Believe it or not, it’s been practically 20 years since Spike Lee and Denzel Washington labored collectively. And whereas they’ve solely finished 5 movies – ‘Mo Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, Inside Man, and this month’s Highest 2 Lowest – Spike nonetheless considers himself and Denzel to be a “dynamic duo” regardless of the hole.
Speaking with IndieWire forward of Highest 2 Lowest – a contemporary model of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low – Spike Lee stated of the reunion, “We were both shocked that Inside Man was 18 years ago. So the dynamic duo got back together. Denzel is the world’s greatest living actor. My brother Martin Scorsese wants to say the same thing about [Robert] De Niro. Kurosawa said it about [Toshiro] Mifune. You had these relations where a director and an actor build a catalog of films. And I’m just blessed to be able to do these five films together.”
We all know Spike Lee has loads of ego, however let’s throw some numbers out simply to get an thought of why he and Denzel aren’t on that degree: Scorsese and De Niro have teamed up for 10 options, whereas Kurosawa and Mifune did 16 films. Added to this, Scorsese and De Niro started with 1973’s Mean Streets and most not too long ago did 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon, whereas Kurosawa and Mifune did their collabs in simply 17 years, simply barely beneath one per – earlier than splitting over a number of points between the 2.
That stated, there’s no denying that Spike Lee and Denzel Washington performed a major function in nurturing Black cinema within the ‘90s. Unfortunately for fans of the duo (and I consider myself one), Highest 2 Lowest feels like that may be it for Spike and Denzel. While Denzel has since backtracked his retirement remarks and Spike has said he hopes the actor works him in again, considering the inconsistencies (we’re speaking an eight-year hole between He Got Game and Inside Man after which one other 18 till Highest 2 Lowest), it appears unlikely we’ll get to #6 when all is claimed and finished.
What is your favourite Spike Lee and Denzel Washington film?
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