Monday, June 8, 2026

Exclusive: Spike Lee’s Wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, Producing Her First Film

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Spike Lee’s house can now boast two movie producers. Spike is a famous director who’s exec producing an indie film this summer. Now wife Tonya Lewis Lee, a former corporate attorney and current powerhouse, is becoming a producer herself. Lewis-Lee is producer on a film adaptation of a novel called “The Watkins Go to Birmingham.” Her co-producer is Nikki Silver. And her director is the great Kenny Leon, of Broadway fame. “The Watkins” is said to begin shooting in early April. A casting call has gone out for the three young Watkins children as well as the parents, ages 35-40, all African American, as well as the Watkins grandmother, age 50 -65. I think Tonya Lee knows how to find Alfre Woodard on her own (hint, hint). Sounds like an interesting project. Can’t wait to see those Watkins move from Flint, Michigan to Alabama.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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