Denzel Washington and Spike Lee are teaming up once again. This time, the pair will join forces with Apple Studios and A24 on a remake of High and Low, the 1963 crime drama helmed by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It won’t be long until the camera starts rolling, as production is reportedly slated to get underway this March.

While details on the remake are still coming together, Kurosawa‘s original film was a police procedural that took place in Yokohama, Japan. High and Low follows an executive at a shoe company who is working on a corporate merger. However, his business plans have to be put aside when his chauffeur’s son is accidentally kidnapped, and the executive must figure out a way to free the kidnapped child while also remaining in control at the shoe company. Washington is believed to be playing the lead role, though no other casting has been announced.

The film will be a congruence of talent behind the camera. Lee is directing from a script he co-wrote with Alan Fox. It will be produced by Todd Black for Escape Artists and Jason Michael Berman for Mandalay Pictures. Lee will also executive produce for his 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks alongside Peter Guber of Mandalay and Juniper Production‘s Matthew Lindner, Chris Brigham, and Katia Washington. A24 is planning to release the film theatrically prior to it streaming on Apple TV+ at a later date. High and Low will mark the fifth time that Washington and Lee will have collaborated. The pair last worked on a project together during Inside Man, a crime thriller starring Washington and Clive Owen. Washington and Lee also came together for the civil rights biopic Malcolm X, in addition to He Got Game and Mo’ Better Blues. This will also be Lee‘s first theatrical project since the war film Da 5 Bloods in 2020.

There Have Been Other Remakes of ‘High and Low’

This will not be the first time that High and Low will be remade, though they have not always seen success. Despite being one of Kurosawa‘s lesser-known films, it was remade for Japanese television in 2007 by director Yasuo Tsuruhashi. The Max miniseries Full Circle from Steven Soderbergh has also been described as being heavily inspired by High and Low, though is not a direct remake.

Other remakes of the film have been attempted, but have had trouble getting off the ground. Miramax Films notably attempted to reboot the film in the early 2000s with Martin Scorsese developing the project for director Mike Nichols, but this never came to fruition despite having a completed script. Director Steven Spielberg was also attached to a remake of High and Low at one point, but no real development on the project was ever made. Perhaps Washington and Lee will have better luck with a pair of modern studios behind them.

There is currently no release date for the remake of High and Low. The film is expected to begin production in March.

via Collider