Spike Lee on playing the long game with ‘Highest 2 Lowest’

Decked out in a resplendent orange-and-blue-striped zoot suit symbolizing the colors of his beloved New York Knicks, Spike Lee hit the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet in May in full boogie mode.

As Lee and his wife, producer Tonya Lewis Lee, huddled under an umbrella and made their way through a throng of photographers, he started dancing as speakers blasted “Trunks,” a track from the soundtrack of his new film, “Highest 2 Lowest,” by ASAP Rocky, who also acts in the movie. Accompanied by his superstar partner, Rihanna, exhibiting her sizable baby bump, the rapper locked eyes with Lee and the two broke out into a spontaneous shimmy.

With the exception of the Knicks winning the NBA championship (they would be eliminated from the playoffs a few days later), it would be hard to imagine Lee in a more joyous spirit than the one he was in at that May 19 event. His film “Do The Right Thing” had premiered at Cannes on the same date in 1989. It was also the 100th birthday of Malcolm X, who was portrayed by “Highest” actor Denzel Washington in their most successful partnership, 1992’s “Malcolm X.”

Though months have passed since that triumphant evening, Lee is extending his “Highest 2 Lowest” victory lap, delighted that he and Washington, whom he calls “America’s greatest living actor,” have joined forces for a fifth time.

“I’ve had a love relationship with the Cannes Film Festival since 1986 — they’ve loved all my films that have been there,” says Lee, 68, speaking on a recent video call from his residence at Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard. “May 19, 2025, was a continuation of that. I don’t think it was a mistake that the world premiere of ‘Do the Right Thing’ was May 19, 1989. I don’t think it was a mistake that May 19, 2025, was Malcolm X’s 100th birthday.

“For me, some things you just cannot explain. They just happen. And to add to that, this is the first time Denzel has ever been to Cannes with a film.”

He pauses: “It was ancestral spirits, whatever you want to call it,” adding with a mischievous cackle, “But not voodoo!”

Denzel Washington in the movie “Highest 2 Lowest.”

(David Lee / A24)

A reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 thriller “High and Low,” “Highest 2 Lowest” stars Washington as a wealthy music mogul whose livelihood is threatened by a life-or-death ransom demand. (The film is Lee’s first with Washington since 2006’s “Inside Man.”) The idea for an updated “High and Low” has circulated around Hollywood for several years, sparking interest from David Mamet and Chris Rock, among others. Playwright Alan Fox’s New York-set script was sent to Lee by Washington, who was convinced he was the only director who could do it justice.

“He didn’t have to ask me twice,” cracks Lee. Seated in front of a Kehinde Wiley painting and within reach of a “Jaws 50th” T-shirt, Lee, who wore a Knicks cap, is relentlessly jubilant, flavoring his comments with humorous exclamations and explosive laughter while declaring “Highest 2 Lowest” as one of the most deeply felt endeavors of his decades-long career.

The passage of time since he and Washington worked together stunned them both. “Denzel and I didn’t realize that it’s been 18 years since ‘Inside Man,’” he says. “We only found out when journalists told us.”

“Highest” is also his first film shot and set in New York in more than a decade. The action moves from Brooklyn to the South Bronx. A key set piece involving a subway chase (an homage to “The French Connection” and the late Gene Hackman, Lee says) is a kinetic mash-up, switching between the pursuit, rowdy Yankee fans traveling to a day game against the “the hated motherf—ing Boston Red Sox” and a boisterous National Puerto Rican Day celebration in the Bronx featuring Rosie Perez, Anthony Ramos and Eddie Palmieri’s Salsa Orchestra.

“We were not playing around,” declares Lee, almost doubled over with glee. “Bedlam! Mayhem! Puerto Rico is in da house! It’s the Bronx, baby! The Bronx!”

The new movie also reflects Lee’s serious admiration for Kurosawa. His introduction to the work of the legendary Japanese filmmaker came while attending New York University’s Graduate Film School:

“I just dug him from the beginning,” Lee says. “I’ve always been a student of him. His work dealt with the human condition — human beings and the trials and tribulations they go through. There is morality in all of his work.” The director credits “Rashomon,” a thriller about four people who present different recollections of a rape and a murder, as the genesis for his breakthrough film, 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It,” which revolved around the depiction of an artist juggling three boyfriends at the same time.

His vast collection of props and memorabilia contains vintage posters of “Rashomon,” signed by Kurosawa. Lee’s film is a New-York-state-of-mind twist on Kurosawa’s scenario, originally based on a novel by Ed McBain and riven with tensions between the poor and rich. Washington’s David King is a respected record label head grappling with a changing music industry and upset by a proposed corporate merger that he fears will move his label in a new direction and damage his legacy. He plots a risky corporate maneuver that he hopes will cement his status as a top-hit maker.

But those plans collapse when King receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his teenage son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) and demanding $17.5 million for his return. It turns out that the kidnapper has mistakenly snatched the son of King’s oldest friend — and driver — Paul (Jeffrey Wright). But the ransom demand remains, forcing King into a painful moral quandary: whether to face financial ruin in order to save his loyal friend’s son.

