Spike Lee on “ the highest 2 lower ” and leader Denzel Washington

Spike Lee is clearly in a good mood when he appears on the screen for our video chat.

The director, who sports his signature baseball cap and his thick glasses, is flanked in the frame by everything he likes. The walls behind him are covered with art, murals of his idols and films posters, including a Japanese author signed Akira Kurosawa. When Lee realizes that he is talking to a baseball fan, he jumps out of his chair and catches a wooden bat, which he brings the camera closer to reveal is signed by the legend of the replay of the Willie Mays renown.

But there is another reason why Lee smiles in the ear to the other.

“The dynamic duo is back!” he exclaims.

It has been almost 20 years since Lee and Denzel Washington are together. (It was “Inside Man” of 2006, although the pair is also responsible for the classics like “Malcolm X” and “Il Got Game”.) But if their last collaboration, “the highest 2 lower”, is an indication, this time apart has not finished the creative spark they have together.

The film, which is now in theaters and available on Apple TV + on September 5, is a reimagination of the classic of the procedural drama of the Kurosawa police in 1963, “High and Low”, which tells the story of a businessman who is stuck in the middle of a sloppy abduction.

A remake of “High and Low” taking place in New York has been floating around Hollywood for years. So when Washington got hold of the script written by Alan Fox, he knew that there was a director who could nail a modern version of history.

“He called me – I didn’t even recognize his phone number,” Lee, 68, told Business Insider, recalling when Washington contacted him. “We did not do anything since” inside man “, 18, 19 years ago. He told me that he was going to send me the script, and even before hanging up, I knew I was doing it.”

Lee has a good assessment using Kurosawa as a source material. He used the structure of the unreliable narrator of the historic work of Kurosawa in 1950, “Rashomon”, to tell the story of a woman dating from three men both in her first 1986 feature film “She’s Gotta Have It”.

“The highest 2 below” maintains the main scenario of the original Kurosawa – a rich man (Washington) targeted by a ransom intrigue – but apart from that, it’s really a spike lee joint, classical music and the R&B needle falls on an exciting hunting scene on a metro train en route to a Yankees game.

Everything is anchored by the performance of Washington as an alternately explosive and tender music director David, whose situation is as immediate as that of the existential.

“One of the many things that make Denzel a genius is that he is not only based on the scenario or does not rely on the director, he brings all his essence,” said Lee. “He brings his full being in every role he does. And when you have someone like that – that’s why I say he is the greatest living actor.”

In the latest episode of the “Director’s Flesh” series by Business Insider, Lee discussed animated improvisations that fueled “the highest 2 the lowest”, how the riots inspired him to change the opening of “Malcolm X” and why he thinks more about his inheritance these days.

Business Insider: “The highest 2 lower” is based on a Kurosawa film. How did you do this different from “high and low”?

Spike Lee: It is an interpretation by a jazz musician of American standards. The scene with Denzel outgoing pomegranate – which was improvised. It was an accessory. I didn’t even ask my accessory guy why there was a fucking grenade on his desk, but it worked. In addition, when Denzel enters his study and the photos of Aretha Franklin and James Brown are on the wall, and says: “What would you do, Aretha?” “What would you do, James?” Again, improvised. It is genius.

Now, I don’t want to get into a goat conversation because I know if I call my brother Marty [Scorsese]He’s going to say Niro. If Sidney Lumet was alive, he would say Pacino. If I called Francis [Ford Coppola]He looks Brando. I’m not saying that. But, for me, it’s Denzel.

Denzel has not only improvised with accessories – he also worked on the actors in front of him. The best scenes in this film are those where he and Jeffrey Wright, who embodies Denzel’s right man in the film, are simply riffs.

Oh yeah. In many ways, the director is the director, the head coach, the managing director. And it’s your work to know what could do what. You must know your staff. So when you have Denzel on the set: Michael Jordan. He has the green light to do what he wants to do. If Denzel wants to put himself out of scenario, I don’t say damn things.

But I think Jeffrey too had the green light. This large line he gives when he holds his weapon, “it’s Jake de State Farm” is not written.

Oh yeah. And then, “it’s chaos”. [Laughs.] And it started because Dean Winters is in the film.

Are you great in rehearsals with the directors before the start of filming?

We read. This is the first thing we do. After that, we have lunch, then we break down it into scenes and draw them.

Have you done this on all your films?

All. Here is the thing, and I talked about it with Jim Jarmusch once: you can read a script, but it is not the same thing as the actors who say these words. It is entirely day and night. You might think that you have written good shit, then when the actors read it, you say to yourself: “Damn!” When we read, I have my red marker and I’m just shit. Outta here!

I love that you have said you read a reading because many actors I talk about to tell myself that they generally bounce from one project to another, and there is no time for rehearsals or readings.

If someone makes an action film, there may not be a lot of dialogue, then maybe they can remove it, but you have to take the director’s lead. There are many directors, great directors, who devote time to the calendar to do so and make sure they succeed. But it is also to make sure that you throw it well. The big actors provide support, weight. He is not the director alone.

For you, what is Peak Denzel Washington performance outside the movies you made together?

“Malcolm X.” This is this one.

I know that there were so many challenges to make this film made, but speak for a moment of the importance of putting the images of Rodney King at the start of the film.

Well, the day we flew to Los Angeles to project the four -hour cup for the heads of Warner Bros., Terry Semel and Bob Daly, later in the day, it turned out that we screened the film, the uprising occurred.

The riots After the officers who beat King were acquitted.

Yeah. People got up and had to demonstrate their feelings about these police officers Rodney King. I could never forget that day. And at Terry and Bob credit, they stayed throughout the four -hour screening. They could have easily said: “Spike, I’m sorry, the city is in flames, and we have to go home.” So, it doesn’t matter what our differences were, making this film, I have to give them respect for the two because they stayed throughout the four -hour cup. Their secretaries entered and went out with notes, so I could only imagine what they were told, but they stayed. I thank them for that.

Then, to return to the editing process, I said, we have to change the opening. This is where the images of Rodney King’s blows come into play. We recorded one of Malcolm’s speeches, and we brought Denzel, and he recorded the speech, and we put this on the wild of Rodney King, then used the score of the Grand Terence Blanchard. This is the story.

You were such a supporter of Ryan Cooglerwork. He invited you to see “sinners” before his release. He made the headlines when he was revealed that He will own the film in 25 years. Have the rights to one of your films come back to you?

I have “she must have it”, it’s the only one. I congratulate Ryan and Zinzi, his wife, for having drawn this movement of power. It’s great. I didn’t know anything about it until I read history on this subject. I think it was the smart movement. I know that the companies that passed there, they wanted it. You must give a cry to Pam [Abdy] and Michael [De Luca]Warner Bros. They bet on black.

“The highest 2 lower” concerns a lot of inheritance. Do you think of the inheritance more recently?

I think about it anymore than in the past, but I don’t count the clock, look at the calendar; I just continue. When a film comes out and I finished making the press, let’s go. I am at the next. But I was told recently: “She must be” will be 40 years next year. I said: “Fuck!”

Your film reimagine a classic Kurosawa. Do you hope that one day will someone repeat one of your works?

What do you know? “School Daze” was released in 1988. People are coming to date and ask me when it is going to be put on Broadway. Since 1988, they have said that, so I hope it will happen one day. But no way in the world is “doing the right thing” that will be a remake. I can’t do that!

This interview was condensed and published for more clarity.

“The highest 2 lower” is now in the rooms and broadcasts on Apple TV + from September 5.