PAYING the brice

DENZEL WASHINGTON and SPIKE LEE on teaming up again for a ransom thriller with a twist

- ELAINE REILLY

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

NEW FROM FRIDAY 5 SEPTEMBER, APPLE TV+ THRILLER

What would you do if a kidnapper demanded you pay a ransom for another person's child that would ruin you financially? This is the striking moral dilemma at the heart of Highest 2 Lowest, the fifth film collaboration between two-time Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington (Glory, Training Day) and Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman).

Denzel stars as New York music mogul David King, who is on the verge of risking his entire fortune to save his iconic yet failing label, Stackin' Hits Records, when he receives a chilling call telling him his teenage son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph), has been kidnapped.

Initially, David and his wife, Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera) are prepared to get the money together for the $17.5 million ransom, until it's revealed the kidnapper has snatched the wrong child - the son of David's trusted chauffeur Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright), Kyle (played by Jeffrey's real-life son, Elijah) has been taken instead. But if David pays for the release of his friend's child, it'll cost him everything he's worked for his entire life.

Here, Denzel, 70, and Spike, 68, tell us about working together on the movie, which is a reimagining of director Akira Kurosawa's 1960s Japanese crime thriller High and Low...