Spike Lee’s Denzel Washington Pic ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Scores Six-Minute Ovation At Cannes Premiere
By Anthony D’Alessandro, Baz Bamigboye, Nancy Tartaglione
May 19, 2025
Spike Lee returned to the Cannes Film Festival Official Selection tonight with his latest feature, Highest 2 Lowest, which is running in the Out of Competition strand. Starring Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky and Ilfenesh Hadera, the Akira Kurosawa-inspired crime thriller garnered a six-minute ovation at its world premiere.
Highest 2 Lowest is a modern reinterpretation of Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low, which was itself based on the novel King’s Ransom by Ed McBain. While the original follows a shoe company exec who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom, the new film, set in contemporary New York City, sees a music mogul played by Washington contend with a similar plot.
From Apple and A24, the film reunites Lee and Washington for the first time since Inside Man back in 2006. The duo has also previously worked together on Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X and He Got Game. Ahead of the Highest 2 Lowest premiere, Washington received a surprise honorary Palme d’Or.
This is Lee’s sixth time in the Cannes Official Selection and marks 36 years to the day since his first appearance — for 1989’s Do the Right Thing. His other titles are Jungle Fever (1991), Girl 6 (1996), Ten Minutes Older (2002) and BlacKkKlansman (2018).
Highest 2 Lowest’s berth in Cannes was unveiled by Lee on the same day the Official Selection was announced but did not include his film.
At the time, the fest explained, “The film was not announced this morning due to one final piece of information we were awaiting — the confirmation of Denzel Washington’s presence at Cannes.”
Washington was indeed in the house this evening — and he got a big surprise from the festival: an honorary Palme d’Or. “It’s a kind of way for us to tell you our adoration, what you have done in cinema,” festival chief Thierry Frémaux said in announced the prize.
Slated to hit select theaters August 22 before arriving on Apple TV+ on September 5, Highest 2 Lowest is written by Alan Fox and Lee. Todd Black produced for Escape Artists, alongside Jason Michael Berman for Mandalay Pictures. Exec producers included Lee for 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, and Mandalay’s Peter Guber, as well as Juniper Productions’ Matthew Lindner, Chris Brigham, and Katia Washington. Mandalay’s Jordan Moldo served as co-producer.
Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.