Spike Lee believes he’s reached the end of the road with longtime collaborator Denzel Washington.
The Do the Right Thing filmmaker told journalists at the Cannes Film Festival that after making five films with the legendary Equalizer star, the duo probably won’t work together again after their newest movie hits theaters.
“It’s been a blessing to just have this body of work of us doing films that people love,” Lee said at a Cannes press conference promoting his latest film with Washington, Highest 2 Lowest. “I don’t know if we’re going to do any [more] — I think this is it: five.”
Lee and Washington first teamed up for 1990’s jazz dramedy Mo’ Better Blues. They followed that collaboration with 1992’s civil rights biopic Malcolm X, for which Washington received an Oscar nomination. In 1998, Lee directed Washington in the basketball drama He Got Game, and in 2006, they worked together once more on the heist-hostage thriller Inside Man. Their fifth film, Highest 2 Lowest, is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa‘s classic 1963 crime procedural High and Low.
The BlacKkKlansman filmmaker said that he expects his creative partnership with Washington to end due to the actor’s repeated claims that he’s nearing retirement.
“He’s been talking about retirement — even though he just did another deal,” Lee said. “I thought he’s going to retire! What’s up? But the five films together, you know, they stand up.”
While promoting Gladiator II last year, Washington said that he plans to retire after a few upcoming projects. Those future films include a historical drama about Carthaginian general Hannibal that will reunite him with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, an unknown collaboration with 12 Years a Slave filmmaker Steve McQueen, a film adaptation of his Broadway Othello production, a King Lear movie, and Black Panther 3.
“After that, I’m gonna retire,” the actor said on Australia’s Today show.
Everett Collection
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee in ‘Malcolm X’ (1992)
Washington later qualified that statement, suggesting that he might not fully retire, but instead substantially decrease his film output and focus exclusively on working with top-tier filmmakers.
“I didn’t say I was going to go into retirement. I said that it has to be a level of interest for me,” Washington told BuzzFeed. “I’m not retiring. It’s not like on June 5, that’s it. But to think I’m going to run as far as [Gladiator II costars Paul Mescal and Fred Hechinger] are, I’d be a fool.”
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Washington’s involvement in a potential third Black Panther film was unknown until he listed it among his upcoming projects. The actor said that he contacted the franchise’s director, Ryan Coogler, to apologize for letting the cat out of the bag.
“I called him. I said, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ He’s like, ‘No, man, it’s all good,'” he recalled of his interaction with the Sinners filmmaker in an episode of the Variety Awards Circuit podcast. “I don’t know what he’s got cooking for me.”
Black Panther 3 producer Nate Moore discussed Washington’s potential involvement in the film in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“When we saw that story, I know Ryan was like, ‘Well, what is he saying?'” the producer said of Washington spilling the beans. “We should be so lucky to have Denzel in the MCU. But until we figure out what that movie is, again, nothing is guaranteed. But if you’re asking me, would I love to have Denzel in Black Panther 3? Obviously, that guy, he is a legend.”
Highest 2 Lowest hits theaters August 22 before releasing on Apple TV+ September 5.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
