Spike Lee was prepared to pay off a Brazilian drug lord so he could film Michael Jackson in a Rio slum.
But when I reached out for comment, Lee said, “We didn’t pay a dime. Just asked permission. The guy was a big Michael Jackson fan.”
The “BlacKkKlansman” director shot Jackson’s ’96 music video “They Don’t Care About Us” in the Santa Marta favela, a hillside shanty town that was controlled by Márcio Amaro de Oliveira, aka Marcinho VP.
“To guarantee Michael’s security, we had to speak with the drugkingpin Marcinho VP because the Brazilian police refused to climb the hills of the slum,” Lee,interviewed in London, told the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
Brazilian-born Brown University graduate Kátia Lund, who was working for Lee, was sent to speak to Marcinho and negotiate for protection.
Lund was so intrigued by the favela subculture, six years later she co-directed “City of God,” which was nominated for four Academy Awards.
“I didn’t get to know Marcinho. He sent me a message that if we decided to make the video with Michael [in the Santa Marta favela], we could lay $1 million on the street, and our film equipment, and no one would touch it,” Lee said.
Lee said Marcinho assured him, “With Michael Jackson here, this will be the safest place in the world.”
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But when I reached out for comment, Lee said, “We didn’t pay a dime. Just asked permission. The guy was a big Michael Jackson fan.”
The “BlacKkKlansman” director shot Jackson’s ’96 music video “They Don’t Care About Us” in the Santa Marta favela, a hillside shanty town that was controlled by Márcio Amaro de Oliveira, aka Marcinho VP.
“To guarantee Michael’s security, we had to speak with the drugkingpin Marcinho VP because the Brazilian police refused to climb the hills of the slum,” Lee,interviewed in London, told the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
Brazilian-born Brown University graduate Kátia Lund, who was working for Lee, was sent to speak to Marcinho and negotiate for protection.
Lund was so intrigued by the favela subculture, six years later she co-directed “City of God,” which was nominated for four Academy Awards.
“I didn’t get to know Marcinho. He sent me a message that if we decided to make the video with Michael [in the Santa Marta favela], we could lay $1 million on the street, and our film equipment, and no one would touch it,” Lee said.
Lee said Marcinho assured him, “With Michael Jackson here, this will be the safest place in the world.”
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