Spike Lee and Denzel Washington may be ready to bring the curtain down on one of the most enduring partnerships in Hollywood. Opening up while attending the Cannes Film Festival, Lee said that the pair's 'Highest 2 Lowest,' a remake of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low, might be the last time we see the two of them join creative forces.
"I think this is five," Lee said in his press conference. "He'd been talking about retiring, Even though he just did another deal. I thought you wanted to retire Denzel; what's going on?!"
That unmistakable Lee combination of humor and honesty colored the moment, but his sentiment was genuine: the end of this chapter may be in sight. Their five-film stretch "Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, Inside Man, and now Highest 2 Lowest" has left an indelible stamp on American film. Lee appeared proud , even a bit sentimental, of their legacy, referring to the body of work as something that "stands up."
"Highest 2 Lowest," in production and set for a U.S. release this August, will bring Denzel back to the screen as a commanding music mogul whose world crumbles when a child is kidnapped in an identity mistake. The film also features Jeffrey Wright and A$AP Rocky, balancing cinematic gravitas with contemporary stylings. Minted as a cool and anxious thriller, it is also a slick reanimation of Kurosawa's 1963 classic.
Washington did not get to the press conference, but he did make a splash at the premiere in a tight red-carpet encounter with a photographer. Yet his presence was inescapable, a reminder to everyone about how magnetic he remains, onscreen and off.
Lee reflected on the 20-year gap between their last collaboration, 2006's 'Inside Man.' "It was an 18-year gap, and we were pretty surprised that it was like the day before because we didn't lose a step," he said. Some of that chemistry, he suggested, is what made reuniting with them feel so profound and bittersweet.
Lee did not shy away from re-living some stings of the past, most notably the one he still feels about Washington's portrayal of Malcolm X. "What he did with that film was amazing," Lee said. "And no disrespect to my brother Al Pacino, I love him. But Denzel, in my opinion, deserved to win."
But for both men, the legacy matters more than the too-small prizes. "We don't make our work for awards," Lee said. "It's the work that's going to rise above all of awards."
There's a sense of finality as the "Highest 2 Lowest" approaches release. If this is it for Spike and Denzel, they're going out the way they came in, big, uncut, and on their terms.
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