Abstract
- Highest 2 Lowest, starring Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright, is now taking part in in theaters and might be on AppleTV+ September 5.
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub interviews Washington and Wright concerning the movie and why it is taken them 21 years to collaborate once more.
- Surrounding Washington with the right solid to raise the movie was important, which director Spike Lee was liable for.
Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright have lastly reunited on display screen after greater than 20 years following their flip in The Manchurian Candidate, for Spike Lee‘s modern-day reimagining of an Akira Kurosawa classic, Highest 2 Lowest.
Within the film, a music business titan finds himself the goal of a ransom plot, forcing him into the center of an ethical dilemma that might imply life or demise for his son. Collider’s Therese Lacson described the reimagined movie as “vibrant, loud, and lively,” noting that Washington’s “powerhouse performance” makes the movie “a delight to look at” regardless of its tonal shift from the unique. Along with Washington and Wright, the solid options Ilfenesh Hadera, Michael Potts, Andy McQueen, and Wright’s son, Elijah Wright, in addition to being joined by two real-life music business icons, A$AP Rocky and Ice Spice.
In an unique interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Washington and Wright focus on the basketball rivalry that happened on set between one of many stars and the director. Wright additionally reveals what film his time on Broadway prevented him from becoming a member of Washington in, and the pair mirror on how essential prep was for Highest 2 Lowest, and why discovering the right solid was important.
There Was No Basketball Rivalry on the ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Set
A minimum of not one which resulted in trash speak.
COLLIDER: I am simply gonna say congrats on the film. I believed each of you probably did a improbable job. And clearly Spike [Lee]. I am gonna begin with a very powerful query up entrance. Denzel, that is for you. You’re a Lakers fan, and Spike is a well-known New York Knicks fan. I actually am curious, what’s the trash speak like between the 2 of you?
DENZEL WASHINGTON: I grew up in New York, so I used to be a Knicks fan first. At the beginning, you understand? I am a New Yorker before everything. I moved to LA, and the Knicks do not play in LA. They play in New York, in order that’s the explanation I began following the Lakers. However I will at all times be a Knicks fan first. Properly, I will put it to you this fashion. I will at all times be a New Yorker first. I am a Lakers fan, however I am a New Yorker.
So is that this their yr?
WASHINGTON: The Lakers or New York?
New York.
WASHINGTON: I went to the Knicks sport. Who’s gonna rating the factors aside from Brunson? They want a ahead. They want James Worthy. They want any person. They are not gonna win. They have been taking part in Boston, and Boston had too many dudes. Clearly, my man acquired harm. Tatum acquired harm. I am glad to see the work that our child has completed out with, shoot, what is the boy’s title for the Lakers? You see what I am saying? My son goes to the video games now.
JEFFREY WRIGHT: Oh, Dante.
WASHINGTON: Luca acquired in form. My son goes. I do not even go anymore. So, we’ll see. LeBron’s a freak. And praying for Tatum.
Yeah, I’m a Celtics fan, sorry.
WASHINGTON: Oh!
So, I’m clearly rooting for Tatum to come back again completely wholesome.
WASHINGTON: How’s he doing, although, by the best way?
He was on the sidelines of a Patriots factor just lately with no solid.
WASHINGTON: Okay, okay. I imply, is he already out of the solid?
I don’t know all the small print, however he is out for the complete season due to that damage. It is one you’re taking a full yr to get well from, and I simply want him nothing however the most effective. I hope he is wholesome. It is good for the league to have gamers like that, performing.
Why It is Taken Washington and Wright A long time to Work Collectively Once more
And the Broadway run prevented it from taking place sooner.
Leaping into why I get to speak to you guys. Denzel, I learn that you simply have been the one who acquired this script to Spike. Do you know while you gave him the script that he was such a Kurosawa fan, or was it type of happenstance?
WASHINGTON: No, I did not know, however I knew it was a New York story, and I knew we had nice success collectively our final day out in The Inside Man. It was simply my intestine. I do not know whose concept it was to start with, however it was the best concept. It was a New York story, and there is no one I belief extra to inform a New York story than Spike Lee.
The 2 of you’re improbable on display screen collectively. Why has it taken 21 years for you guys to re-work, to collaborate once more?
WASHINGTON: Life.
WRIGHT: Will get in the best way, proper?
