Nothing is off-limits for Spike Lee. The trailer for his latest film, Chi-Raq, has all the daring and political sting of a classic Spike Lee joint -- but with doses of comedy and Greek drama to spice up the recipe.
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At first glance, Chi-Raq seems like a focused look at escalating gang violence and homicide in Chicago. But there's a twist: Lee and co-writer Kevin Willmott adapted Chi-Raq from Lysistrata, a Greek play by Aristophanes.
In both the original and Lee's adaptation, Lysistrata (played on film by Dear White People's Teyonah Parris) is a powerful member of her community who convinces other women to join her in withholding sex from their partners to convince them to stop fighting. Predictably, all hell breaks loose when the men are forced to choose between women and weapons
"Stop the murder madness or there would be no more pole," narrator Dolmedes (Samuel L. Jackson) declares bluntly. The trailer alone shows Nick Cannon, Angela Bassett, John Cusack, Dave Chappelle, and Jennifer Hudson.
Chi-Raq, produced by Amazon studios, releases on Dec. 4.