Spike Lee is a filmmaker with whom I have a love-hate relationship. Some of his films or ‘Joints’ that I really like are Malcolm X and Inside Man. But then there are the ones that are insanely preachy and wildly misjudged.
He is pretty much the African-American equivalent of Oliver Stone, a lot of his messages are turned up to full volume and the strong civil rights message he carries (with admirable persistence) can be hammered home a little too sanctimoniously.
There are times however when he balances the politics and the drama perfectly. Such was the case with Do the Right Thing, which the prolific filmmaker will be making a return to.
This morning he tweeted this interesting nugget, which reveals he is working on a brand new film:
Wake Up. I been up since 430am. On the way to the set of THE NEW SPIKE LEE JOINT.Today is 1st Day of Shooting.Awwwwwwwwwwww Sheeeeeeeeeeeeet
Coming to us from the Indiewire network, we can tell you that the film is called Red Hook Summer and will concern the story of an adult from Atlanta who visits the Red Hook area of Brooklyn, which served as the back drop for the broiling tension of Do the Right Thing.
However, the true interest here is that Lee will reprise his role of Mookie from his seminal film. While he was the center of that story, at a guess it is more likely Lee will be in a more supporting role here, however there is no confirmation either way.
There is also no confirmation yet as to whether this will be a sequel or a prequel or whether it will simply be just a thematic connection. All we know is, there will be some kind of link in there.
The project has kind of sprung from nowhere, he’s been attached to more high profile projects such as an HBO biopic of Mike Tyson called Da Brick and most recently the remake of Oldboy. One can only assume that Red Hook Summer is a low budget production that has been on the cards for a while but funding has only recently come through.
Personally I’m interested in seeing what Spike Lee has in store for us next, and by returning to the material that made him a name on the world cinema circuit, we will see him in his comfort zone and producing hopefully solid work.
While his TV documentary When the Levees Broke is arguably the masterpiece out of his filmography, Do the Right Thing is arguably his great work in cinema and a return to that ilk is enticing. Whatever it turns to be, a Spike Lee Joint is always something of interest and we will keep an eye out for any further developments.