Spike Lee and Denzel Washington helped make Cannes mo’ better Monday night with the gala premiere of Highest 2 Lowest.
Washington, currently playing Othello in a 15-week run on Broadway, flew to France for the evening premiere, his first collaboration with Lee since 2006’s Inside Man. It was a short visit. Washington will be back on stage in New York on Tuesday. He was joined on the Cannes red carpet by Highest 2 Lowest co-stars Ilfenesh Hadera, Wendell Pierce, Jeffrey Wright, Aubrey Joseph and rapper A$AP Rocky.
The premiere also brought out A-listers not associated with the film, with Jason Momoa, Luke Wilson, Dakota Johnson, Ed Norton, Isabelle Huppert and Mathieu Kassovitz spotted on the red carpet, as well as Wes Anderson, less than 24 hours after he walked the famous Cannes steps for The Phoenician Scheme. Even the former French first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, made an appearance. Additionally, Rocky’s partner Rihanna attended, heavily pregnant in a blue dress.
The always snazzy Lee was outfitted in a bright orange and blue stripped zoot suit with matching hat and glasses.
Instead of posing for selfies, Washington went down the line of fans camped out across from the red carpet, shaking every hand he could find.
Prior to the screening, Washington was surprised with an honorary Palme d’Or, a career achievement acknowledgement that had been presented only 21 previous times.
After the screening, the film received warm applause, with whoops and cheers for Lee, Rocky and the rest of the cast. Not for Washington, though, who had to leave early to catch his flight back to the U.S. Thanking the crowd, Lee recalled his history with Cannes, bringing his first film, She’s Gotta Have It and his masterpiece Do The Right Thing to the Croisette. “And it is Malcolm X’s 100th birthday today, so give it up for Malcolm!,” Lee concluded, before a final shout-out for his true love: “Go Knicks!”
Highest 2 Lowest is a “reinterpretation,” per Lee’s own words, of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 police procedural High and Low. Washington plays a music mogul who becomes the target of a ransom demand that forces him into a moral dilemma, forced to choose between life and death.
The Apple Original feature is screening out of competition in Cannes. A24 will release Highest 2 Lowest theatrically in the U.S. on Aug. 22.
The momentum for Highest 2 Lowest had been building since Sunday, when Lee and his team took over Hyde Beach by Campari for an early evening fête co-hosted by The Hollywood Reporter and Threads. THR’s Cannes issue, featuring Lee on the cover in striking yellow-and-black spectacles, was omnipresent at the event, alongside Campari cocktails and a guest list that included Guillaume Thevenin, Diamant Blazi, Paola Locatelli, Mateo Sinet, SCAD Savannah Film Festival artistic director Christina Routhier, power publicist Steven Wilson, UCLA professor Teri Schwartz, indie titans John and Janet Pierson, THR India chief Anupama Chopra, producer Diana Alvarez and Netflix’s Albert Tello and other boldfaced names.
