Spike Lee spoke about his upcoming film “Highest 2 Lowest” – which will see the director reunite with lead actor Denzel Washington – during an on-stage talk Tuesday at the Red Sea Film Festival, where he is the president of the competition jury.
The film is inspired by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller “High and Low,” he said, adding that Kurosawa has been a key inspiration for his career – from “She’s Gotta Have It” onward. In “High and Low,” an executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Lee said that attending NYU film school opened his eyes to filmmakers like Kurosawa, who introduced him to new approaches to story structure.
“One of the best things about film school is that you get introduced to world cinema, not just Hollywood. Seeing Kurosawa’s film ‘Rashomon’ and its structure inspired me to make ‘She’s Gotta Have It.’ In ‘Rashomon,’ you have three people who witness a rape, and each gives their own opinion of what happened. In ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ Nola Darling has three boyfriends who each see her in a different way. From the very beginning of my career, I was influenced by Kurosawa.”
Teaming up with Denzel Washington for their fifth film together and their first since “Inside Man,” made 18 years ago, Lee described their collaboration as the “dynamic duo” and explained that both their families are also very close.
Asked about Washington’s claim that he will soon retire from film acting, Lee quipped, “I’m just glad we got five in.” In terms of whether Lee himself will ever retire, the helmer asked how old Kurosawa was when he made his last film, and when told he was 81 years old, he smiled and said, “Yeah, I got some time left!”
Lee provided few details about “Highest 2 Lowest,” which is inspired by the Japanese director’s 1963 crime thriller, “High and Low,” but insisted that “it isn’t a remake, it’s a reinterpretation of the great Kurosawa.”
“In Kurosawa’s film, Toshiro Mifune is a shoemaker,” he said, explaining that in his pic, Washington will play a music mogul with the “reputation as the best ears in the business.”
“Highest 2 Lowest” is due to be released in early summer 2025 and is produced by A24 with Apple Original Films.
