Lee To Continue Making Low Budget Films

Director Spike Lee will continue to make innovative films about black people - despite having never created a blockbuster.

The Malcolm X film-maker is frustrated with big Hollywood studios placing black actors in stereotypical roles and has found his boundary-pushing movies are making it increasingly difficult for him to find funding for his future ventures.

Lee says, "Producers look at my box-office records and say, 'Well, Spike's never had a blockbuster.' They look at the subject matter and think it's not necessarily what they want to do.

"They don't get final cut and I'm never giving that up, ever.

"And I see African Americans as being more than just rappers and drug dealers and the studios don't."

When asked about current black films White Chicks and SOUL PLANE, Lee laments, "All I'll say is that there's a difference between people laughing with you and laughing at you... Soul Plane."