The new films from a few big-name directors were nowhere to be found on the list of official selections for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival today. And that caused one auteur in particular to take to social media to confirm his next project will indeed be on the Croisette in May, albeit out of competition.
Deadline reports that Spike Lee used Instagram this morning to address that “Highest 2 Lowest” will indeed premiere at Cannes next month, despite not being part of Thierry Frémaux‘s announcement. Here’s Lee’s post text in its entirety: “Bon Jour. Good Morning. Whaddup❓Da New SPIKE LEE JOINT-HIGHEST 2 LOWEST Starring My Brother DENZEL WASHINGTON Has Been Invited To Da 2025 CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (In The Out Of Competition Category). AND DAT’S DA BOTTLES OF 🍾 🥂TRUTH,RUTH. YA-DIG❓SHO-NUFF.”
A remake (or “reinterpretation,” as Lee put it last year) of Akira Kurosawa‘s classic crime film “High And Low,” “Highest 2 Lowest” stars Denzel Washington, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Jeffrey Wright in a tale about extortion, kidnapping, and corporate greed. The film also stars Ice Spice, A$AP Rocky, Dean Winters, and John Douglas Thompson. It’s Lee and Washington’s fifth “joint” together, and the first since “Inside Man,” another crime thriller, in 2006.
“Highest 2 Lowest” is a co-production between Apple Original Films and A24, with A24 releasing the film theatrically before it streams exclusively on Apple TV+. It’s not the only film A24 has at Cannes this year. Ari Aster‘s “Eddington” will also bow on the Croisette next month, his first film to debut at Cannes. However, both “Highest 2 Lowest” and “Eddington” still lack official theatrical release dates, and they probably won’t have them until after their Cannes premieres.
While Frémaux’s announcement today had the latest titles from auteurs like Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Jochim Trier, and 2021 Palme d’Or winner Julie Ducournau listed, Lee’s name was conspicuously absent. So were Park Chan-wook and Lynne Ramsay, but it’s not too late for their new films, “No Other Choice” and “Die, My Love,” to end up as late additions to the list of titles in competition.
Cannes 2025 runs from May 13-24 this year.
Update: Variety reports that Frémaux has confirmed Lee’s social media post about “Highest 2 Lowest” premiering at Cannes 2025. The reason Lee’s film wasn’t part of the official selection announcement was “because of some last-minute information we were waiting for” and Frémaux “wanted to be cautious.” However, the festival director said he was happy to confirm “the presence of Denzel Washington” on the Croisette next month; it’s Washington’s first time ever at Cannes, believe it or not.
Also of note: Frémaux’s informal synopsis of “Highest 2 Lowest” confirms the film adheres close to Kurosawa’s classic. “It’s the story of a man at the height of his fortune: fate places him before a crucial choice that could call everything into question,” said Frémaux. “Tokyo has become New York, the 1960s the present day, and Denzel Washington takes on the role of Toshirō Mifune in his own way. It is also a great film about family.”
