Suddenly, sport, art, and innovation were colliding under the eye of the pole-vaulter-turned-architect. Design duties for Mike’s flagship silo transferred from Peter Moore and Bruce Kilgore to Tinker Hatfield. At the same time, a creative shift was happening within the Air Jordan enterprise. The initial success of She’s Gotta Have It expanded with School Daze in 1988 and exploded with Do the Right Thing in 1989. In the late ’80s, Lee leaped from rising director to cultural provocateur. Honor aside, the timing couldn’t have been better for Spike or Mike. “So I said Mike, why did you choose me? He said, ‘muthafucka you wearing my shoes!’ I’m here to say, I’m honored Michael Jordan called me a muthafucka.” “He could have easily picked some big-time director people who are giants in that industry, and he chose me,” Lee said. More valuable than money, the nationwide exposure was everything for the young director. For Spike, the initial payout for the first shoot was a cool $50,000 and a day with Michael Jordan. Nike now had cultural credit and an unorthodox spokesperson. “Because of that film, the character Mars Blackmon got hooked up with Michael Jordan, which changed everything for Nike.” “That film introduced the world to Mars Blackmon, the original sneakerhead,” Lee told Boardroom. (Ted Dully/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Spike Lee at the Greenwich Village Theater in New York on Sept. With 1986’s She’s Gotta Have It, the New York native played both sides of the camera, hopping on-screen as Blackmon, an undersized Knicks fan enamored of Air Jordans who steals the show with his oversized personality and poignant wit.Īs history tells it, the advertising minds at Wieden + Kennedy loved Lee’s character, casting him as co-star and director for an upcoming Air Jordan commercial. The origin item bridging Michael Jordan to Spike Lee is less a pair of sneakers and more a Brooklyn-billed cycling cap.
The scorching sneakers stamped with Lee’s legacy character are not often spotted on screen or in the wild. While the iconic OG returned to the masses in the Fall of 2020, Lee’s personal pair in the commercial dates back to 2006: the “Mars Blackmon” Air Jordan 4, inspired by his classic commercials from the late 1980s.įor fans of retro releases tied to Jordan Brand, the split-second share by Spike garnered a double-take. Brooklyn’s own, Lee, lifts up the Air Jordan 4 in its infamous “Fire Red” color palette. Indigo, depicting a young protagonist named Zimmie, throws up a green Off-White x Nike Air Force 1 rumored to release later this year at the Brooklyn Museum. At the end of the clip, both Lee and co-star Indigo Hubbard-Salk deliver the iconic line while throwing up their own personal pairs: “It’s gotta be da shoes!“ Directing the clip from a seat he’s held before while reprising his role as Mars Blackmon - a character created for his directorial debut, She’s Gotta Have It - the storied creative came through in the clutch to depict Nike’s ongoing legacy from a vantage point all his own.
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