It’s A Wrap: Spike Lee’s Kickstarter Project, ‘Da Blood of Jesus’ Finishes Shooting

It's A Wrap: Spike Lee's Kickstarter Project, 'Da Blood of Jesus' Finishes Shooting

By Paula Bernstein

It's Wrap: Spike Lee's Kickstarter Project, 'Da Blood of Jesus' Finishes Shooting

Paula Bernstein

More stories by Paula

Where I Shot It: How Finding the Right Location Can Make All the Difference

The Company Behind the VFX for ‘Daredevil,’ ‘True Detective,’ ‘Jessica Jones’ and More of Your Favorite Shows and Movies

Josh Mond on Tapping Into the Personal for ‘James White’

October 12, 2013 12:06 pm

“And Da Pundits Said It Couldn’t Be Done,” Spike Lee posted on Instagram along with a photo of a clapboard marking the end of production on his Kickstarter-funded film, “Da Blood of Jesus.” Lee tweeted last night that “Your Kickstarter Joint Just Wrapped At 936 Pm Tonight In 16 Days. Thank You.”

What began as a seemingly misguided effort in crowdfunding turned into an example of how to get the job done. As Indiewire’s Bryce Renniger wrote:

When Lee launched the campaign for “The Newest Hottest Spike Lee Joint,” a film about “Human beings who are addicted to Blood. Funny, Sexy and Bloody. A new kind of love story (and not a remake of “Blacula”),” he received a lot of criticism for not knowing much about the community standards of the platform he was asking for money on. He encountered the now-expected “get celebrities off of Kickstarter” backlash, but he also was critiqued for not explaining why someone as wealthy and connected as he was (He is working, after all, with a HBO Mike Tyson doc and the remake of “Oldboy” about to be released.). He was also criticized for saying nothing about the film other than that it was about people with blood addictions and that it wasn’t about vampires.

Lee listened to criticism and incorporated the feedback into his campaign, updating his campaign page, interacting with fans and doling out more information about the project. As a result (and with help from Steven Soderbergh), Lee was able to raise over $1.4 million (more than his Kickstarter goal of $1.25 million) to make the film, which was given the title, “Da Blood of Jesus.”

The film’s cast includes Michael K. Williams, Stephen Tyrone Williams, Zaraah Abrahams and Raphael Saadiq composed the film’s soundtrack. Other than the fact that it’s about people with blood addictions (but not vampires!), we still don’t know much about the film’s plot.