Denzel Washington has heaped praise on Spike Lee, the director of Highest 2 Lowest.
Denzel Washington thinks Spike Lee is the perfect person to tell a “New York story”.
The 70-year-old actor reunited with Spike, 68, to make Highest 2 Lowest, the new crime thriller film, and Denzel has revealed that he relished the experience of working with Spike once again.
The Hollywood icon – who previously worked with Spike on Malcolm X and Inside Man – told Collider: “I knew we had great success together – our last time out on Inside Man, and it was just my gut … I don’t know how, I don’t know whose idea it was to begin with but it was a bright idea. And it was a New York story and there’s nobody I trust more to tell a New York story than Spike Lee.”
Denzel stars in the new movie alongside the likes of Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, ASAP Rocky, and Ice Spice.
The veteran actor previously worked with Jeffrey on The Manchurian Candidate, the political thriller that premiered in 2004, and he enjoyed reuniting with his showbiz pal.
Asked why it took them so long to work together again, Denzel replied: “Life. Life gets in the way. You know, busy, paying bills…”
Denzel also suggested that Spike’s eye for acting talent has been key to his own success.
He shared: “First thing I learned when I got behind the camera, was get the best actors and let them do what they do.
“Spike understands that … well, I guess in this case, he’s surrounded me – because I brought the script to him – with the best actors. You know, he went and got Jeffrey Wright, he went and got Wendell Pierce…”
Meanwhile, A$AP Rocky previously confessed that he fulfilled a “dream” by working with Denzel.
The 36-year-old rap star admitted to relishing the experience of working with the Hollywood icon, confessing that he’s “always gonna be a student and a fan of certain people”.
Speaking to Variety, Rocky shared: “It was like a f****** dream come true. But trust me, it was difficult to not fan the f*** out every millisecond of the f****** duration.
“It was crazy – it’s f****** Denzel, man. I don’t give a f*** how successful [I am]: I’m always gonna be a student and a fan of certain people, and I’m always going to give them their flowers. I’m never going to be too big to be able to say that I had to hold my composure from not fanning out.
“The first movies I really loved were Juice, Malcolm X and Michael Jackson: Moonwalker. The first time I saw him, I was watching Malcolm X.”
Spike Lee ‘is the perfect person to direct a New York story’
