Spike Lee and his long time collaborator award-winning actor, writer and director Roger Guenveur Smith were honored at an exclusive invite-only Black Tie Gala hosted by Wanderluxxe. The gala was held on May 22 at the beautiful American Pavilion, which benefitted Planned Parenthood.
The guest list included Rodney King producers and Smith’s partners at his production company Luna Ray Media Steven Adams and Bob L. Johnson along with actress Michael Michele, Jimmy Jean Louis, Rebeca Nuez, Celeste Thorson, Marisa Saks, Nichelle Hines, Amani Abu-Ramadan Shawa , Ellie Torez, CJ Franco, Yassine Azzouz, and Spike’s wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, among others. Guests enjoyed their evening as they overlooked the beautiful French Riviera at the outdoor setting of the American Pavilion.
Following dinner, attendees danced the night away under the stars, enjoying specialty cocktails by Casamigos Tequila.
There were a number of tributes to their award-winning collaborations at the special event. Some of their most notable film collaborations include A Huey P Newton Story, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and Chi-Raq.
Smith and Lee previously adapted Smith’s Obie Award-winning solo performance of A Huey P. Newton Story into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, also Directed by Spike Lee. They continue to collaborate in a relationship which is unparalleled in the American cinema., after his debut as fraternity pledge Yoda in Lee’s first studio film, School Daze. For Lee’s Oscar-nominated Do The Right Thing, Smith improvised the stuttering hero, Smiley The eclectic range of characters expanded with a Russian roulette-playing gangster in Malcolm X, a guitar-playing cop in Get On The Bus, the street philosopher Big Time Willie in He Got Game, a hard-nosed detective in Summer Of Sam, and an opportunistic insurance salesman in Chi-Raq.
Fans can see Lee and Smith’s most recent collaboration on Netflix with their Original Film Rodney King, a powerful history-infused one-man show film that is currently streaming worldwide.
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