Steven Spielberg’s Hook is one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched it so many times when I was a kid, I can’t even look at it objectively anymore. (We talked about it on an episode of my podcast, which you can listen to here.) Spielberg put a new spin on the Peter Pan at a time when “reboot” was a word that was just associated with computers, and I unabashedly still love that movie.
Dante Basco, who played Rufio in the film, apparently feels the same way. In an interview with Crave Online, Basco revealed that he’s going to be producing a Hook prequel that tells the origin story of his famous Mohawk-wearing character. More below.
Here’s what he had to say:
Actually there’s a film in development, the Rufio film, where a hotshot group of kids from the East Coast graduated and they wrote this whole script, the prequel to Hook and it’s the Rufio story…I’m attached to produce so that’s actually in development right now which’ll be cool, a Rufio for a whole new generation.
He says he won’t be acting in the project, but he’ll be looking for another Filipino actor to take on his iconic Lost Boy role. Apparently the idea from the script came from a play that the writers put together:
Yes, the storyline is crazy actually. These guys have a whole storyline of how he gets the Mohawk. The whole story’s crazy. These guys came with the script, I’m like, “You guys wrote this?” Not only did they write this, they did the musical in their college. They were going to go off Broadway with it and then they lost their insurance and they came to Hollywood. If anyone saw their play it’s that, but the newer version is pretty intense. They added more action. I never saw the play but I think they added more backstory to Rufio, like how he became Rufio which I was impressed by. It’s in development.
Since I love Hook so much, I’m really fascinated with the concept of seeing a prequel set in that same Never Land world. The production design on Spielberg’s movie was tremendous, and hopefully this filmmaking team can secure a big enough budget to generate the same effect. I know a lot of people out there despise Hook and think it’s one of Spielberg’s worst movies, so where do you fall on it? Are you a fan, and do you think this prequel is a good idea?
