Denzel Washington and Spike Lee have stuck together while traversing the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, through their 35-year, five-film journey from Mo’ Better Blues (1990) to Highest 2 Lowest this year. Even Denzel’s son John David Washington has starred in Lee’s 2018 crime comedy BlacKkKlansman. But Lee doesn’t analyze these long friendships in terms of how much time they’ve spent together on set because he keeps catching up with Denzel nonetheless.“I don’t think of people by how they’ve changed. I didn’t know that 35 years of knowing each other had expired till someone brought it up. We’ve seen each other through that time, and our children have worked together. But I don’t think our relationship is based on how much time we’ve spent together. So, I didn’t think about it like I’m a prisoner hooked to a clock on the wall and drawing X’s on paper,” says Lee in an interview with SCREEN. Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues (1990).Denzel chimes in, and quips that whether they like it or not, age is catching up with them. “We’ve gotten older, our knees hurt more! But I will say that as I approach my 70th birthday, and understanding that there’s an end to life, I thought of who would I like to work with before I finish.” He dubs it “no coincidence” that he’s going from reuniting with Lee to collaborating with Fernando Meirelles on upcoming Netflix heist film, Here Comes The Flood. He also accidentally revealed recently he’s a part of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 3. “We haven’t found the right thing yet, but I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen,” says Washington, dropping another bomb. “So, you’re going out with a bang, ya?” an impressed Lee butts in.Denzel recalls that when the original script of Highest 2 Lowest came to him, he couldn’t imagine anyone but Lee to adapt Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 police procedural High and Low, into an American film set in New York City. New York has been a leitmotif in Spike Lee’s filmography, including the four films they did together — Malcolm X (1992), He Got Game (1998), Inside Man (2006), and Mo’ Better Blues. “He called me up, said I have a film based in New York, sending you the script, and then practically hung up the phone on me,” Lee recalled, rolling his eyes. Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992).Denzel considers Lee not only a filmmaker but a cultural capsule, right from their first film together. “Spike is the first director I worked with who shoots a documentary in the middle of a film and a film in the middle of a documentary. So, he’s shooting Robbin Harris doing a stand-up (in Mo’ Better Blues). He’s in the movie, but Spike is also just shooting him doing stand-up. So, over the five films we’ve worked on together, I’d see he’s always aware of more than just the character and the script, but about the culture in a way an actor doesn’t have to be. So, Spike Lee introduced me to, if I can call it that, ‘intercultural interpretation in the midst of imagination’.” “Oh my god, write that down,” Lee adds swiftly, much to Denzel’s amusement.“It’s a beautiful thing to know someone who’s still so excited about what they do. That’s healthy for me because I’d reached a point where I wasn’t as excited about what I was doing. He’s helped reignite my excitement,” confesses Denzel, before Spike cuts him off with his trademark irreverent humour. “Denzel and Spike, the dynamic duo! Like Batman and Robin! I know I’m Robin,” he says, cracking up. Denzel, having had enough, returns the favour: “I’m actually his caretaker. He doesn’t remember as much as he used to. His wife is tensed. Somebody got to get him home. That’s my job.” Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s He Got Game (1998).Highest 2 Lowest was a prompt yes for Lee because of not only Denzel and New York, but also Kurosawa. He was a scholar of the legendary Japanese filmmaker at film school. In fact, Kurosawa’s 1950 classic thriller Rashomon deeply influenced his 1986 debut feature She’s Gotta Have It. “I don’t look at the greats by their country of origin. Greats don’t have a nationality, my brother! A great is a great,” Lee asserts, adding, “It’s not like I picked up this film because Kurosawa is from Japan. It’s just a great film!”Story continues below this adTo him, Highest 2 Lowest is a homecoming of the story since Kurosawa adapted it from Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom. “This is a reinterpretation, not a remake. So when you reinterpret something, you make changes. We have utmost respect for Kurosawa. It’d be impossible to remake his film. Also, it’s different cultures! That was post-war Japan in 1963. This is modern-day New York City,” Lee points out.Lee dismisses the perception that he adapted the film only to steep it in the Black culture. “I didn’t turn African-American for just this film. That’s who I am. So, that’s infused in all the films I do. Look at the artwork on the walls — Bosky Art! The music we’ve chosen, the characters we have here, I didn’t have to flip a switch for Blackness to be in this mix,” says Lee. Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Inside Man (2006).Highest 2 Lowest isn’t Denzel’s first Kurosawa adaptation. He’s previously starred in Antoine Fuqua’s 2016 Western The Magnificent Seven, adapted from Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954). “As an actor, I didn’t really approach them from the filmmaker’s point of view. I was just an actor playing those parts. I didn’t study either because we had different stories, inspired by those. Also, I didn’t want to watch something I really liked and not imitate it,” explains Denzel.Highest 2 Lowest revolves around the abduction of the son of NYC music mogul David King (Denzel) by who turns out to be one of his biggest fans, Young Felon, a budding rapper trying to catch his idol’s attention. Besides the setting, a major change in the plot of Kurosawa’s original is the age of King’s son in this film. “The boy is at the cusp of manhood because all those dangers are there. He can see and understand what his father is or is not doing. And we get to see the world through the eyes of the young people today. So it was a wise decision to make the drama more fertile,” reasons Denzel.Story continues below this ad Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest (2025).Misleading boyhood is also explored through the character of Archie aka Young Felon, played by actor-cum-rapper ASAP Rocky in the film. Lee found Rocky from a role he played Anthony Mandler’s 2018 legal drama Monster, which the former’s wife Tonya Lewis Lee co-produced, and also starred Denzel’s son John David Washington. “Historically, there have been musicians in films, I understand that, but he’s a serious actor. He would have not been in the film if that wasn’t the case, if he couldn’t stand upright in a scene with Denzel Washington,” argues Lee.With Rocky’s character, Lee also hoped to explore how in today’s age, “fame is the only currency.” “We may be all fuddy-duddies, but it’s true that in terms of money, it’s fame over talent. That’s at least how the entertainment world runs today. To be discovered, you had to go to either New York or Los Angeles back in the day. But now, you may be anywhere with a phone and Instagram. I found three-four people in this film through Instagram,” reveals Lee.Denzel agrees, but argues that this was the case even 100 years ago in Hollywood. “Even then, it was about pulling the strings. Even in the studio system 100 years ago, you didn’t have the most talented actors. The system just knew how to make stars out of them. Now, the wannabe stars can make themselves stars. Or at least people think they can make themselves stars. I think it’s just that people now have more access to become what they had to go through the studio system for before,” adds Denzel.Both Lee and Denzel are, however, decidedly “fuddy-duddies” when it comes to the role of Artificial Intelligence in art. In Highest 2 Lowest, Denzel’s character dismisses AI by saying, “I don’t care about this AI, or IA, or A-I-E-I-O!” Laughing at the line he wrote a couple of years ago, Lee says, “A machine doesn’t have a heart and a soul. We human beings have that. We curate great, great things. What about schools, colleges, and universities? If students write their thesis using AI, how are you learning? I’m against it. I’m not against technology, but when it comes to art, that’s where I draw my line.”Story continues below this adAlso Read — Highest 2 Lowest movie review: Dazzling Denzel Washington performance takes Spike Lee’s latest joint to the next levelDenzel seconds Lee, but is only cautiously optimistic. “And that’s what they said about radio 200 years ago. Later, that’s what they said about TV. Time marches on! Technology is technology, but the difference is that we can be hurt, we can react and create based on our pain. I don’t know if machines can do that yet. You have to feel the feelings, not imitate them,” he says, adding, “We’re at the infancy level right now, but one thing’s for sure: the pace is picking up.”Highest 2 Lowest is streaming in India on Apple TV+.