Denzel Washington & Spike Lee Start Filming A24 Remake of Classic Film

Hollywood heavyweights Denzel Washington and Spike Lee strive for five with their new A24 film. A new social media post confirms the duo’s upcoming High and Low adaptation is entering principal photography.

Per A24’s X (formerly Twitter) account, the production company posted “No. 5 is in production,” as the two luminaries held up five fingers to mark the filming start of High and Low. Principal photography commenced two months after A24 announced the upcoming feature-length project, which they will distribute before the movie transitions to Apple TV+ for its streaming debut.

Denzel Washington as Robert McCall in The Equalizer 3.

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Washington and Lee have collaborated on some notable cinematic gems, with the most critically acclaimed project being 1992’s Malcolm X, which secured Washington his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the eponymous activist. The duo also joined forces for films such as Mo’ Better Blues, He Got Game and Inside Man.

High and Low will be an English reinterpretation of the original 1963 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, which chronicles a Yokohama-based shoe company executive who gets caught up in an extortion scheme after his chauffeur’s son is mistakenly kidnapped and held for ransom. It’s unknown whether the upcoming remake will tell a similar story to the original. Lee is an executive producer on High and Low and co-wrote the screenplay alongside Alan Fox. The movie will also star Grammy-nominated singer Isis “Ice Spice” Gaston in her acting debut.

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A split image of Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli, Equalizer, and Training Day

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Washington is coming off his critically acclaimed performance as vigilante Robert McCall in The Equalizer 3, which became a critical and commercial success, and recently became a Netflix hit. Washington features in Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to the original Academy Award-winning historical thriller, with the actor playing a former slave-turned-wealthy arms dealer with a vendetta against the Roman emperors. Additionally, Washington is reuniting with Training Day and The Equalizer franchise director Antoine Fuqua to make an untitled Netflix movie where he’ll portray the former Carthaginian general, Hannibal.

Meanwhile, Lee’s most recent works include the critically acclaimed BlacKKKlansman in 2018 and 2020’s Da 5 Bloods, with the latter originally due to feature Washington. However, he was forced to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. BlacKKKlansman won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and netted Lee a Best Director Oscar nod.

No release window has been confirmed for High and Low.

Source: A24 via X

High and Low Kurosawa Film Poster

High and Low

An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

DirectorAkira KurosawaRelease DateNovember 26, 1963CastTatsuya Mihashi, Kyko Kagawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro MifuneWritersEijir Hisaita, Hideo Oguni, Evan Hunter, Akira Kurosawa, Ryz KikushimaRatingNot RatedRuntime143 minutesMain GenreDramaGenresDrama, Mystery, Crime