WASHINGTON: Yeah, life will get in the best way.
WRIGHT: We’d’ve had plans.
WASHINGTON: Yeah, may’ve been busy paying payments.
WRIGHT: You already know we virtually labored collectively as soon as earlier than, even earlier than Manchurian Canidate, you understand that, proper?
WASHINGTON: Uh-uh, on what?
WRIGHT: Satan in a Blue Gown.
WASHINGTON: Oh yeah, proper! Wait, what occurred?
WRIGHT: As a result of I used to be doing Angels in America.
WASHINGTON: Proper, on Broadway!
WRIGHT: On Broadway. I learn with you. We learn as soon as in New York, and I used to be to go to California to learn another time. They mentioned to me, “It was actually good.”
WASHINGTON: “We love you. We actually need you.”
WRIGHT: After I completed studying, you mentioned “Growth.” So I mentioned, “Oh, okay!” I used to be doing the play. So, I used to be alleged to fly out possibly 5 days after we had this final learn. So I name my agent on the fourth day. I am simply steadily doing the play, and I mentioned, “Hey, so what occurred?” She mentioned, “Properly, we spoke to the producers of the play, they usually would not allow you to out to do the movie. So we handed.”
WASHINGTON: What?
WRIGHT: Click on. I mentioned, “What?” I known as up Vicki Thomas, the casting director…
WASHINGTON: This was the play?
WRIGHT: That is Angels in America.
WASHINGTON: However to play what half in Satan?
WRIGHT: It was to play Mouse.
WASHINGTON: To play Mouse!
WRIGHT: I known as, and I spoke with Vicki, and Vicki mentioned, “Properly, we heard that you simply handed, and we discovered this excellent actor named Don Cheadle.”
WASHINGTON: In 5 days?
WRIGHT: Shortly.
WASHINGTON: Shortly. I didn’t understand.
WRIGHT: Yeah, so we’d have had one other probability, however life.
WASHINGTON: Life.
Thanks for sharing that story.
WASHINGTON: To cite somebody from our movie, “Life’s a bitch and you then die. That is why we get excessive since you by no means know while you’re gonna go.” I do not know if we mentioned that within the movie. That is Nas. [Laughs]
WRIGHT: That is Nas, that’s proper.
Making ready for ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Meant Enlisting the Good Forged
Fortunately, Lee was in a position to encompass Washington with “the most effective actors.”
Each of you’re simply so proficient as actors. What’s it like for the 2 of you earlier than you step on set in these weeks or no matter it may be to get your self prepared? Are you able to discuss your course of a bit bit, since you’re each simply so good on display screen and so good collectively?
WASHINGTON: Did you do some driving?
WRIGHT: Not in that automobile. I wheeled it a bit bit on the backlot. However working with Denzel prior simply laid the groundwork, actually, for what we have been in a position to do.
WASHINGTON: On Manchurian?
WRIGHT: No, no, no, on this, throughout the rehearsal interval. I imply, simply diving down and actually following his lead. Diving down into the script, speaking and eager about the pre-history that these characters had earlier than the story begins. That was tremendous helpful to me and simply gave me the chance to, together with Spike, have concepts about how we might layer the character in such a manner that constructed extra depth into this relationship of those two males who had come up collectively, however parted methods, after which got here again round to 1 one other. It is humorous, you watch somebody in a efficiency, and what you do not see is the work that is gone on earlier than to dig down, the archaeological dig into what lies beneath the story. It was very useful to me simply to have him shining the sunshine in these areas that helped, I feel, enrich the connection.
WASHINGTON: Very first thing I discovered after I acquired behind the digital camera was to get the most effective actors and allow them to do what they do. Spike understands that. On this case, he surrounded me, as a result of I introduced the script to him, with the most effective actors. He went and acquired Jeffrey. He went and acquired Michael Potts, and he went and acquired LaChanze and…
WRIGHT: Wendell [Pierce].
WASHINGTON: And we went and acquired Jeff’s son.
Highest 2 Lowest is now taking part in in theaters and might be accessible to stream on AppleTV+ September 5.
Highest 2 Lowest
- Launch Date
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August 15, 2025
- Runtime
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133 minutes
- Writers
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Alan Fox, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Ryūzō Kikushima, Eijirō Hisaita, Evan Hunter
- Producers
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Todd Black, Jason Michael Berman
