Spike Lee has Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, a James Brown hit, and A$AP Rocky in the first official trailer for his new joint, Highest 2 Lowest.
A24 and Apple Original Films released the video on Monday, August 4, showing Washington at his finest as music mogul David King.
“There’s more to life than just making money. There’s integrity, there’s what you stand for,” King says as James Brown’s “The Payback” plays in the background.
Then his son (Aubrey Joseph) is kidnapped by a mystery man leaving King “jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma,” according to the official description.
The shadowy kidnapper demands $17.5 million in a black Jordan backpack.
But King says in a recorded phone call, “I ain’t got it!”
The kidnapper tells him to find the money because he has serious bills and he’s not going back to prison.
Related: Ryan Coogler Teases Denzel Washington in ‘Black Panther 3’
Highest 2 Lowest is set in New York City and King’s right hand, played Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), moves around town with a gun he calls his “insurance policy.” A$AP Rocky plays Yung Felon and seemingly has nothing to lose but his freedom. Later King demands, “Where’s my money?”
The cast also includes Ilfenesh Hadera (Godfather of Harlem), Michael Potts (The Wire), Dean Winters (Law & Order: SVU), and John Douglas Thompson (The Gilded Age).
The film is inspired by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low. Kurosawa’s version centered on a shoe company executiveand and extortion plot.
The thriller screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and received positive reviews. It currently has an 89 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes from a total of 39 reviews.
The movie marks the fifth collaboration between Oscar winners Spike Lee and Denzel Washington after Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man.
Evan Hunter wrote the script for the film. Lee directed the English-language remake and executive produced it through his 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks.
A24 is the studio behind best picture Oscar winners Everything Everywhere All at Once and Moonlight.
Highest 2 Lowest arrives in theaters Aug. 15 and begins streaming Sept. 5 on Apple TV+.
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