Adapted from the James McBride novel of the same title, Miracle at St. Anna was challenging to make the transition from book to the big screen, as described by Lee, who said that films outside of the Hollywood Production mainstream are difficult to find financial backing for.
“Well its not me, I mean there is only 3 or 4 people that work today to get anything the can get made Lucas, Spielberg, and some other people, other than that if you are not doing a comic book or some T.V. show made into a movie its hard to get original stuff made, and it was no different from this film but that’s been the story from the beginning,” said Lee.
“I grew up watching world war two films as a kid and when I read James novel, he provided me the gift of a film that takes place in Italy and also opportunity to make a world war 2 film. But what is frustrating also is the Hollywood system because so often they say if you do this you get this, and so after coming off of one of my biggest hits ever Inside Man I thought it would a little easier to get my next film made.”
Lee would only find that logic to be far off and seek funding outside of the U.S. for Miracle at St. Anna.
“I am not complaining bout it but we just make due with what we got, and just keep plugging. What was unique about this thing, is we went to Europe to get the financing, we had two Italian Co-Producers Roberto Cicutto and Luigi Musini.”
“You got a lot of people who have very great stories they want to make and its not a comic book or superhero stuff and there’s also not a big star attached. This is not a good environment for these type of films to get made.”
“So I was very frustrated with Hollywood,” said Lee.
“I really believe in miracles now, cause this film was a testament to that.”
The Boy Miracle
Inspired by the true account of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre of over 500 Italian men, women and children by the German S.S., Miracle at St. Anna follows the story of four African American soldiers as they are trapped in the remote mountains of Tuscany. They come across a young orphaned Italian boy, who speaks with what appears to be imaginary friends and holds supernatural powers, only to learn more of his troubled and mysterious past..
While there was an emphasis on casting the right actors, Spike Lee describes that largest difficulty after funding was established was casting the character of the young Italian boy played by Mateo Sciabordi.
“The one wild card was the kid. I spent many sleepless nights thinking if we don’t get the right kid, it’s not gonna work,” said Lee. “We had an open call in Florence for the young boy. 5,000 boys showed up. I did not see all 5,000. I saw the final 100.”
In the end, Mateo Sciabordi was picked for the role.
“We were blessed with Mateo. He had never act before, but he had the qualities the sensitivities the intelligence, the face, just the innocence you would need for a child actor to play this role,” Lee said.
“Mateo gives a great performance," he continued.
Eastwood/John Wayne Controversy
Heading into Venice Film Festival, controversy grew, as a war of words through the media began between Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood, after Lee criticized Eastwood for not featuring African Americans in his most recent Word War II films, Flags of our Fathers, and Letters from Iwo Jima, stating “there was not one Negro actor on the screen,” for either of the two films.
While not directly addressing the Eastwood issue, Lee seemed to touch on a similar theme when discussing Hollywood and its representation of World War II.
“It is not a mistake that this [Miracle at St. Anna] begins with John Wayne in the longest day. This is the Hollywood mythology …and [Miracle at St. Anna] is the rebuttal to the Hollywood mythology that demeans other people. And we have to change it. We cannot continue putting out these lies again and again and young people growing up have no idea that this stuff even happened.”
“I am not trying to kill the man, cause it wasn’t his fault. But he was built up to represent America and if you look at the mythology of World War II films, [African-Americans] are not included."
“Next spring, George Lucas is finally going to do his film on the Tuskegee Airmen. So hopefully this film and that film will bring about a change.”
