Spike Lee walked back his Cannes comments about ending his film partnership with Denzel Washington.
Spike Lee reversed course in New York, stepping back from earlier comments that his fifth movie with Denzel Washington would mark the end of their decades-long collaboration.
At a Cannes Film Festival press conference in May, Lee had suggested that their upcoming thriller Highest 2 Lowest would likely be their final joint project.
But when asked about that statement during the film’s U.S. premiere, the Oscar-winning director made it clear he’s no longer so sure.
“I said that before, but I got my mind right,” Lee told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m open to work with Denzel Washington and this not be the last film of the dynamic duo, D and Lee.”
The pair’s creative partnership spans more than 30 years, beginning with 1990’s Mo’ Better Blues and continuing through Malcolm X, He Got Game and Inside Man.
Their latest effort, Highest 2 Lowest, marks their first collaboration in nearly two decades.
During the Cannes event, Lee hinted at Washington’s possible retirement as a reason for the farewell tone.
“I think this is it — five. He’s been talking about retirement, so… Even though he just did another deal. I thought you said you were retired Denzel, what’s up?! But those five films together, those stand up,” Lee said.
Highest 2 Lowest is a modern English-language retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low.
In the new version, Washington plays a powerful music executive who becomes the target of an extortion plot after his driver’s son is mistakenly kidnapped.
Lee revealed that the idea didn’t start with him.
“(He) had gotten the property and he sent it to me; he said, ‘Spike read the script. If you like, let’s go.’ I read it right away, called him up, I think the next day and said, ‘Let’s go.’ It happened like that,” he said.
The film also features performances from Jeffrey Wright and A$AP Rocky. It will debut in select theaters before hitting Apple TV+ on September 5.
Related
