Bamboozled
With this blisteringly funny, unapologetically confrontational satire, writer-director Spike Lee examined the past, present, and future of racism in American popular culture, issuing a daring provocation to creators and consumers alike. Under pressure to help revive his network’s low ratings, television writer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) hits on an explosively offensive idea: bringing back blackface with The New Millennium Minstrel Show. The white network executives love it, and so do audiences, forcing Pierre and his collaborators to confront their public’s insatiable appetite for dehumanizing stereotypes. Shot primarily on unvarnished digital video and boasting spot-on performances from Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, Mos Def, and Paul Mooney, Bamboozled is a stinging indictment of mass entertainment at the turn of the twenty-first century that looks more damning with each passing year.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Ellen Kuras and approved by director Spike Lee, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Lee
- New conversation between Lee and film programmer and critic Ashley Clark
- New interviews with choreographer and actor Savion Glover, actor Tommy Davidson, and costume designer Ruth E. Carter
- On Blackface and the Minstrel Show, a new interview program featuring film and media scholar Racquel Gates
- The Making of “Bamboozled” (2001), a documentary featuring Lee; Glover; Davidson; actors Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Rapaport, and Damon Wayans; and other members of the cast and crew
- Deleted scenes, music videos for the Mau Maus’ “Blak Iz Blak” and Gerald Levert’s “Dream with No Love,” and alternate parody commercials created for the film
- Poster gallery and trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by Clark
Cover based on an original theatrical poster
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Ellen Kuras and approved by director Spike Lee, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Lee
- New conversation between Lee and film programmer and critic Ashley Clark
- New interviews with choreographer and actor Savion Glover, actor Tommy Davidson, and costume designer Ruth E. Carter
- On Blackface and the Minstrel Show, a new interview program featuring film and media scholar Racquel Gates
- The Making of “Bamboozled” (2001), a documentary featuring Lee; Glover; Davidson; actors Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Rapaport, and Damon Wayans; and other members of the cast and crew
- Deleted scenes, music videos for the Mau Maus’ “Blak Iz Blak” and Gerald Levert’s “Dream with No Love,” and alternate parody commercials created for the film
- Poster gallery and trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by Clark
Cover based on an original theatrical poster
Cast
- Damon Wayans
- Pierre Delacroix
- Savion Glover
- Manray/Mantan
- Jada Pinkett Smith
- Sloan Hopkins
- Tommy Davidson
- Womack/Sleep ’n Eat
- Michael Rapaport
- Dunwitty
- Thomas Jefferson Byrd
- Honeycutt
- Paul Mooney
- Junebug
- Sarah Jones
- Dot
- Gillian Iliana Waters
- Verna
- Susan Batson
- Orchid Dothan
- Christopher Wynkoop
- Massa Charlie
- Jani Blom
- Jukka Laks
- Dina Pearlman
- Myrna Goldfarb
- Danny Hoch
- Timmi Hillnigger
- MAU MAUS
- Mos Def
- Big Blak Afrika
- MC Serch
- 1/16th Blak
- Gano Grills
- Double Blak
- Canibus
- Mo Blak
- DJ Scratch
- Jo Blak
- Charli Baltimore
- Smooth Blak
- Mums
- Hard Blak
- PICKANINNYS
- Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards
- Topsy
- Tyheesha Collins
- Aunt Jemima
- Cartier Williams
- Lil’nigger Jim
- Jason Bernard
- Jungle Bunny
- Baakari Wilder
- Sambo
- Sekou Torbet
- Rastus
- The Roots
- Alabama Porch Monkeys
Credits
- Director
- Spike Lee
- Producer
- Jon Kilik
- Producer
- Spike Lee
- Director of photography
- Ellen Kuras
- Editor
- Sam Pollard
- Production design
- Victor Kempster
- Costume design
- Ruth E. Carter
- Original score
- Terence Blanchard
- Music supervision
- Alex Steyermark
- Choreography
- Savion Glover
- Casting
- Aisha Coley
- Sound mixer
- Rolf Pardula
- Art director
- Harry Darrow
- Set decorator
- Ford Wheeler
- Makeup
- Eleanora Winslow
- Hair
- Nathan Busch
- Visual consultant
- Michael Ray Charles
- Researcher
- Judy Aley
- Still photographer
- David Lee