While Spike Lee works to bring his feature directorial debut to Netflix as a series, Lee and the man who shot the film (also a director in his own right), Ernest Dickerson, are apparently also working on a 4K restoration of “She’s Gotta Have It” for an eventual re-release – a move that’s likely being timed with the premiere of the upcoming Netflix series based on the film; although Netflix still hasn’t announced a date yet.
However, Spike Lee shared on his Instagram page yesterday (in response to a fan’s question) that the Netflix series will premiere in the fall of this year and will be 10 episodes. He didn’t give an exact month/day; just that it would debut in the fall. But we at least have some idea of when; it wasn’t previously clear whether it would be a 2017 or 2018 series for Netflix. And with fall only about 5 months away, one would expect that we’ll be getting our first look at the series (official images, a teaser, or even a full trailer) very soon, within the next month or so.
No word yet on when the 4K restored “She’s Gotta Have It” will be released; but if it’s timed to happen around the same period as the premiere of the Netflix series, then it should also happen this fall.
Dickerson shared the news during a February press conference at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), where his latest feature, the much anticipated “Double Play,” made its World Premiere: “The last time we worked together in Italy when I did the ‘Miracle At St. Anna’ as second unit director, but recently he (Spike Lee) asked me to take charge of the 4K restoration of ‘She’s Gotta Have it,’ which I supervised at Technicolor in Los Angeles right before Christmas,” Dickerson said. “In doing it, there were deleted scenes, scenes I had not seen since 1985/1986.”
He didn’t say much else about the restoration, but given the restoration timeline (happening “right before Christmas”), we should see it re-released later this year. It’s possible that the restored film is re-released in theaters (although limited) and on blu-ray in the fall, with the Netflix series premiering soon afterward.
During the press conference at Rotterdam, Dickerson also shared that he’s written an Edgar Allan Poe-inspired horror movie set during the Trump presidency, titled “The Haunted Palace.”
“I started it as kind of a cautionary tale hoping that Donald Trump wouldn’t become President and then, when I was almost done writing the screenplay, he did become President,” Dickerson explained.
It’s likely one of several projects on his to-do list, including an adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Clay’s Ark” which we announced on this blog 3 years ago. As is the often the case when it comes to major hurdles that need to be cleared in filmmaking, financing is typically a struggle.
We can only hope that these intriguing projects Dickerson wants to make eventually become realities.
For now, we have the “She’s Gotta Have It” restoration and Netflix series to look forward to this fall, as well as Dickerson’s latest feature, “Double Play.”
Netflix ordered a 10-episode series for “She’s Gotta Have It” which Lee is directing and executive producing, along with his producer-wife Tonya Lewis Lee.
In the upcoming series DeWanda Wise is starring as Nola Darling; Cleo Anthony is Greer Childs; Anthony Ramos is Mars Blackmon; Lyriq Bent is Jamie Overstreet; Margot Bingham is Clorinda Bradford; and Sydney Morton is Sheryl Overstreet.
Chyna Layne and Ilfenesh Hadera also appear in the series.
