Mookie Returns

Epic props to Twitch who revealed last week of Spike Lee directing the Oldboy remake. It's been officially confirmed today as a done deal.

Not the best idea in the world, but certainly not one of the worst either. It feels like a "One for them" type of project (as extreme as that material is) that earns Spike a couple of bucks in his pocket which he can take to pay the bills and, more importantly, put into a project closer to his heart that might be on the more troubled end of getting funding. Which, in around about way, leads up to the crux of this post.

Blackfilm has the scoop that unbeknownst to everyone Lee has quietly mounted his latest and cameras began rolling today (as per his Twitter): Red Hook Summer. Details are being kept on the down-low besides a bare-bones plot description involving an "adult from Atlanta who comes and spends the summer in Red Hook section of Brooklyn, NY."

Here's where things get interesting. According to their source(s), Lee will reprise his character Mookie, the lead from Do the Right Thing, the film that put his name on the map and is, with due respect to the excellent, but bloated, Malcolm X, the defining film of his career. Upon the day he passes, the headlines will read "'Do the Right Thing' Helmer Spike Lee." How much of a factor he plans on using Mookie is the question. For all we know, Spike could pull a Michael Keaton and appear briefly. But that would be awfully random, not to mention, gimmicky if that were the plan.

There's gotta be more to it than just that. Whatever it is, you have my attention, Spike.