Spike Lee has complete confidence in A$AP Rocky’s performance, opposite Denzel Washington’s in “Highest 2 Lowest.”
Spike Lee isn’t sweating A$AP Rocky going head-to-head with Denzel Washington in their upcoming crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest because, as he put it, “Rocky, he didn’t give a f###.”
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lee was asked how he felt about casting a relatively inexperienced actor like A$AP Rocky opposite a heavyweight like Washington.
Lee didn’t hesitate to explain the challenge and why he thinks Rocky is more than ready.
“Denzel is so powerful that you could get blown out,” Lee said. “If there are confrontational scenes and one actor blows somebody off the screen, it’s like watching a sports event where one team just kills another, they get beat by 50 points. Even if that’s your team, you want to see some competitiveness.”
Lee compared the dynamic to a boxing match, recalling past pairings that held their own against Washington.
Spike Lee Says A$AP Rocky Can Go “Toe To Toe” With Denzel Washington
“I’ve been fortunate in who I’ve cast,” he explained. “Clive Owen [who plays opposite Washington in Inside Man], he said to me, ‘Spike, I’ve got a big dick, too.’ Wesley Snipes in Mo’ Better Blues, there were physical altercations. It makes better cinema. It’s drama. It’s a boxing match. Toe to toe.”
As for Rocky, Lee made it clear he’s not just a rapper dabbling in film. “A$AP Rocky, he ain’t just a rapper, he’s an actor,” Lee stated. “I first knew of him as an actor. He worked in a film [2018’s Monster] my wife produced with John David Washington, Denzel’s son. Some actors, they freeze up when they’ve got to go against the greatest of the great. But Rocky, he’s from Harlem.”
Highest 2 Lowest is a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Low, updated with a gritty New York City backdrop and a Hip-Hop-infused edge.
Washington plays a music mogul with an extraordinary ear for sound who finds himself caught in a high-stakes kidnapping plot. Rocky portrays Yung Felon, a rapper entangled in the drama.
A teaser trailer dropped earlier this week, offering a glimpse of Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky in action.
Related
