Uplift the Race: The Construction of School Daze

by Lisa Jones and Spike Lee

Spike Lee rises again. This time, he and Lisa Jones document his transition from struggling independent to mainstream filmmaker with the making of the Columbia Pictures film, School Daze. No longer working with a small cast and a painfully tight budget, Spike Lee and his crew find themselves working in a swirl of university politics, a cast of thousands, big musical production numbers and the not-insignificant pressures of coming up with a hit in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671644181
• ISBN13: 9780671644185
• Release Date: February 1988
• Publisher: Fireside Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.2" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Love this film!

I remember buying this book at an independent bookstore in Boston about 15 years ago. Because I'm a navy brat, during all of our moves, I ended up losing the book. So I am definitely happy that I have the opportunity to purchase this MUST HAVE once again. I will also be able to read the script with a new perspective, since I am older and wiser now. And yes when I first saw the movie...I was too young to be looking at or even reading about School Daze, but I found the story so intriguing even at that young age. I remember my parents allowing me to see the dance sequence and then telling me to go back upstairs because the rest of the movie was "too adult"...well the movie remained in the house so I eventually snuck and looked at it...and continue to view it to this day...I even have the special edition DVD which is another MUST HAVE. I ended up attending a historically black university, partly due to my parents, A Different World, and of course SCHOOL DAZE.

If you love the movie you gotta have this book!

School Daze is my favorite film of all-time. You can imagine how pleased I am to have a book about making the film. The book contains so much valuable info. Spike discusses being kicked off the campus of Morehouse Univ. in the middle of production, his struggles with Island Pictures, and the big jump from directing a film independently (She's Gotta Have It) to a bigger budget & all that comes with it. It also features commentary from some of the stars of the film such as Laurence Fishburne, Tisha Campbell, Joie Lee, Doris Witherspoon & Roger Smith. It also features pictures & the original script (you will notice alot of good stuff was cut from the final film). Definitely a must have!!