To date, director Spike Lee has made four movies with actor Denzel Washington, ranging from box office hits (Inside Man) to Oscar-winning masterpieces (Malcolm X). Their fifth collaboration comes out later this year, and based on the teaser trailer, it looks like another classic.
Highest 2 Lowest is a modern-day reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s masterful crime thriller High and Low, and follows a titan music mogul, played by Washington, who is targeted with a ransom plot.
“I Know U Have Been Waiting ‘HELLA LONG’ And Here Is DA TEASER TRAILER (Finally) For Da 5th Return Of D And LEE- HIGHEST 2 LOWEST,” Lee wrote on Instagram. “And Dat’s Da WASHINGTONS/LEES FAMILY TRUTH,RUTH. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF. STRAIGHT UP.” He added seven fire emojis for good measure.
Highest 2 Lowest also stars Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, Dean Winters, John Douglas Thompson, and in “the main role,” A$AP Rocky. The rapper was cast based on a meme, according to Lee. “What’s funny is that I was looking at Instagram four or five years ago and people were saying that A$AP looked like he’s Denzel’s son,” he said. “I seen those memes and then in the film we used that.”
Highest 2 Lowest opens in theaters on August 22 via A24, before being made available on Apple TV+ on September 5. Check out the teaser trailer above.