia
boss, Don Angelo Bonasera (played by John Turturro
). Armstrong's employers learn of his impregnation business, and they use it in their campaign to sully his image in order to deflect attention from their own criminal business activities. Conflict is also depicted in the turbulent relationship between Armstrong's mother and his dependent diabetic father (Jim Brown
).
At the film's climax, Armstrong's situation is portrayed as a cause célèbre
, with protests being held in support of or against him, and the news media interviewing people on the street with respect to his sexual activities. Armstrong is called before a committee of the United States Senate
investigating his alleged securities fraud, where both his services to lesbians and his relationship to the "Bonasera crime family" are raised.
Armstrong's situation is compared, both by cutaway scenes and by direct reference in dialogue, to the plight of Frank Wills, the security guard
who discovered the break-in that led to the Watergate scandal
, which brought down President Nixon. He eventually wins the case and is seen with nineteen of the children he helped his lesbian acquaintances make at the end.
By the end of the film, Armstrong and Goodrich have come to terms with their lingering feelings for one another, and with the mutual attraction they share for Guerrero. They then begin a three-way polyamorous
relationship, and Armstrong apparently maintains a friendship with all of the eighteen women who became pregnant by him.
. "It's not only unfathomable and borderline offensive, it's never-ending, leaving its bewildered and battered audience in the dark for well over two hours," wrote Detroit Free Press
critic Terry Lawson. Roger Ebert
, who gave the film three stars out of four, said the film "will get some terrible reviews. Scorched earth reviews. Its logic, style, presumption and sexual politics will be ridiculed. The Tomatometer will be down around 20" -- a spot-on prediction, as it turned out. "Many of the things you read in those reviews may be true from a conventional point of view. Most of the critics will be on safe ground. I will seem to be wrong. Seeming to be wrong about this movie is one of the most interesting things I've done recently. I've learned from it."
The film grossed a total of $1,522,377 in the box office.
football
player Rod Smart
, who gained some notoriety by nicknaming himself "He Hate Me". The main character in the film references Smart when explaining why he has decided to nickname his ex-fiancée "She Hate Me". The title words of this film originally were spoken by Boris Karloff
in response to the revulsion of Elsa Lanchester
seeing him for the first time in the climax of The Bride Of Frankenstein. John "Jack" Henry's name alludes to the legend of John Henry
, who worked hard against his opponent (the steel driving machine) and won, but soon afterward died of heart failure.
Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. appears in the film as Agent Amos Flood, with the same last name of a role he played in the Spike Lee film 25th Hour
, though there are no obvious parallels between the two films. This was the last film featuring Ossie Davis
, as he died in February 2005. German Actor David Bennent
re-appeared after a long film career absence, and portrays the German scientist who 'jumps' to his end. Raul Midon
sang the theme song for the movie, "Adam 'N' Eve 'N' Eve". In the film, Armstrong's brother disapproves of his impregnating lesbians and also uses the phrase "Adam 'N' Eve 'N' Eve.
Some real human births are seen up-close in the film. A live human birth is also portrayed in another Spike Lee film, Mo' Better Blues
.
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
and starring Anthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
, Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles's wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray , as Idi Amin's wife Kay in The Last King of Scotland, and as Alicia Masters, love interest of Ben Grimm, The Thing, in the live-action Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007...
, Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Early life:She was born Ellen Rona Barkin in Bronx, a borough of New York City, New York, the daughter of Evelyn , a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman...
, Monica Bellucci
Monica Bellucci
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci is an Italian actress and fashion model.-Early life:Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy as the only child of Luigi Bellucci, who was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Pakistan...
, Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
, Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd...
, Bai Ling
Bai Ling
Bai Ling is a Chinese actress known for her work in films such as The Crow, Red Corner and Wild Wild West, and in TV series such as Entourage and Lost. In 2011 she appeared in the fifth season of the VH1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr...
and John Turturro
John Turturro
John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
.
The film garnered controversy, and, as with many of Lee's films, touches on comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. Unlike many prior works, Spike Lee does not have an acting credit in this film.
The film was shot mostly on location in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, including each of the city's five boroughs. It was nominated for various awards (see below), but did not win. She Hate Me was released in July 2004 and grossed almost half a million dollars at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
in limited release, with overall revenues of around $1.5 million. The shooting budget was estimated at $8 million.
