Over the last few days there has been a bit of a fervour online about Spike Lee having the gall to remake OLDBOY (for the record – never any harm in trying). Lost in the fracas however, was another – and for my money, more interesting – bit of news out of the Lee camp.

Spike has announced that he is working on a film called RED HOOK SUMMER. Right now we’ve only been given the broad strokes of the plot, but it involves a guy from Atlanta spending time in the Red Hooks neighbourhood of Brooklyn. So why do I find this more interesting than the OLDBOY bit? Because in RED HOOK SUMMER, we are supposedly going to run into Mookie – Spike’s character from DO THE RIGHT THING.

In the film – as in real life – more than 20 years have passed since that hot summer afternoon in DO THE RIGHT THING. Beyond wondering what ever became of that racially torn neighbourhood, I’m also truly curious to know what happened to Mookie. Surely he isn’t still running orders for Sal…hell, I’m not even certain that he made things work with Tina. The funny thing, is that I dare say I haven;’t even wondered what happened after that fateful day in Brooklyn until Spike told us this week that we’d get to find bits out.

That’s the funny thing about movies isn’t it? Unless the film is part of some sort of franchise, you get what you get and that’s the end. Sure once in a while we’re given something wonderful like BEFORE SUNSET, but wouldn’t you pay a king’s ransom to find out if Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court did live happily ever after? How about knowing what awaits Eli and Oskar after the events of LET THE RIGHT ONE ON? What became of the torn soldier Chris Taylor after the hellish conditions of PLATOON?

Admittedly, there are a few hurdles. For starters, there’s the massive possibility that much of the story after we leave off just isn’t worth telling. No matter how much we might want it, the days that follow the drama that we see on screen is just an endless series of “And then”s. Even if there is something worth knowing, I think it’s pretty crucial to get the whole band back together if you’re going to put on a reunion concert. For instance, is it possible that THE TWO JAKES sucked because Roman Polanski decided not to join in?

This is why RED HOOK SUMMER intrigues me – because Spike is all in. He’ll write the part, he’ll direct again, and he’ll do his bit in front of the camera too.

In many ways, I believe that “we are who we are” once we reach a certain age…but that’s not an absolute. Time has a tendency to take the edge off, hopefully make us wiser, sometimes even wear us down. I don’t think seeing such qualities in iconic characters does them a disservice. If anything, I’d wager that it makes them even more relatable…more human in a way.

Beyond RED HOOK SUMMER, there are two other concepts that have been whispered about Hollywood over the years: Danny Boyle’s PORNO, and Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL volume 3. Both would involve original cast members in one way or another.

I’m not here to say that this should become a widespread trend – I think that’s a quick way to ruin a whole boatload of great films. I’m just here to say, that there are a small few stories that I’d welcome the chance to catch up with, and see how it all worked out.