Denzel WashingtonandJeffrey Wrighthave finally reunited on screen after more than two decades following their turn inThe Manchurian Candidate, forSpike Lee’s modern-day reimagining of anAkira Kurosawaclassic,Highest 2 Lowest.
In the movie, a music industry titan finds himself the target of a ransom plot, forcing him into the middle of a moral dilemma that could mean life or death for his son. Collider’sTherese Lacsondescribed the reimagined film as “vibrant, loud, and full of life,” noting thatWashington’s “powerhouse performance"makes the film “a delight to watch” despite its tonal shift from the original. In addition to Washington and Wright, the cast featuresIlfenesh Hadera,Michael Potts,Andy McQueen, and Wright’s son,Elijah Wright, as well as being joined by two real-life music industry icons,A$AP RockyandIce Spice.
In an exclusive interview with Collider’sSteve Weintraub, Washington and Wright discuss the basketball rivalry that took place on set between one of the stars and the director. Wright also reveals what movie his time on Broadway prevented him from joining Washington in, and the pair reflect on how important prep was forHighest 2 Lowest, and why finding the perfect cast was essential.
There Was No Basketball Rivalry on the ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Set
At least not one that resulted in trash talk.
COLLIDER: I’m just gonna say congrats on the movie. I thought both of you did a fantastic job. And obviously Spike [Lee]. I’m gonna start with the most important question up front. Denzel, this is for you. You are a Lakers fan, and Spike is a famous New York Knicks fan. I really am curious, what is the trash talk like between the two of you?
DENZEL WASHINGTON: I grew up in New York, so I was a Knicks fan first. First and foremost, you know? I’m a New Yorker first and foremost. I moved to LA, and the Knicks don’t play in LA. They play in New York, so that’s the reason I started following the Lakers. But I’ll always be a Knicks fan first. Well, I’ll put it to you this way. I’ll always be a New Yorker first. I’m a Lakers fan, but I’m a New Yorker.
So is this their year?
WASHINGTON: The Lakers or New York?
WASHINGTON: I went to the Knicks game. Who’s gonna score the points other than Brunson? They need a forward. They need James Worthy. They need somebody. They’re not gonna win. They were playing Boston, and Boston had too many dudes. Obviously, my man got hurt. Tatum got hurt. I’m glad to see the work that our kid has done out with, shoot, what’s the boy’s name for the Lakers? You see what I’m saying? My son goes to the games now.
JEFFREY WRIGHT: Oh, Dante.
WASHINGTON: Luca got in shape. My son goes. I don’t even go anymore. So, we’ll see. LeBron’s a freak. And praying for Tatum.
Yeah, I am a Celtics fan, sorry.
WASHINGTON: Oh!
So, I’m obviously rooting for Tatum to come back perfectly healthy.
WASHINGTON: How’s he doing, though, by the way?
He was on the sidelines of a Patriots thing recently without a cast.
WASHINGTON: Okay, okay. I mean, is he already out of the cast?
I don’t know all the details, but he’s out for the full season because of that injury. It’s one you take a full year to recover from, and I just wish him nothing but the best. I hope he’s healthy. It’s good for the league to have players like that, performing.
Why It’s Taken Washington and Wright Decades to Work Together Again
And the Broadway run prevented it from happening sooner.
Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys. Denzel, I read that you were the one who got this script to Spike. Did you know when you gave him the script that he was such a Kurosawa fan, or was it sort of happenstance?
WASHINGTON: No, I didn’t know, but I knew it was a New York story, and I knew we had great success together our last time out inThe Inside Man. It was just my gut. I don’t know whose idea it was to begin with, but it was the right idea. It was a New York story, and there’s nobody I trust more to tell a New York story than Spike Lee.
The two of you are fantastic on screen together. Why has it taken 21 years for you guys to re-work, to collaborate again?
WASHINGTON: Life.
WRIGHT: Gets in the way, right?
WASHINGTON: Yeah, life gets in the way.
WRIGHT: We might’ve had plans.
WASHINGTON: Yeah, might’ve been busy paying bills.
WRIGHT: You know we almost worked together once before, even beforeManchurian Canidate, you know that, right?
WASHINGTON: Uh-uh, on what?
WRIGHT:Devil in a Blue Dress.
WASHINGTON: Oh yeah, right! Wait, what happened?
WRIGHT: Because I was doingAngels in America.
WASHINGTON: Right, on Broadway!
WRIGHT: On Broadway. I read with you. We read once in New York, and I was to go to California to read one more time. They said to me, “It was really good.”
WASHINGTON: “We love you. We really want you.”
WRIGHT: After I finished reading, you said “Boom.” So I said, “Oh, okay!” I was doing the play. So, I was supposed to fly out maybe five days after we had this last read. So I call my agent on the fourth day. I’m just steadily doing the play, and I said, “Hey, so what happened?” She said, “Well, we spoke to the producers of the play, and they wouldn’t let you out to do the film. So we passed.”
WASHINGTON:What?
WRIGHT:Click. I said, “What?” I called up Vicki Thomas, the casting director…
WASHINGTON: This was the play?
WRIGHT: This isAngels in America.
WASHINGTON: But to play what part inDevil?
WRIGHT: It was to play Mouse.
WASHINGTON: To play Mouse!
WRIGHT: I called, and I spoke with Vicki, and Vicki said, “Well, we heard that you passed, and we found this wonderful actor named Don Cheadle.”
WASHINGTON: In five days?
WRIGHT: Quickly.
WASHINGTON: Quickly. I did not realize.
WRIGHT: Yeah, so we might have had another chance, but life.
Thank you for sharing that story.
WASHINGTON: To quote someone from our film, “Life’s a bitch and then you die. That’s why we get high because you never know when you’re gonna go.” I don’t know if we said that in the film. That’s Nas. [Laughs]
WRIGHT: That’s Nas, that’s right.
Preparing for ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Meant Enlisting the Perfect Cast
Thankfully, Lee was able to surround Washington with “the best actors.”
Both of you are just so talented as actors. What is it like for the two of you before you step on set in those weeks or whatever it might be to get yourself ready? Can you talk about your process a little bit, because you’re both just so good on screen and so good together?
WASHINGTON: Did you do some driving?
WRIGHT: Not in that car. I wheeled it a little bit on the backlot. But working with Denzel prior just laid the groundwork, really, for what we were able to do.
WASHINGTON: OnManchurian?
WRIGHT: No, no, no, on this, during the rehearsal period. I mean, just diving down and really following his lead. Diving down into the script, talking and thinking about the pre-history that these characters had before the story begins. That was super useful to me and just gave me the opportunity to, along with Spike, have ideas about how we could layer the character in such a way that built more depth into this relationship of these two men who had come up together, but parted ways, and then came back around to one another. It’s funny, you watch someone in a performance, and what you don’t see is the work that’s gone on before to dig down, the archaeological dig into what lies beneath the story. It was very helpful to me just to have him shining the light in those areas that helped, I think, enrich the relationship.
WASHINGTON: First thing I learned when I got behind the camera was to get the best actors and let them do what they do. Spike understands that. In this case, he surrounded me, because I brought the script to him, with the best actors. He went and got Jeffrey. He went and got Michael Potts, and he went and got LaChanze and…
WRIGHT: Wendell [Pierce].
WASHINGTON: And we went and got Jeff’s son.
Highest 2 Lowestis now playing in theaters and will be available to stream on AppleTV+ September 5.