The movie is rated R by the MPAA
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
for strong graphic sexuality/nudity, language, and a scene of violence.
Plot
John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony MackieAnthony Mackie
Anthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
) is a financially successful and upwardly mobile executive at a biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
firm who, following the suicide of a colleague, Dr. Herman Schiller, is falsely accused of securities fraud
Securities fraud
Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....
by his superior, Leland Powell (Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd...
). Armstrong's assets are frozen, and he finds himself unable to maintain his quality of life.
In order to make ends meet, he becomes a sperm donor, initially by acquiescing to the desires of his former fiancée, Fatima Goodrich (Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles's wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray , as Idi Amin's wife Kay in The Last King of Scotland, and as Alicia Masters, love interest of Ben Grimm, The Thing, in the live-action Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007...
), who had come out as a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, to have a child. Although there is still unresolved bitterness and tension between them over Armstrong and Goodrich's prior relationship, she and her girlfriend, Alex Guerrero (Dania Ramirez
Dania Ramirez
Dania Ramirez is a Dominican-American TV and film actress.She is most recently known for playing Alex in Entourage, Maya Herrera in Heroes and Blanca during the last season of The Sopranos. She also played antagonist Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand.-Early life:Ramirez was born in Santo Domingo,...
), offer him a substantial sum of money to impregnate them both. This leads to Goodrich goading Armstrong into establishing a business in which groups of lesbians come over to his house and pay him $10,000 each to have sex with them in order to become pregnant.
One of the women who Armstrong impregnates is the daughter of a mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss, Don Angelo Bonasera (played by John Turturro
John Turturro
John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
). Armstrong's employers learn of his impregnation business, and they use it in their campaign to sully his image in order to deflect attention from their own criminal business activities. Conflict is also depicted in the turbulent relationship between Armstrong's mother and his dependent diabetic father (Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
).
At the film's climax, Armstrong's situation is portrayed as a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
, with protests being held in support of or against him, and the news media interviewing people on the street with respect to his sexual activities. Armstrong is called before a committee of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
investigating his alleged securities fraud, where both his services to lesbians and his relationship to the "Bonasera crime family" are raised.
Armstrong's situation is compared, both by cutaway scenes and by direct reference in dialogue, to the plight of Frank Wills, the security guard
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
who discovered the break-in that led to the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, which brought down President Nixon. He eventually wins the case and is seen with nineteen of the children he helped his lesbian acquaintances make at the end.
By the end of the film, Armstrong and Goodrich have come to terms with their lingering feelings for one another, and with the mutual attraction they share for Guerrero. They then begin a three-way polyamorous
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
relationship, and Armstrong apparently maintains a friendship with all of the eighteen women who became pregnant by him.
Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Anthony Mackie Anthony Mackie Anthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured... |
Jack Armstrong |
| Kerry Washington Kerry Washington Kerry Washington is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles's wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray , as Idi Amin's wife Kay in The Last King of Scotland, and as Alicia Masters, love interest of Ben Grimm, The Thing, in the live-action Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007... |
Fatima Goodrich |
| Ellen Barkin Ellen Barkin Ellen Barkin is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Early life:She was born Ellen Rona Barkin in Bronx, a borough of New York City, New York, the daughter of Evelyn , a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman... |
Margo Chadwick |
| Woody Harrelson Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd... |
Leland Powell |
| Monica Bellucci Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci is an Italian actress and fashion model.-Early life:Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy as the only child of Luigi Bellucci, who was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Pakistan... |
Simona Bonasera |
| Dania Ramirez Dania Ramirez Dania Ramirez is a Dominican-American TV and film actress.She is most recently known for playing Alex in Entourage, Maya Herrera in Heroes and Blanca during the last season of The Sopranos. She also played antagonist Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand.-Early life:Ramirez was born in Santo Domingo,... |
Alejandra "Alex" Guerrero |
| Jim Brown Jim Brown James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News... |
Geronimo Armstrong |
| Lonette McKee Lonette McKee Lonette McKee is an American film and television actress, music composer/producer/songwriter, screenwriter and director.-Biography:... |
Lottie Armsrong |
| Ossie Davis Ossie Davis Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:... |
Judge Buchanan |
| Brian Dennehy Brian Dennehy Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was... |
Chairman Billy Church |
| John Turturro John Turturro John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series... |
Don Angelo Bonasera |
| Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetelu Umeadi "Chiwetel" Ejiofor, OBE is an English actor of stage and screen. He has received numerous acting awards and award nominations, including the 2006 BAFTA Awards Rising Star, three Golden Globe Awards' nominations, and the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his... |
Frank Wills |
Critical reaction
She Hate Me received a sharply negative reaction from film critics, with a score of just 19% on the site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. "It's not only unfathomable and borderline offensive, it's never-ending, leaving its bewildered and battered audience in the dark for well over two hours," wrote Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
critic Terry Lawson. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who gave the film three stars out of four, said the film "will get some terrible reviews. Scorched earth reviews. Its logic, style, presumption and sexual politics will be ridiculed. The Tomatometer will be down around 20" -- a spot-on prediction, as it turned out. "Many of the things you read in those reviews may be true from a conventional point of view. Most of the critics will be on safe ground. I will seem to be wrong. Seeming to be wrong about this movie is one of the most interesting things I've done recently. I've learned from it."
