A big fan of Skee-Lo, Spike Lee finally got that rabbit in a hat he always wanted

I’ve always thought of Spike Lee as like the black Oliver Stone, a guy who’s great at being provocative, but not much else, and often says idiotic things. A great example? He recently retweeted a guy who tweeted the address of George Zimmerman, the guy who shot Trayvon Martin. Which would be awesome, except it was actually the address of a couple in their seventies.

The residence on Edgewater Circle is actually the home of David McClain, 72, and his wife Elaine, 70. The McClains, both of whom work for the Seminole County school system, have lived in the 1310-square-foot lakefront home for about a decade, records show.
In an interview tonight, Elaine McClain told TSG that she and her husband were “afraid” due to the online linking of her address to Zimmerman. “We’re keeping everything locked,” she said. McClain added that the couple was particularly unnerved by a letter mailed to them at their home. On the envelope, she said, were printed the words “Taste The Rainbow,” the slogan for Skittles. Martin was carrying a pack of Skittles and a can of ice tea when he was gunned down by Zimmerman.
McClain said her husband returned the envelope unopened to the post office.
The McClains only became aware that their address was being widely circulated online two days ago, when a TV reporter arrived at their home asking for “George.” Bewildered by their sudden–and erroneous–connection to Martin’s killer, the elderly couple’s distress can only be heightened by posts made by Twitter and Facebook users who threaten to visit their residence in search of Zimmerman. Or other posts that goad followers to vigilante action. [via TheSmokingGun]

This is neither here nor there, but I think “taste the rainbow” should be the official threat of the gay mafia.

Read the rest of this entry »

Spike Lee and writer John Ridley have signed on to do an HBO biopic of Marion Barry, with Eddie Murphy attached to play Barry. No word on whether Murphy will also play Barry’s Jewish lawyer, his Italian limo driver, and his sassy, 400-pound secretary who constantly argue about boxing, but you’d think that’d be right in his wheelhouse.

Ridley is writing the script based on several pieces of source material, including the 1994 book Dream City by D.C. journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood, who will serve as consultants. Lee is on board to direct. The two are executive producing with Murphy. HBO previously developed a Marion Barry biopic a decade ago with Jamie Foxx attached to star and Chris Rock to executive produce, but the project didn’t go forward. Barry, currently a member of the Council of the District Of Columbia, did two terms as a mayor of D.C., from 1979-91 and 1995-99, separated by a six-month stint in federal prison on drug charges that stems from a video of him smoking crack cocaine. [Deadline]

Barry got arrested with a prostitute in his hotel room and went from rising-star politician to prisoner back to mayor again and eventually to City Council. Which sort of mirrors Eddie Murphy’s career path as he went from hot young comedian, then got arrested with a tranny in his car and made Holy Man and Pluto Nash, then starred in The Nutty Professor and Dr. Doolittle on his comeback tour, and eventually ended up in a Brett Ratner film, the movie equivalent of the DC City Council. (I assume the DC Council gets to eat shrimp cocktail at all the official functions).

When it was announced that Spike Lee would be remaking Park Chan-Wook’s 2003 Korean hit Oldboy, I assumed that Oldboy 2: Who You Callin’ Boy, would star a respected African-American actor as the lead, Bro Dae-Su. Instead, they went with Josh Brolin, whose character will now be named “Joe.” Don’t I feel silly.

Brolin was rumored to be on the short list, now it’s official: Brolin will topline the Mandate Pictures redo, which begins production in March. Brolin, who just wrapped Men in Black 3 with Will Smith, next begins work on Warner Bros’ Gangster Squad. It looks like he’ll squeeze in Oldboy before shooting Jason Reitman’s Labor Day opposite Kate Winslet; that movie is set to begin production in June.
The new Oldboy has script adapted by Mark Protosevich [Thor, I Am Legend], who will co-produce. |Deadline|

Meanwhile, there’s reportedly still an offer out to Christian Bale to play the villain. Brolin should be fine — he’s already worked with Oliver Stone, the white Spike Lee, twice, so by now he should be used to heavy-handed blowhards. Also, his name would make an awesome broism if it didn’t already have “bro” in it. Brose Canseco, Broseph Stalin, Maximillian Brobespierre – Josh Brolin. By Brove, it’d be perfect! But no, it came pre-broheimed. His ancestors really f*cked us on that one.

Mandate Pictures have confirmed in a press release that, as rumored, Spike Lee will direct the American remake of Chan-wook Park’s 2003 cult hit, Oldboy. Lee is certainly an intriguing choice, but probably in the same way that Gary Busey would be an intriguing choice to run a petting zoo.

Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, The Cell) has adapted the screenplay and will co-produce. Roy Lee and Doug Davison (The Departed, The Grudge) will produce. The film is a Vertigo Entertainment/40 Acres & A Mule Production. Mandate President Nathan Kahane will executive produce.
“It’s a great honor to put this special project into the hands of such a gifted writer and iconic director,” said Kahane.
Oldboy tells the story of a man who is kidnapped and imprisoned on his daughter’s birthday. For fifteen years, he is held captive, and, upon his release, must begin his journey to find the reason for his imprisonment. He soon finds out that his kidnapper has plans for him more tortuous than his solitary confinement. The original film, released in 2003, directed by Chan-wook Park won the Grand Prize Jury Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. [ComingSoon]

Oldboy 2: Who You Callin’ Boy? I can’t wait. I bet when Oh Dae-Su (Bro Dae-Su? No, that’s racist, forget I said it) finds his captor, it will be a kindly old pizza man who was secretly racist all along. Or maybe a Korean grocer. That’d be kind of meta. KIND OF.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chan-Wook Park’s Oldboy (2003) is one of those foreign films that so many people have already seen that a remake would almost be sacrilege, but in the eyes of studio execs, people who watch foreign films aren’t an audience worth considering anyway so shut up while Kevin James takes a gorilla ice skating.  Last we heard, a deal that would’ve had Spielberg and Will Smith involved in the remake fell through when Dreamworks and Mandate couldn’t come to an agreement.  But Mandate apparently still owns the rights to the remake, and now Twitch reports that they’re in talks with Spike Lee to direct.  Yes, Spike Lee. I for one can’t wait for ODay Sioux’s inevitable out-of-context rant about how much he hates Arab cab drivers.

Twitch has learned that Spike Lee is currently in talks to direct the long-rumored Hollywood remake of Park Chan-Wook´s Oldboy.
The film is set up at Mandate with Doug Davison and Roy Lee producing and Mark Protosevich (Thor, I Am Legend) writing the script.

The original starred the brilliant Min-Sik Choi as Oh Dae-Su, a man with five days to find and exact his revenge on the man who imprisoned him for 15 years.  Whether a straight remake or a new adaptation of the original manga, I imagine Spike Lee’s version would play out much the same way. “Oldboy 2: Who you callin’ ‘Boy?”” they could call it.