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Director Spike Lee's "Red Hook Summer" isn't all it appears to be. The religiously-charged drama about an Atlanta boy sent to spend the summer with his Brooklyn-based estranged grandfather, a preacher, has a dark secret at its core, one that Lee intends to "keep on lock."

"Everything is evolution," the celebrated New York filmmaker told MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival about his movie's origins. "I don't know anyone who the first time they sit down to talk has [a story] mapped out from beginning, middle and end. It was the evolution of a germ of an idea and we kept building layer upon layer upon layer."

Where did that germ of an idea come from, you ask? Believe it or not, the answer is none other than horror novelist Stephen King, at least in part.

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Tags oldboy, Red Hook Summer, spike lee, Stand By Me, Sundance 2012

With the kickoff of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, almost as many A-listers are heading to Park City, Utah as industry newcomers. The fest has always been a place for established actors and filmmakers to branch out and go indie for a movie or two.

We've looked over the scheduled screenings and rounded up a list of some of the celebrity attendees and the projects they're representing at Sundance this year.

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Tags bradley cooper, john krasinski, kirsten dunst, peter jackson, robert deniro, spike lee, Sundance, Sundance 2012, zac efron

Disney's dance with "The Lone Ranger" just keeps getting trickier.

Deadline reports that Disney must accept the $215 million-ish budget that director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are presenting, or move forward without Verbinski... and, by extension, without Johnny Depp, who reportedly won't shoot the film without Verbinski behind the camera. Disney originally pulled the plug on "The Lone Ranger" because the budget got a bit too out of control, though last we heard they were negotiating. We'll keep you posted with further updates as soon as we have them.

Check out the rest of today's casting news after the jump!

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Tags amy adams, Callan McAuliffe, Closer To The Moon, Da Brick, Gemma Ward, gore verbinski, Harry Lloyd, It's A Disaster, John Boyega, johnny depp, Rachel Boston, spike lee, the great gatsby, the lone ranger, the orphanage

With only two weeks left until "The Hobbit" makes its big presentation at Comic-Con, we're happy for anything we can get on the upcoming films.

Fortunately for us, Total Film has a badass interview with Richard Armitage about his role as the dwarf Thorin Oakshield. His hint: we're going to be getting a whole lot more dwarves mythology than we witnessed in "Lord of the Rings."

“The book is so focused on the dwarves, so I think it’s a chance for Peter [Jackson] and Fran [Walsh] to really look at that whole race in more detail, their heritage and what they’re like as characters," he said. Sounds like a win to us!

In the news after the jump, Spike Lee looks into remaking "Oldboy," a new "Three Musketeers" trailer hits the web and "Knights of Badassdom" head to Comic-Con.

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Tags Knights of Badassdom, oldboy, Oz The Great and Powerful, Peter Dinklage, Richard Armitage, Ryan Kwantan, spike lee, summer glau, The Three Musketeers, the-hobbit

It took the great Samuel L. Jackson reassuming his Señor Love Daddy moniker for just a moment on the red carpet to capture the vibe in the air for the 20th anniversary screening of "Do The Right Thing" on Monday night (June 29). "It's a pretty stupendous, awesome, hot day," said the surprise attendee to the celebration. "And it's going to be a hot night, so let's all listen to some cool sounds and enjoy the renown of the major movie of its time, 'Do the Right Thing'! Waaaake Up!"

Not that the crowd assembled wasn't awake to begin with. After all, there are few films so incendiary in their time, so revered in the years that came after, so brutally funny, honest and raw. Cast and crew came out in force for the celebration of "Do the Right Thing," newly released on June 30 in a special Blu-ray edition DVD. There was John Turturro, then a green young actor, refusing to acknowledge the passage of time. "I deny it! It's not been 20 years!"

Tags do the right thing, john turturro, samuel l jackson, spike lee

Few events in recent history seem a more perfect fit for director Spike Lee than the racially-charged Los Angeles riots in 1992. Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment thought so too, agreeing in 2006 to move ahead with a drama about the situation. Then Lee’s ambitious aspirations met budgetary realities.

“We didn’t get the money that we needed to make the movie I wanted to make,” Lee told MTV News in an exclusive interview. “How can you scale back the LA riots?! That’s not the movie I want to make. The studio said, ‘Scale it back.’ What’s the point?” Read more...

Tags spike lee

James Brown is the lone Godfather of Soul, and even if he looks a lot like Wesley Snipes in Spike Lee's upcoming biopic, Lee wants to make sure there's one recognizable voice coming through the microphone when the legendary figure appears on-screen.

"We're doing it together – it's going to happen," Lee told MTV News in an exclusive interview at the Sundance Film Festival this week. The Oscar nominated director of "Do the Right Thing" and "Inside Man" lavished praise on Snipes. "He’s my man," Lee said; but when it comes to the vocals on Brown's classic tracks like "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Get Up Offa That Thing," expect to hear the authentic voice of James Brown being dubbed in. Read more...

Tags james brown, spike lee, wesley snipes

It's been a much talked-about subject: with Will Smith's interest in potentially playing our new president Barack Obama, could that lead to something real? If that happened, director Spike Lee seems like someone who'd be interested in telling Obama's rags-to-riches story.

Not so fast. Lee tells MTV News that he has no interest in an Obama biopic. "Everybody and their mama is doing a documentary on Obama," he said during an interview for his new Sundance film "The Passing Strange." Watch his comments firsthand in the video below, and then click here to read more about it.

Tags barack obama, spike lee, will smith

Big plot changes and casting continuity are in store for Spike Lee’s sequel to his 2006 bank heist blockbuster, “Inside Man,” the director exclusively told MTV News at Sundance.

Early reports had the movie, tentatively titled “Inside Man 2,” focusing on Clive Owen and his crew of ingenious thieves getting embroiled in a New York diamond district heist. “Naw, naw, not anymore,” Lee now says of that potential storyline, declining to reveal any fresh details. “Can’t tell you, or I’ll have to do one of these,” he says, making a stabbing motion. He did admit that, like the first picture, the sequel will be shot on location in New York City. Read more...

Tags denzel chiwetel ejiofo, inside man, jodie foster, spike lee, Sundance

Since we're interviewing a ton of celebrities here at Sundance, we brainstormed what else -- above and beyond the standard interview -- could we do with them.

So what'd we decide? Our very own PHOTO BOOTH! Given MTV's storied past with photo booths, it seemed natural. So keep checking in to get an inside look of celebrities in a way you probably haven't seen before. Some of Hollywood's biggest names will be swinging through our booth, so stay tuned. First up is Spike Lee, in town to promote his new film "Passing Strange." Check out his first photo below and then click here to see all of the growing Sundance photo booth participants. Thanks, Spike!

Tags passing strange, spike lee