Denzel Washington and Spike Lee are reuniting once again, this time to bring an Akira Kurosawa film to a new audience.
Variety reports that Washington and Lee are working on Apple and A24’s High and Low, the fifth film they’ve made together, and their first since 2006’s Inside Man.
The film is described as a “reinterpretation” of Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller of the same name starring Toshiro Mifume. Both films are based on the novel King’s Ransom by Ed McBain, which follows a businessman’s life becoming a shell of its former self after kidnappers demand a ransom payment.
The script is by Lee and Alan Fox and developed and produced by A24, Escape Artists and Mandalay Pictures. The film will have a theatrical release via A24 before coming to Apple TV+.
Producers include Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Mandalay Pictures’ Michael Berman. Lee will executive produce via his company 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks with Mandalay Pictures’ Peter Gruber. Matthew Lindner, Chris Brigham and Katia Washington also executive produce for Juniper Productions with Mandalay Pictures’ Jordan Moldo as co-producer.
Washington is also set to star in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming film about Carthaginian general Hannibal. No word yet on when production will start on this film, but it’s already built a high level of excitement among film fans, especially those who love learning the untold or undercover stories of Black notables throughout history.