While working to promote his own movie, director Spike Lee recently spent a little time making jabs at some of his fellow comrades.

Lee was at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about his upcoming project, Miracle at St. Anna. The Italian-set war film - currently in post-production - focuses on four black American soldiers during WWII.

While discussing the film, Spike chose to compare his artistic choices to those of three Academy Award winners. When the topic of violence came up, Lee told the press that unlike Joel and Ethan Coen, he treats death respectfully:

“I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don’t. Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It’s like, ‘Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!’ I see things different than that.”

Lee then directed his comments toward another Cannes attendee, Clint Eastwood. While talking about the racial makeup of his film, he pointed out the lack of diversity in Clint’s recent war movies:

“Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total and there was not one Negro actor on the screen. If you reporters had any balls you’d ask him why. There’s no way I know why he did that—that was his vision, not mine. But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed it. It’s not like he didn’t know.”

Theatergoers can judge how respectfully Lee treats death for themselves in a few short months. Miracle at St. Anna is expected to be released in October.