On the eve of the opening of an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum dedicated to his life and career, Lee spoke of coming from an artistic household and coming to love being behind the camera lens over a summer vacation in his early teens.

He also acknowledged a strong skepticism of AI during his sometimes sparring chat with podcast host Leah Smart on the Talent Connect main stage.

Known widely for films including She’s Got to Have It, Do the Right Thing and Black Klansman, Lee criticised parents who don’t accept their children’s ideas about what work they want to do as adults. “Parents kill more dreams than anybody,” Lee said. 

“Did you come here planning to talk about parenting?” Smart asked Lee as he warmed to that subject.

If people end up in jobs they don’t care for in order to support their families, Lee said, “you don’t want to be there – and they [employers] don’t want you there”.

Be accepting of your children’s ambitions to work in a creative field, he urged.

He is a tenured professor at the New York University Film School, with mature students “who have successful careers in other fields coming to film school”.

Lee added: “My job is to share what I’ve learned. I’m not saying I’m the father of cinema or anything… This business is a hard [expletive]. If you come here fakin’ the funk… you have to work.”

Overnight success is a myth, he scoffed, adding: “They think they can show up and… be ‘da bomb’.” He said dog walking could make show business wannabes better money than waiting tables while they pursue their creative dreams. “Dog walkers with 10 dogs on each hand, they’re making the money… Gotta put that work in.”

He was highly critical of using AI in the creative industries, particularly as it affects identifying ownership of the work. “It’s this whole thing of ownership. AI doesn’t know where this s*** comes from. When it comes to art, I’m totally against it. The audience doesn’t know what’s what,” he said, highlighting issues around the source of music today.

Asked at the end of the conversation what he believed would make a better world, Lee said: “Love, love, love.”

Talent Connect ended on Wednesday afternoon [4 October 2023].

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