Spike Lee reprising role as Mookie in new film, Red Hook Summer

Unless it's Mars Blackmon, Spike Lee doesn't usually revisit his own movie characters. Lee played Blackmon in his feature debut, the indie breakout She's Gotta Have It, and then rolled the character into a series of popular Nike commercials. But without a doubt Lee's most iconic character is that of Brooklynite pizza guy, Mookie, from 1989's groundbreaking Do the Right Thing. Now Blackfilm reports that Lee will be dusting Mookie off to appear in his upcoming film, Red Hook Summer.

The rumors that Lee had another film in the works began over the weekend, and were confirmed this morning by one of his tweets....

"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”


He's been most recently attached to possibly direct the remake of South Korean revenge thriller, Oldboy, which would star Will Smith. That however is still some distance away. Lee has made no bones about the trouble he's had securing funding for his films, and so Red Hook Summer is coming out of nowhere. It's unclear whether he's self-financing or if he secured funding elsewhere.

Details on the plot are thin, but it appears to be about an Atlanta native who spends a summer in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Just how Mookie fits into this scenario is also unclear.

To me, the best Spike Lee films are the ones in which he also plays a crucial role in front of the camera, so I'm definitely looking forward to this!

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