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LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS : Spike Lee to Focus on Career, ‘Malcolm X’

Filmmaker Spike Lee, currently in heated negotiations with Warner Bros. over the length and cost of his “Malcolm X,” will speak todayat UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

Sponsored by UCI Lectures and Cultural Events, the 7 p.m. talk will focus on his career and, specifically, on “Malcolm X,” a biography of the slain black leader starring Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington.

Lee, a director familiar with controversy, apparently got into trouble with “Malcolm X” when costs went $5 million over the projected $28 million budget. Lee also wanted the movie to run more than three hours, but Warner Bros. drew the line at two hours and 15 minutes.

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The studio eventually wrested control of the final edit away from Lee, but negotiations between the two parties are reportedly continuing.

Lee, 34, first received attention (and critical cheers) when his “She’s Gotta Have It” came out in 1986. That was followed by “School Daze,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Mo’ Better Blues” and “Jungle Fever.” Few movies in recent years have generated as much heat as the provocative, racially themed “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever.”

A more crude but still interesting example of his style can be seen Friday night when the UCI “Early Films by Acclaimed Directors” series will screen “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.” The movie, his first feature, was made while Lee was a film student at New York University.

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Who: Spike Lee.

When: Thursday, April 30, at 7 p.m.

Where: UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head west to Campus Drive. Take Campus to Bridge Road and then head into the campus.

Wherewithal: $10.

Where to Call: (714) 856-5000.

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