She's Gotta Have It helped put Spike Lee on the indie movie map, kick-starting his career and showing what he could do with limited resources and a lot of heart. Now he's turning back to it to launch the first multi-part drama the director has brought to TV, in this case at Netflix.
According to the streaming service, the new series will update the original movie while staying true to its tone, following Nola Darling, a Brooklyn-based artist in her late twenties struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job and her three lovers: the cultured model, Greer Childs; the protective investment banker, Jamie Overstreet; and ‘da original B-Boy Sneakerhead’, Mars Blackmon (played in the original film by Lee himself).
Lee will direct all 10 episodes and is currently building the cast (which will reportedly be even more diverse than the original) ready to kick off shooting in New York next month.
“She’s Gotta Have It has a very special place in my heart. We shot this film in 12 days (2 six day weeks) way back in the back back of the hot summer of 1985 for a mere total of $175,000. Funds that we begged, borrowed and whatnot to get that money. This is the 1st official Spike Lee feature film joint and everything that we have been blessed with in this tough business of film all have been due to SGHI," Lee said in a statement. "Now with the passing (August 8th) of the 30th anniversary, it’s a gift that keeps on giving. We are getting an opportunity to revisit these memorable characters who will still be relevant and avant garde three decades later. With all that said it was my wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, producer in her own right, who had the vision to take my film from the big screen and turn it into an episodic series. It had not occurred to me at all. Tonya saw it plain as day. I didn’t. We are hyped that Netflix is onboard with this vision as Nola Darling, Mars Blackmon, Jamie Overstreet and Greer Childs do da damn thang now, today in da republic of Brooklyn, New York."
It's not the first time someone has tried to re-work the film for TV – US cable channel Showtime tried back in 2014 – but this one is actually going ahead. There's no release date yet, but we'd expect it to arrive later next year.