“This is not a remake, this is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s great film,” said Spike Lee of his upcoming film Highest 2 Lowest, inspired by the Japanese director’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low.
Kurosawa’s original film follows an executive at a Yokohama shoe company who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
“In Kurosawa’s film, Toshiro Mifune is a shoemaker,” said Lee. “In our film Denzel Washington is a music mogul with his own label and his reputation as the best ears in the business. So, this is the fifth film with the dynamic duo.”
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That “dynamic duo” he’s referring to is himself and Washington, with Highest 2 Lowest marking their fifth time collaboration following Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game and Inside Man.
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Lee admitted that he “couldn’t believe” that Inside Man was 18 years ago – “It seemed like it was yesterday,” he said before adding that he and Washington were “back together and the film is coming out in the summer.”
Apple Original Films and A24 are partnering on the project, with A24 releasing the film theatrically before its global launch on AppleTV+.
When pressed, Lee wouldn’t lift the lid too much about plot points but he did say that rapper A$AP Rocky has “the main role” in the film. Rapper Ice Spice will also have a role in the film.
The Do The Right Thing director praised Washington’s performance in Gladiator II, which he noted was the actor’s highest grossing film of the actor’s career with a $368M global tally. “He’s definitely getting nominated,” Lee said of his chances for an Oscar this year.
Lee is currently presiding over the competition jury at the Red Sea International Film Festival.
Check out the full interview above.