Spike Lee Drops Highest 2 Lowest Trailer Before A24 Can

As A$AP Rocky prepares for his night as co-chair of the 2025 Met Gala, he’ll have to spare a moment to celebrate the release of the first teaser for his upcoming movie. Rocky stars alongside Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s “new joint,” Highest 2 Lowest. The director dropped it himself on Instagram on May 5 at 11:00 a.m. ET, just two hours after A24 tweeted that the teaser would debut on May 6. Animated shots of an electric-blue Brooklyn Bridge roll as Washington intones, “Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe you’ll be successful?” This is Washington and Lee’s first collaboration since 2006’s Inside Man and their fifth overall.

The film is loosely based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime film High and Low, which was, in turn, adapted from Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom. Despite the focus on Washington in the teaser, Lee previously told Deadline in 2024 that Rocky has “the main role” in the film. They’re joined by Jeffrey Wright, frequent Lee collaborator Ilfenesh Hadera (Old Boy, Chi-Raq), and Ice Spice in her film debut. Highest 2 Lowest will release this summer after premiering out of competition at Cannes Film Festival. Will this end Washington’s EGOT nomination drought after he was snubbed by the Oscars for Gladiator II and the Tonys for Othello? Only time will tell.

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