The film grossed a total of $1,522,377 in the box office.
Production
Spike Lee based the title of the film on XFLXFL
The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001. The league was founded by Vince McMahon, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE...
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player Rod Smart
Rod Smart
Rod Smart is a former professional American football player. He played college football for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers, and began his professional career in the short-lived XFL league, where he played running back for the Las Vegas Outlaws and was known by the nickname "He Hate Me"...
, who gained some notoriety by nicknaming himself "He Hate Me". The main character in the film references Smart when explaining why he has decided to nickname his ex-fiancée "She Hate Me". The title words of this film originally were spoken by Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
in response to the revulsion of Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
seeing him for the first time in the climax of The Bride Of Frankenstein. John "Jack" Henry's name alludes to the legend of John Henry
John Henry (folklore)
John Henry is an American folk hero and tall tale. Henry worked as a "steel-driver"—a man tasked with hammering and chiseling rock in the construction of tunnels for railroad tracks. In the legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race against a steam powered hammer,...
, who worked hard against his opponent (the steel driving machine) and won, but soon afterward died of heart failure.
Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. appears in the film as Agent Amos Flood, with the same last name of a role he played in the Spike Lee film 25th Hour
25th Hour
25th Hour is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and is based on the novel The 25th Hour written by David Benioff, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox...
, though there are no obvious parallels between the two films. This was the last film featuring Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
, as he died in February 2005. German Actor David Bennent
David Bennent
David Bennent is a Swiss actor.He was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. His parents are actor Heinz Bennent and former dancer Diane Mansart...
re-appeared after a long film career absence, and portrays the German scientist who 'jumps' to his end. Raul Midon
Raul Midón
Raúl Midón is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Mexico, based in New York City. He combines his distinct voice, strumming, beats, and vocal mouth trumpet sounds to create a one-man performance. His unique style shows influence of virtually every musical genre which came before him,...
sang the theme song for the movie, "Adam 'N' Eve 'N' Eve". In the film, Armstrong's brother disapproves of his impregnating lesbians and also uses the phrase "Adam 'N' Eve 'N' Eve.
Some real human births are seen up-close in the film. A live human birth is also portrayed in another Spike Lee film, Mo' Better Blues
Mo' Better Blues
Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career...
.
Award nominations
- BET Comedy Awards
- Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical Film (Spike LeeSpike LeeShelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
) - Outstanding Writing for a Theatrical Film (Michael Genet and Spike Lee)
- Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical Film (Spike Lee
- Black Reel AwardsBlack Reel AwardsThe Black Reel Awards began in 2000 and were designed to annually recognize and celebrate the achievements of black people in feature, independent and television films...
- Best Breakthrough Performance (Anthony MackieAnthony MackieAnthony Mackie is an American actor. He has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.In 2002 he featured...
) - Best Director (Spike Lee)
- Best Original Score (Terence BlanchardTerence BlanchardTerence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
) - Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted (Michael Genet and Spike Lee)
- Best Breakthrough Performance (Anthony Mackie