Summary

• Denzel Washington's movie High and Low breaks a longstanding career drought.
• The movie marks his reunion with director Spike Lee after collaborating four times between 1990 and 2006.
• Both the star and the director have made multiple prominent movies in the intervening decade and a half.

Denzel Washington's movie High and Low is the end of a nearly two-decade drought for the star. The movie, which kicked off production in March 2024, is directed by Spike Lee from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alan Fox. It is a remake of the 1963 Japanese classic of the same name, which was directed by Kurosawa Akira and starred Mifune Toshirō as executive Gondo Kingo, who strives to protect himself and his family from a ruthless kidnapper.

The new Denzel Washington movie is the latest in a string of high-profile releases to feature the prominent actor. After first bursting onto the scene with a long-running role in the hit medical drama St. Elsewhere in the 1980s, he transitioned into becoming a bona fide movie star in titles such as The Mighty Quinn and Mississippi Masala. Since then, he has been best known as a performer in features and has in fact earned 10 Academy Award nominations, winning two.

High And Low Is Denzel Washington & Spike Lee's First Movie Together Since Inside Man

The Actor And Director Frequently Collaborated Before 2006

High and Low is set to be the first Denzel Washington and Spike Lee collaboration in 18 years since 2006's Inside Man. Before then, the duo were well known for their frequent collaborations after first working together on the 1990 romantic drama Mo' Better Blues. That title was one of the first features to star Washington after his stint playing Dr. Philip Chandler on St. Elsewhere ended after 137 episodes in 1988, and he worked with Lee consistently throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Below, see a breakdown of Washington's roles in Lee movies prior to this nearly two-decade hiatus:

Washington and Lee's collaborations provided the star with a wide variety of characters and genres to tackle. In addition to pairing him with iconic co-stars including Angela Bassett, Jodie Foster, John Turturro, Rosario Dawson, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Plummer, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, these titles allowed the actor to play a real-life historical figure, a hardened detective, and a complicated father. The movies also run the gamut from drama to comedy to thriller, as Lee is a director notable for his ability to shift easily between genres.

What Spike Lee & Denzel Washington Have Done Since Inside Man

Both Creatives Have Added To Their Long Resumes Since 2006

Between Inside Man and High and Low, both Washington and Lee have been quite busy. Although Washington dabbled in directing before 2006, he has taken after Lee and applied his skills to directing even more movies in the meantime such as Fences and A Journal for Jordan. Washington has also earned five Oscar nominations since 2006, for Flight, Fences, Roman J. Israel, Esq., and The Tragedy of Macbeth. Additionally, he has participated in four of the biggest hits of his career, namely American Gangster ($267.9 million), Safe House ($207.8 million), The Equalizer ($192.9 million), and The Equalizer 2 ($190.4 million).

Washington was nominated twice for Fences, once for Best Lead Actor and once as a producer for Best Picture.

Lee was likewise nominated for multiple Oscars for his 2018 movie BlackKklansman, for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and as a producer for Best Picture. He has directed seven other movies since 2006 including Da 5 Bloods, Red Hook Summer, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, and Chi-Raq. On top of that, he has helmed music videos including Eminem's "Headlights" and Kelly Rowland's "The Game" in addition to creating the two-season 2017 Netflix show She's Gotta Have It, based on his 1986 movie of the same name.

Why Denzel Washington Reuniting With Spike Lee Is So Exciting

The Duo's Movies Have Achieved Critical And Commercial Success

This reunion between Washington and Lee is exciting for many reasons, but particularly because their previous collaborations have been fruitful both critically and commercially. They also ended on their biggest hit, as Inside Man is still the highest-grossing movie of Lee's career and the seventh-highest of Washington's. Malcolm X was the third highest-grossing movie for Lee, followed by He Got Game as the ninth and Mo' Better Blues as the eleventh. Below, see how well the duo's previous collaborations have performed both on Rotten Tomatoes and at the worldwide box office, unadjusted for inflation:

In addition to every movie receiving a Fresh score on the platform, all three titles after Mo' Better Blues were Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes. Lee and Washington's success extends beyond critics and audiences, as well. In addition to being a success at the box office, Malcolm X earned two Oscar nominations, for Best Lead Actor (Washington) and Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter). That marked Washington's first nomination after winning an Oscar for his ing performance in the Civil War movie Glory.

High & Low Will Equal A Denzel Washington Director Record (For Now)

Denzel Washington Has Several Longtime Collaborators

High and Low will push Lee and Washington's number of collaborations to five, matching the number of features that Washington has created with two other frequent collaborators. The first is Antoine Fuqua, who directed Washington to his second Oscar win in 2001's Training Day. The pair later collaborated on The Equalizer, The Magnificent Seven, The Equalizer 2, and The Equalizer 3. With this Kurosawa remake, Lee will be put on an even footing with Fuqua, though with Fuqua directing the Hannibal, in which Washington will play the legendary historical general, this will bring their total to six before long.

Making five movies with Lee will also match Washington's record with Tony Scott, who is Ridley Scott's younger brother and the director of Top Gun, among many other titles. Washington and Scott likewise collaborated on five movies, beginning just half a decade after Mo' Better Blues with 1995's Crimson Tide. However, as Scott died in 2012, the pair will not be adding any titles to this record. Below, see a breakdown of every role Washington has held in a Scott movie:

What Else We Know About High & Low

The Spike Lee Remake Features A Star-Studded Cast

As for the new Spike Lee movie that will be added to their roster of collaborations, not many details have yet been revealed. High and Low, which is Lee's latest remake after remaking the South Korean classic Oldboy in 2013 and reinterpreting Ganja & Hess as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus a year later, will be distributed in theaters by A24 at an as-yet unspecified date before a streaming release on Apple TV+. Washington was already attached to the project before Lee came on board as director and co-writer.

It remains to be seen if reuniting for High and Low will result in any future collaborations between the prolific director and the Oscar-winning star...

Although it is unknown where and when the movie will be set, it boasts a star-studded cast that includes recent American Fiction Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright, Chi-Raq star Ilfenesh Hadera, and rappers Ice Spice and ASAP Rocky. It has not been officially announced that Washington will be stepping into the role originally played by Mifune, but that seems like the most likely prospect. It remains to be seen if reuniting for High and Low will result in any future collaborations between the prolific director and the Oscar-winning star, but their reunion is nevertheless historic after the long post-Inside Man wait.