Wo Fat 2.0 to be part of Five-0 pilot remake

A still from the Cocoon remake posted on social media by executive producer Peter Lenkov.

You can’t keep a good man — or arch villain — down.

Mark Dacascos, who played Wo Fat 2.0 in the current Hawaii Five-0 series, will be part of a Sept. 28 episode that remakes Cocoon, the pilot for the original 1968-80 Five-O series, according to Entertainment Weekly’s website.

The original Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh) was the villain of the 1968 pilot and would bedevil Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) until the show’s final episode.

However, in the current series, which began in 2010, the Dacascos version of Wo Fat seemed to be definitively killed off in a 2014 episode.

This begs the question. Has executive producer Peter Lenkov devised a way to bring his Wo Fat back from the dead? Or will Wo Fat still be dead but appear in a flashback?

Naturally, there are no answers now.

Decascos tweeted out the Entertainment Weekly story. Lenkov, in turn, did a “quote tweet.” (Sunset on the Beach refers to an annual outdoor showing of the first episode of a Five-0 season.)

We’re blowing minds, Mark… no one can figure out how Wo Fat comes back to life. Folks attending Sunset on the Beach will find out first. #h50 https://t.co/Gl63BrJJuR

— Peter M. Lenkov (@PLenkov) August 31, 2018

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Producers wanted to replace Hodge as B25 writer, Baz says

Bond 25 producers wanted to replace John Hodge as the film’s writer, which precipitated Danny Boyle’s exit as director, Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail wrote in a column.

Boyle “quit when Daniel Craig and fellow producers insisted on replacing screenwriter John Hodge,” Bamigboye said.

Bamigboyle has a record of 007 scoops being proven as correct during the lead up to Skyfall and SPECTRE. However, the scribe was away from the action last week when Boyle’s departure for “creative differences” was announced.

The Daily Mail item didn’t identify the other producers. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions are the producers of record, Craig, star of the last four 007 films, received a co-producer credit for SPECTRE. Last week’s Boyle announcement carried all three of their names.

Boyle and Hodge pitched an idea for Bond 25 that Eon bit on. That caused the producers to set aside another script by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade the duo worked on last year. Hodge then wrote a script incorporating his pitch with Boyle.

The entertainment reporter only wrote a short Bond 25 item.

Bamigboye said producers are under “a lot of pressure” to find a replacement for Boyle. The column said a replacement needs to be “prepared to be ruled over by Mr Craig.”

“Several studio sound-stages were booked for the picture,” Bamigboye also wrote. “Problem is: do they hang on to them, or give them up?”

1st-generation 007 film fans guess how many they have left

“One…two…three?”

The James Bond film series began 56 years ago in October. For those of us who were there in the early years, the question increasingly is becoming, “How many Bond films do we have left in our lifetimes?”

These are some Bond fans scoff at that perspective. They preach patience. Three years? Four years between films? So be it. That’s just how it works.

In my case, one of my younger brothers died earlier this year. And one of my friends, who was a big 007 film fan, died last year after years of health struggles stemming from a serious accident. He’ll never see Bond 25 (at least on this plane of existence).

Back in those glorious, early days, Bond films came out once a year. After a while, they came out every other year. The whole enterprise had an air of dependability about it.

Yes, it was a different time then. At the same time, Eon wanted to strike while the iron was hot.

In the late 2010s? The Eon camp would say, “We’ll get around to it.”

We’ll see how the Bond 25 situation plays out. And, it should be remembered that 24 films from 1962 through 2015 is a good run.

But, for at least some early 007 film fans, the romanticism no longer exists. Many of those fans aren’t looking for a lecture about patience.