Spike Lee has revealed that A$AP Rocky will take on a “main role” in his upcoming film Highest 2 Lowest. The movie is inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low and is set to hit theaters in summer 2025.
Rocky is the latest cast in the film which also stars Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Ice Spice.
“This is not a remake, this is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s great film,” Lee told Deadline. He emphasized the shift in narrative focus, explaining, “In Kurosawa’s film, Toshiro Mifune is a shoemaker. In our film, Denzel Washington is a music mogul with his own label and his reputation as the best ears in the business.”
The original High and Low follows an executive at a Yokohama shoe company who is extorted after his chauffeur’s son is mistakenly kidnapped and held for ransom. In Lee’s version, the story moves to the high-stakes world of New York’s music industry, with Washington and A$AP Rocky at the center of the action.
Washington stars as the music mogul, while A$AP Rocky plays Yung Felon, a character whose role Lee described as “the main role” in the film.
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Highest 2 Lowest marks the fifth collaboration between Lee and Washington, following Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man. “It’s hard to believe it’s been 18 years since Inside Man,” Lee said. “It seemed like it was yesterday. But we’re back together, and the film is coming out in the summer.”
For A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, this role builds on a budding acting career that began with 2015’s Dope. He has since appeared in Zoolander 2 and other projects, including a short film with Rihanna.
Highest 2 Lowest is set to debut as an Apple Original film in partnership with A24, which plans a theatrical release before streaming on Apple TV+. The screenplay is penned by Alan Fox and Spike Lee, with Lee also serving as executive producer through his 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks banner.
Lee was careful to clarify that the film honors Kurosawa’s legacy while taking a fresh approach. “This is a reinterpretation, not a remake,” he said. The shift from a shoe company executive in Kurosawa’s original to a music mogul in Lee’s version underscores the modern update, bringing the story into the contemporary world of the music business.
With production now in post and a release window of summer 2025, fans of Lee’s work and newcomers alike can look forward to a gripping tale brought to life by an all-star cast.
Originally read on Deadline.