Denzel Washington has had a decades-long career, and made some iconic works during this time. His career kicked off back in the late 1970s, when he played a number of smaller roles. He then rose to greater prominence around a decade later when he was nominated for his first Oscar for Cry Freedom.

Washington then won an Oscar in 1990 for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Glory. It was from there that he started accepting more and more interesting roles, many of which got him award recognition.

The same year he won his Oscar marked his first collaboration with director Spike Lee. Lee had already gained notoriety for directing Do the Right Thing, and then went on to release the music drama Mo’ Better Blues. The pair developed a strong professional relationship, and most iconically collaborated on Malcolm X.

Despite rumors of his retirement circling last year, Washington is still working in acting (albeit slowing down). Later this month, Washington will even star in another project with Lee, and the director has recently spoken highly of one of the other cast members.

Spike Lee Praises A Key Performance In Highest 2 Lowest

Lee praises the performance of an important actor in Highest 2 Lowest. The movie is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low. It sees Washington play a New York City music mogul who finds himself targeted by a ransom plot. This leads him into a life-or-death problem.

In addition to Washington, Highest 2 Lowest features a leading cast including Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Aubrey Joseph. The movie starts comes out in theaters this month on August 15, and then releases on Apple TV+ starting on September 5.

Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Lee praises A$AP Rocky’s performance in Highest 2 Lowest. The director noted that, before he even cast the rapper in the thriller remake, he noticed that he has “a big resemblance” physically with Washington. Finally on screen together, Lee says A$AP Rocky goes “toe-to-toe” with Washington.

Lee emphasized “Don’t sleep on A$AP” and emphasized how good of a scene partner he was for Washington. Check out the full quote from Lee below:

Yeah, don’t sleep on A$AP. In this film, Denzel and A$AP go toe-to-toe. What’s interesting is, even before I got involved with this film, I always thought that A$AP looked like he could be Denzel’s son. There’s a big resemblance. So when you see it on the screen, it adds an element of father and son.

Don’t sleep on A$AP. I’ve done five films with Denzel, and a lot of times when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. He’s one of the greatest living actors today, but A$AP wasn’t having that. Toe-to-toe, I mean, they were going at it.

What This Means For Highest 2 Lowest

These are meaningful words coming from Lee. As he noted, Highest 2 Lowest is the director’s fifth movie with Washington, so he has a lot of respect for him as an actor. For Lee to speak this highly of one of his newest collaborators, and compare him to one of his most frequent ones, is notable.

This is a good sign for the ensemble of Highest 2 Lowest. Even those like A$AP Rocky who are not well known in their acting capacity are delivering their all for this movie, which will elevate the film to become a successful Lee movie.

Source: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon