Brian Blair alerted us to an article on Spike Lee in USA Today:

OK, so maybe Lee hasn't completely mellowed. But he has loosened up enough to have some fun with a talking dog, created with computer-generated animation.

"Berkowitz said the dog told him to do it," Lee says. "So I felt that, well, we should go there." Actor John Turturro is the voice of the dog.

Lee laughs about ending up like George Lucas, making films with computer-generated actors and sets. "Lucas and (Titanic's James) Cameron, man," he says, laughing, "if they could make movies without actors, they would, and they will!"

Aha. The perfect lead-in for a question about Star Wars' Jar Jar Binks. Surely Lee will have something to say on the hotly debated racial-stereotype question.

"You mean the science-fiction Stepin Fetchit?" Lee says, smiling broadly at the bait. "I haven't seen it, but a lot of my friends, whom I respect, have."

He pauses. "I just think George Lucas is out of touch. I think he's out of touch with people in general. I guess that happens when you have more money than God."

He asks if Lucas has made a statement about Jar Jar yet. "Lucas should speak to it," Lee says. "When stuff like this happens, I don't think they should make the kid who played the part defend it. He didn't know what he was doing. He was just happy to be in a Star Wars movie and was gonna do whatever George told him to do!"