Spike Lee is in Cannes to promote his Italy-set war film “Miracle at St. Anna,” but he couldn’t resist taking a few swipes at some fellow directors, including Joel and Ethan Coen and Clint Eastwood. Speaking about death in his World War II period drama, Lee said that, unlike the Coens, he was respectful in the way he portrayed death.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Burn After Reading,” the duo’s next movie after the Oscar-winning “No Country for Old Men,” will open the summer’s Venice Film Festival. The dark spy comedy stars John Malkovich as an ousted CIA operative whose memoirs fall into the hands of two gym workers who set out to exploit their find. The Working Title production also stars Venice regulars including George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt.

Bleak drama “No Country For Old Men” won four Oscars on Sunday, more than any other film, including best movie, director and adapted screenplay for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. These Oscars also marked the first time since 1964 that the top four acting awards went to non-Americans, and Cotillard was the first French woman to win best actress since 1960.