*Netflix is digging deep to land Denzel Washington, reportedly cutting a $35 million all-in check for the newly announced crime thriller “Here Comes the Flood.” Puck’s Matt Belloni says the sum equals the fee Apple and A24 ponied up for Washington’s next collaboration with Spike Lee, “Highest 2 Lowest.”
The Netflix project reunites Washington with director Shane Salerno, and will pair him on-screen with Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones in a heist tale still under wraps. According to World of Reel, insiders tell Belloni the deal covers salary plus any backend Netflix would normally owe, making $35 million Washington’s going rate in the streaming wars.
Meanwhile, Lee has begun rolling out “Highest 2 Lowest,” billed as a modern re-imagining (not a remake) of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic “High and Low.” The teaser trailer shows Washington as a revered New York music mogul whose world is upended when he becomes entangled in a high-stakes ransom scheme.
“This is not a remake, this is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s great film,” Lee told Deadline. “In Kurosawa’s film, Toshiro Mifune is a shoemaker. In our film, Denzel Washington is a music mogul with his own label and his reputation as the best ear in the business. So, this is the fifth film with the dynamic duo.”
The thriller also features Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, and Ice Spice, and is the fifth film pairing of what Lee calls “the dynamic Duo of D and Lee.”
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“We are brothers,” the director told THR about his professional relationship with Washington. “Why would I work with Denzel only once? … You want to surround yourself with great artists.”
“Highest 2 Lowest” will open in U.S. theaters August 22 and stream on Apple TV+ beginning September 5.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Spike Lee Unveils Teaser for ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Starring Denzel Washington
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