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Denzel Washington and Spike Lee will reunite for their fifth film together, their first since 2006’s “Inside Man.” Apple Original Films and A24 have teamed up on “High and Low,” which A24 will release in theaters ahead of its global release on AppleTV+ .
The thriller, which will begin production in March, is the English-language reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller of the same name. The 1963 film starring Toshiro Mifune was based on Ed McBain’s novel “King’s Ransom,” which chronicles the ruin of a businessman after paying a ransom to kidnappers.
Developed and produced by A24, Escape Artists and Mandalay Pictures, “High and Low” features a script written by Alan Fox and Spike Lee.
Since Apple is a co-financier of “High and Low,” this project will not be included in a recent multi-year deal that A24 negotiated with competing streaming service Max last year, sources familiar with the film said. The Max deal covers the “pay one” window for A24 releases, which is a term for the typical period when a film first hits cable or streaming after a theatrical and video-on-demand release. pay.
The film will be produced by Todd Black (“Emancipation,” “The Equalizer”) for Escape Artists and Jason Michael Berman (“Air,” “Nine Days”) for Mandalay Pictures. In addition to directing, Lee will serve as executive producer through 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks. Mandalay’s Peter Guber will serve as executive producer, along with Matthew Lindner, Chris Brigham and Katia Washington of Juniper Productions. Mandalay’s Jordan Moldo is co-producing.
Lee and Washington previously collaborated on “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Malcolm X,” “He Got Game” and “Inside Man.” It also marks the latest project for Washington with Todd Black following collaborations on the “Fences,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Equalizer” franchises.
This is Washington’s second collaboration with Apple Original Films following “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” also from A24, which earned Washington his 10th Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Washington is repped by WME; Lee is represented by Gersh and Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks; Fox is represented by Grandview.
Matt Donnelly contributed to this report.