Lee: 'Eastwood is an angry old man'

Spike Lee has hit back at Clint Eastwood for telling him to "shut his face".

The filmmaker accused Eastwood of sounding "like an angry old man" in his response to Lee's accusation that he did not feature enough black actors in his films.

Lee had previously criticised his fellow director for failing to depict any African-American troops in Iwo Jima dramas Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. However, Eastwood insisted that the movies were historically accurate, adding: "A guy like him should shut his face."

Lee told ABC News: "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either. He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films.

"The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him. And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' - come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."

He added: "If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist.

"I'm not making this up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II."