Competition for starring roles in his latest joint will probably be stiff.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more iconic duo: Spike Lee and … Viagra?
The legendary director has signed on to helm a musical movie about the origin story of the “little blue pill,” the first drug to treat erectile dysfunction. Lee, 63, partnered with British actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah to write the screenplay, while Stew Stewart and Heidi Rodewald, who created the Tony-winning production “Passing Strange,” are writing the score.
In a wacky emailed statement to Deadline, Lee waxed poetic about the upcoming musical project.
“First And Foremost, I Thank Ms. Jacquelyn Shelton Lee. I Thank My Late Mother For As She Would Say Taking ‘My Narrow,Rusty Behind’ Dragging,Kickin’ And Screamin’ To The Movies When I Wuz A Nappy Headed Kid Growing Up In Da Streets Of Da People’s Republic Of Brooklyn. I Did Not Want To See Corny People Singin’ And Dancin’. I Instead Wanted To Play With My Friends On Da Block,Stoop Ball,Stick Ball,Punch Ball, Soft Ball, Basketball,2 Hand Touch, Tackle Football, Coco Leevio, Johnny On Da Pony, Hot,Peas And Butter, Crack Top,Down Da Sewer And Of Course-Booty’s Up. All The Great New York City Street Games That Might Be Sadly Lost Forever. 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.”
The “BlacKkKlansman” director declined to draw a personal connection to the film’s subject matter, which was chronicled by journalist David Kushner for Esquire in a 2018 story titled “All Rise: The Untold Story of the Guys Who Launched Viagra.”
Viagra (the generic is sildenafil) was created in 1998 as a therapy for the treatment of chest pain related to the heart, thus accidentally producing the revolutionary erectile dysfunction pill. Today, drugs containing sildenafil are still considered appropriate for some cases of heart trouble. As a vasodilator, its function is to expand the vessels, which helps allow blood to pump where you most need it (wink-wink).
An estimated one-third of men live with ED, but the disorder is not strictly defined by doctors. Because symptoms are often prompted psychologically, not physically, drugs like Viagra may not treat the source of frustration. And the drug isn’t without its risks. Researchers in Israel published a study earlier this year in which they note a pattern of men who were prescribed Viagra developing color blindness.
Fans are nonetheless pumped that the Oscar-winning filmmaker is launching a musical, let alone on the subject of sexual dysfunction and pharmaceuticals. But if we know anything about musicals, and Spike Lee joints, and Viagra’s effects, the audience can bet they’re in for the long haul.
Joked one fan on Twitter, “It better not last longer than 4 hours.”
