Over the years, Spike Lee, whose film "Oldboy" will be released in theaters on Nov. 27, hasn't been shy about publicly criticizing fellow directors. In a 2009 interview, Lee called Tyler Perry's imagery "troubling," sparking a rift which caused Perry to fire back in 2011, stating that Lee "can go straight to hell."
In the above clip from "Oprah's Next Chapter," Lee says he was born to stir things up. "I was always the needler," Lee says. "Even growing up, I was the instigator. I had to be. I was always the smallest guy on the block. I wouldn’t say it was a Napoleon complex, [laughs] but you just had to be. So I just don't like the status quo."
Oprah asks Lee if he ever gets tired having to play that role. "It's not a role I'm playing," Lee replies. "I wouldn't say it's a role, it's who I am. I like to because somebody's got to do it. Because if everybody sees stuff the same, it's just boring."
When Oprah interviewed Perry earlier this year, he chalked his rivalry with Lee up to their different backgrounds. "We're very different in the sense that I'm a Southern boy -- grew up in Louisiana, spent most of my time in rural Louisiana," Perry said. "He grew up in New York. His father's a jazz musician, his mother's an educator. But of course our stories would be different. It doesn't mean that one is less important than the other. They're just different stories."
Upon hearing this, Lee shakes his head. "Look, I love Tyler," Lee says.
"You love Tyler?" Oprah asks.
"People don't know this, but I went to his house," he says. "I know he told you."
"No, we're cool, we're mad cool now," Lee continues. "Here's the thing though. He's trying to make it that our differences are based on a social, economic level. He's trying to say it's because he's from the South, and I'm from the North." Lee says he doesn't feel it's a regional difference because he's spent time in the South, between his summers in Snow Hill, Ala. and attending Morehouse College in Atlanta.
"I don't think he was saying 'regional' as much as you have different stories," Oprah says.
"My criticism of him was just the imagery," Lee says. "To me, it was just taste. He has a way to see stuff, I see it different. He's doing a great thing. We're cool. We got no drama, no friction, and one day we might work together."
"Oprah's Next Chapter" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.
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