Sometimes, the best way to understand somebody is to see them in their true element. When they’re doing what they do best, and they are fully embedded in their own world, you can see them shine and grasp what they are truly about. It can be enlightening in a special way no matter how long you’ve known that person – and it’s this kind of experience that Jeffrey Wright had in the making of the drama Highest 2 Lowest with Spike Lee.
With the exception of a voiceover role for an episode of the Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, Wright never had the chance to work with Lee prior to the production of new 2025 movie, but as I learned during the virtual press day for Highest 2 Lowest earlier this month, they didn’t go to the collaboration as total strangers. Discussing what it was like to get to know the writer/director in the making of the feature, the Academy Award-nominated actor told me that he lives in Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn (where Lee grew up and where his film production company is headquartered), and he has known the filmmaker personally, but his understanding of the man changed as they worked together. Said Wright,
I've known Spike for a long time, and we kind of danced around working together previously on some things. But I've gotten to know him as person. I live in the neighborhood that he grew up in, where 40 Acres & A Mule [Filmworks] is headquartered. And we've gotten to know each other on a personal level. But I didn't truly know him until I worked with him, because what I discovered is he is exactly who he is, There's an authenticity about him that I only fully appreciated in seeing him work and seeing his love for what he does, his love for the city.
Highest 2 Lowest is in many ways a great total reflection of Spike Lee’s style as a filmmaker – the work featuring high stakes drama, a terrific soundtrack, and a reflection of New York’s unique energy. A reimagining of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa film High And Low, the movie is a thriller that finds a music mogul (Denzel Washington) stuck in a moral quandary: after initially believing that his son has been kidnapped, he learns that the teenager who has been taken is actually the son of his driver and closest confidant (Jeffrey Wright). With the future of his company potentially at stake and the well-being and lifestyle of his family at risk, a hard decision is demanded of him as he has to decide whether or not to pay the ransom.
Playing a desperate father who is wholly reliant on his friend and employer to save the life of his son, Jeffrey Wright delivers a tremendous performance, and it’s clear that he and Spike Lee worked tremendously well together. And while the latter has garnered an amazing reputation in the film industry since the mid-1980s, the former walked away from the experience making Highest 2 Lowest even more impressed with the man than he had been. Wright continued,
It gave me an appreciation for the genuine character that he is. That exceeded my expectations, really.
Co-starring ASAP Rocky, Ilfenesh Hadera, Dean Winters, Wendell Pierce and Ice Spice, Highest 2 Lowest is now in theaters, and if you have an AppleTV+ subscription, you’ll be able to stream it when it lands on the service in less than two weeks on September 5.
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