Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest is set to hit theaters on August 22. In support of the upcoming film, the legendary director sat down on The Tonight Show on Thursday (July 31). During his interview with host Jimmy Fallon, Lee praised A$AP Rocky’s acting ability and said he held his own opposite Denzel Washington on the set of the crime thriller.
“Yeah, don’t sleep on A$AP. In this film, Denzel and A$AP go toe-to-toe,” Lee told Fallon. “What’s interesting is, even before I got involved with this film, I always thought that A$AP looked like he could be Denzel’s son. There’s a big resemblance. So when you see it on the screen, it adds an element of father and son.”
Having worked on multiple movies with Washington, Lee recalled times he’s seen actors not know how to handle being in scenes with the Oscar winner. “I’ve done five films with Denzel, and a lot of times when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. He’s one of the greatest living actors today, but A$AP wasn’t having that. Toe-to-toe, I mean, they were going at it.” Washington and Lee's creative partnership goes back to 1990, with the cult classic film Mo' Better Blues.
Spike Lee Highest 2 Lowest
Highest 2 Lowest is described as a “reinterpretation” of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic noir High and Low. Produced by A24 and Apple, the film finds Rocky playing Washington's son, a character named Yung Felony. It is set in New York City. Rocky’s character is an aspiring rapper, while Washington’s runs a respected record label, Stackin Hits.
Highest 2 Lowest premiered at Cannes Film Festival in May, and received acclaim there. As of writing, it has an 89% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film will have a brief theatrical run beginning on August 22, before heading to Apple TV+ on September 5.