Lee doesn’t call “Highest 2 Lowest” a remake so much as a reinterpretation. “There’s a history of jazz musicians doing reinterpretations of standards,” he says. “We’re jazz musicians in front of and behind the camera.”

(Victoria Will / For The Times)

Though there are parallels between the two films, Lee is emphatic that “Highest 2 Lowest” is not a remake. “It’s a reinterpretation,” he says. “There’s a history of jazz musicians doing reinterpretations of standards. We’re jazz musicians in front of and behind the camera. I love ‘The Sound of Music.’ One of the greatest musicals of all time. Julie Andrews killed it when she sings ‘My Favorite Things’ and it’s one of the greatest songs of all time.”

But he emphasizes with a smile and a blast of laughter, “We’re doing the [John] Coltrane,” referencing the iconic saxophonist’s epic rendition of the tune.

Lee also notes that the “2” in the title “is a shout-out to my brother Prince” who frequently used the number in his song titles and lyrics.

To Lee, the moral themes of both films are universal. “It’s deep,” he says. “The audience gets so much into this film, asking themselves, ‘What would I do if my best friend, my wife, son, daughter, is kidnapped, and I‘ve got to put up all the money I’ve got to save them?”

Asked how he would respond if confronted with that dilemma, Lee beams, rocking back and forth.

“Depends on how much the ransom is,” he says. “I’m not gonna lie, man. I ain’t got all that jack. $17.5 million? You better play the lotto!”

“That is what makes the whole scenario great,” he continues. “Everyone would answer that situation differently. [Toshiro] Mifune laid down the foundation. He handed the baton to Denzel and Denzel took it, and did not miss a motherf—ing stride. You know like those brothers in the Olympics? We don’t drop the baton.”

In addition to “Inside Man” and “Malcolm X,” Lee and Washington teamed on “Mo’ Better Blues” (1990) and “He Got Game” (1998). The nearly two-decade gap between collaborations has had no impact on their on-set communication, the filmmaker says, although he quips, “We’re 18 years older and we both got bad knees.”

Says Lee, “All jokes aside, the word is ‘chemistry.’ We’re both professionals. You don’t have to be best friends. You got a job to do. Also, we don’t really hang out. But once we started rehearsals, we didn’t have to have a long talk and realign ourselves because it’s been 18 years. We got it like that. It was like ‘Inside Man’ was yesterday.”

Taking a breath, Lee adds, “You hope and pray that you learn from experience. It’s easy to say that, but hopefully you get wiser and smarter with the life you’re living. How you live can definitely affect your art.”

“I’m just getting started,” Lee says. “As an individual and an artist, when you’re doing what you love, you win. I don’t see the finish line, the tape.”

(Victoria Will / For The Times)

Still, there were times when Lee’s star surprised him. During a emotional exchange between Washington and Wright’s characters, Washington unexpectedly started handling a hand grenade that had been placed in King’s office by the prop man.

“It made the scene,” he says. “Denzel is a master of improvisation. He’ll get an item or prop, and incorporate it into the dialogue. I’m looking at the [pages] we’re shooting that day and saying, ‘Where did that come from?’ But that’s his genius. He’ll look around. You can’t tell what he’s thinking but he’s going, ‘Is there anything on this set I can use?’”

The scene demonstrated the powerful acting dynamic between Washington and Wright, says Lee. “Jeffrey is one of the great, great actors. To have those two together, it’s gold, solid gold. All I had to do was sit back and look at the monitors.”

The importance of family is also a component of their longtime connection and they were determined to show the King family as a close-knit unit that always tells each other “I love you.”

“I know we portray a strong Black family in this film,” Lee says. “There is connection and there is love. That’s Denzel and that’s me, too. You don’t see that a lot. In this film, they go through hell and high water. But it’s that love that keeps them together when everything around them is chaos.”

That importance also exists between them off set.

“Our wives and families are tight. We call it the Washing-Lees. His son John David was in my film ‘BlacKkKlansman.’ Besides my wife, Denzel’s wife Pauletta is my No. 1 cheerleader. I’ll just make it simple — it’s a blessing.”

With the completion of “Highest 2 Lowest,” Lee is thinking about what comes next. Retirement is not a consideration.

“I’m just getting started,” he says. “As an individual and an artist, when you’re doing what you love, you win. I don’t see the finish line, the tape.”

One major priority of his is to see the realization of “Save Us, Joe Louis,” a screenplay Lee co-wrote with late screenwriter Budd Schulberg (“On the Waterfront”) about the relationship between rival boxers Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. “I promised Budd on his deathbed that I would get this made.”

And he would love to work on another project with Washington.

“I’ve stopped saying that this would be our last film,” Lee admits, reversing some of his Cannes comments. “It would be a blessing to do another one. We’ll see. But you know what? There’s ‘Mo Better Blues,’ ‘Malcolm X,’ ‘He Got Game, ‘Inside Man’ and ‘Highest 2 Lowest.’ We got those for the world to see forever.”