Here’s our first look at A$AP Rocky in Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” (via Lee’s Instagram account).
We know that Denzel Washington also stars in “Highest 2 Lowest,” which is being helmed by A24 and Apple Studios. The film is reported to be a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “High & Low.” Lee hired Alan Fox and Lee to write the script.
In the Kurosawa film, the central character is a shoemaker. In Lee’s interpretation, Washington is a New York record executive. Kurosawa’s film follows an executive at a Yokohama shoe company who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Lee recently confirmed that Washington will actually be sharing a good chunk of screentime with rapper A$AP Rocky as the musician has “the main role” in the film. I assume that A$AP, who plays a character by the name of “Yung Felon,” is the kidnapped son. The rest of the main cast includes Ice Spice and Jeffrey Wright.
Lee has stated that “Highest 2 Lowest,” which is currently in post-production, has seemingly set up a “summer 2025” release (via The Gibbes Museum). Lee did want to clarify that the film is not a “remake,” but rather a “reinterpretation” of Kurosawa’s crime thriller.
The film is also set to be Lee and Washington’s fifth film together, and first one in 20 years. They previously collaborated on “Malcolm X,” “Mo Better Blues,” “He Got Game,” and “Inside Man.”
Washington told The New York Times that he likes “the way [Lee’s] brain works,” and that working on their first film together since 2006 “felt like we picked up where we left off,” Washington said. “Spike is consistently Spike, and I love that about him.”
“Highest 2 Lowest” will most likely have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The last time Lee was on the Croisette, back in 2018, his “BlacKKKlansman” won the Grand Prix. It would go on to garner six Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay — the latter which won Lee his first Oscar.
