Spike Lee's Heartfelt Father's Day Message to Robert De Niro: Proposes a Movie Collaboration, 'Scorsese Wouldn't Mind'

Lee called De Niro his “artistic brother,” noting that they’ve yet “to do one Spike Lee joint together.”

Spike Lee in casual wear and baseball cap with Robert De Niro in a beige jacket posing together at the Tribeca Festival step-and-repeat backdrop

Image via Getty/Dominik Bindl/Tribeca Festival

Spike Lee let the world know he’s aiming for the chance to make cinematic magic with Robert De Niro, joking that Martin Scorsese “wouldn’t mind” in a timely Father’s Day message shared to Instagram.

As seen below, Lee, whose next film is set to feature Ice Spice’s acting debut alongside Denzel Washington, was in attendance for this weekend’s Tribeca Film Festival celebration of his “artistic brother,” aptly dubbed De Niro Con. The lineup for the festival-closing event also boasted Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, whose De Niro-starring Mean Streets and Jackie Brown films, respectively, screened as part of this year’s proceedings.

“Happy Father’s Day To My Artistic Brother MR. ROBERT De NIR0,” Lee wrote on Sunday. “We Have Yet To Work Together And We Gotta Make Dis Happen Sooner Than Later. I Think MARTY SCORSESE Wouldn’t Mind If We Got To Do 1 Spike Lee Joint Together. Enjoy Ya Father’s Day. Peace And Love. Onward And Upward.”

Spike Lee and Robert De Niro pose together on a red carpet at a Tribeca Film Festival event. Spike Lee wears a baseball cap, orange jacket, and white glasses

While De Niro has indeed never starred in a Lee joint, the two are longtime friends and admirers of each other’s work. In fact, Lee has said that he initially wanted De Niro to play the character Sal, from 1989’s Do the Right Thing. The two have also been producing partners in the past, including for a Manhattan-set HBO drama first announced back in 2009.

De Niro’s most recent Scorsese collaboration, meanwhile, is last year’s acclaimed Killers of the Flower Moon, widely discussed as one of the best films of 2023. Also in 2023, De Niro became a father again at the age of 79, welcoming his seventh child into the world.

Lee, who last directed the revered Da 5 Bloods for Netflix, is next set for the aforementioned High and Low for A24 and Apple. Denzel and Ice are joined in the cast by Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Dean Winters, and ASAP Rocky.