Over 30 years after Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee has never been thrown off his game. You could argue the filmmaker is having the most exciting era of his career right now, between his 2018 critically-acclaimed and Oscar-winning film BlacKkKlansman, one of the best movies of the year Netflix’s Da 5 Bloods and his Talking Heads documentary David Byrne's American Utopia. Lee has just added another project to his roster and it will be an original musical about Viagra. Yes, really.
Amidst promotion for BlacKkKlansman in 2018, Spike Lee told CinemaBlend he was going to do a musical “one day for sure,” and he’s kept to his word. The filmmaker has co-written an untitled script Kwame Kwei-Armah inspired by an Esquire article called “All Rise: The Untold Story of the Guys Who Launched Viagra.” All Rise would be a great possible title by the way. Lee will direct the movie set to feature original music from Tony-winning musicians.
Stew Stewart and Heidi Rodewald, also professionally known as The Negro Problem and the pair behind the 2004 rock musical Passing Strange will collaborate with Spike Lee to make a Viagra musical, per Variety. Lee worked with the duo back in 2008 when he filmed the musical while it was on Broadway into a titular documentary. Upon the announcement of the filmmaker’s new project, Spike Lee said this in a statement:
My Father, Bill Lee, Jazz/Folk Bassist, Composer HATED HollyWeird Movies, Henceforth And What Not, Me Being The Eldest Of 5 Children I Became Mommy’s Movie Date. She Was A Cinefile. Thank You Lawdy She Didn’t Listen To My Ongoing Complaints About Musicals. So Finally Going Into My 4th Decade As A Filmmaker I Will Be Directing An 'DANCIN',ALL SINGIN’ MUSICAL Spike Lee Joint And I Can’t Wait. My Moms Has Been Waiting TOO!!! And Dats Da Rodgers And Hammerstein Truth, Ruth.
Spike Lee’s upcoming project sounds like it has roots with his late mother Jacquelyn Shelton Lee, who he thanked specifically “first and foremost” with the statement. Lee’s mom was a huge fan of the musical genre and it greatly influenced his interest to contribute to the genre himself in the near future with this movie. Based off these words, it sounds like the project will be a no holds barred certified musical, complete with song and dance numbers.
The Esquire article by David Kushner written in 2018 told the story of the men behind the launch of Pfizer’s erectile dysfunction drug on its 20th anniversary. The story describes Rooney Nelson as “a young Jamaican marketing whiz” and Dr. Sal Giorgianni as “a crusty Italian pharmacist from Queens who became Viagra’s medical expert.” The musical will presumably follow this unlikely pair as they overcome resistance from Wall Street, M.D.'s Capitol Hill, and the Catholic church to make Viagra a $3 billion-a-year drug.
Musicals are having a great moment in film, especially this year with Hamilton being the most watched streaming movie of 2020. We can’t wait to see Spike Lee’s vision come to life. Check out what movies are already set to come out next year with CinemaBlend’s 2020 release schedule.
