Denzel Washington to reunite with Spike Lee on A24 thriller 'High and Low'

NEW YORK — Nearly 20 years after their last collaboration, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington are reuniting for an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's "High and Low."

Apple Original Films announced Thursday that it is co-financing the film, which A24 will release theatrically before it streams on Apple TV+. It marks Lee and Washington's first film together since 2006's "Inside Man." Their previous films include "Mo' Better Blues," "Malcolm X" and "He Got Game."

Kurosawa's "High and Low," released in 1963 and starring Toshiro Mifune, was adapted from the Ed McBain novel "King's Ransom." The film, a potent thriller rich in class commentary, follows a wealthy industrialist targeted by kidnappers.

Filming starts in March.

Washington's performance as civil rights activist Malcolm X in Lee's "Malcolm X," a 1992 biographical drama, earned the actor an Academy Award nomination for best actor in a leading role in 1993.

The pair's most recent film, the 2006 crime drama "Inside Man," starred Washington alongside Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and Willem Dafoe. The film grossed $186 million at the global box office and earned Lee an NAACP Image Award for outstanding directing in a comedy/drama feature film or television movie.

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Contributing: Edward Segarra, USA TODAY