Update: Jeffrey Wright and Ilfenesh Hadera have joined the cast of Spike Lee’s next film, reportedly titled Highest 2 Lowest.
Following Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington are planning a reunion. With the director being on the longest break between narrative features since his debut in 1986, having last helmed 2020’s Da 5 Bloods, it’s now been unveiled he will direct a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low.
Variety reports that Washington will lead the project, scripted by Alan Fox and Spike Lee, and backed by Apple Original Films and A24. Based on Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom, the original film starred Toshiro Mifune as a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a ruthless kidnapper.
High and Low will also mark Lee’s second high-profile remake after his 2013 feature Oldboy. With production beginning this spring, a theatrical release has also been confirmed––which we imagine will take place in 2025––followed by an Apple TV+ global bow.
Watch the trailer for the original below and if you have yet to see one of the most riveting films of all time, it’s now streaming on Criterion Channel.