Spike Lee is telling movie lovers not to underestimate A$AP Rocky’s acting chops, revealing that he goes head-to-head with Denzel Washington in the upcoming Akira Kurosawa-inspired film Highest 2 Lowest.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show on Thursday, Lee praised Rocky’s performance as aspiring artist Yung Felony. The director’s latest project also stars Jeffrey Wright and Ice Spice.
“Yeah, don’t sleep on ASAP,” Spike Lee told Jimmy Fallon. “In this film, Denzel and ASAP go toe to toe. What’s interesting is, even before I got involved with this film, I always thought that ASAP looked like he could be Denzel’s son. There’s a big resemblance. So when you see it on the screen, it adds an element of father and son. Don’t sleep on ASAP.”
Lee, who has worked with Denzel Washington on five films including Malcolm X and Inside Man, noted that many actors tend to get intimidated when sharing scenes with the Oscar-winning legend. But A$AP Rocky, whose previous credits include Dope and Monster, was not one of them.
“I’ve done five films with Denzel and a lot of times when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed because he’s one of the world’s greatest living actors today,” Spike Lee said Thursday. “But ASAP wasn’t having that. Toe to toe. I mean, they were going at it.”
Highest 2 Lowest hits theaters on Aug. 15, followed by its Apple TV+ release on Sept. 5. Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.
