Spike Lee has an easy answer to who's the greatest actor of all time

Spike Lee is clearly in a good mood when he pops onscreen for our video chat.

The director, who's sporting his signature baseball cap and thick-framed glasses, is flanked in the frame by all the things he loves. The walls behind him are covered with art, murals of his idols, and movie posters, including a signed one of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. When Lee realizes he's talking to a baseball fan, he jumps up from his chair and grabs a wooden bat, which he brings closer to the camera to reveal is signed by Hall of Fame legend Willie Mays.

But there's another reason Lee is grinning from ear to ear.

"The dynamic duo is back!" he exclaims.

It's been almost 20 years since Lee and Denzel Washington's last movie together. (That was 2006's "Inside Man," though the pair is also responsible for classics like "Malcolm X" and "He Got Game.") But if their latest collaboration, "Highest 2 Lowest," is any indication, that time apart hasn't dulled the creative spark they have together.

The film, which is in theaters now and available on Apple TV+ on September 5, is a reimagining of Kurosawa's classic 1963 police procedural drama, "High and Low," which tells the story of a businessman who's stuck in the middle of a botched kidnapping.

A remake of "High and Low" set in New York City had been floating around Hollywood for years. So when Washington got his hands on the script penned by Alan Fox, he knew there was one director who could nail a modern-day version of the story.

"He called me up — I didn't even recognize his phone number," Lee, 68, told Business Insider, recalling when Washington contacted him. "We haven't done anything since 'Inside Man,' which was 18, 19 years ago. He told me he was going to send me the script, and before I even hung up the phone, I knew I was doing it."

Lee has a good track record using Kurosawa as his source material. He used the unreliable narrator structure from Kurosawa's 1950 landmark work, "Rashomon," to tell the story of a woman dating three men at the same time in his 1986 debut feature "She's Gotta Have It."

"Highest 2 Lowest" keeps the main storyline of the Kurosawa original — a wealthy man (Washington) targeted by a ransom plot — but other than that, it truly is a Spike Lee joint, from the classical music and R&B needle drops to a thrilling chase scene set on a subway train en route to a Yankees game.

It's all anchored by Washington's performance as the alternately bombastic and tender music exec David, whose predicament is as immediate as it is existential.

"One of the many things that makes Denzel a genius is he's not just relying on the script or relying on the director, he's bringing his full essence," Lee said. "He brings his full being into every role that he does. And when you have someone like that — that's why I say he's the greatest living actor."

In the latest installment of Business Insider's "Director's Chair" series, Lee discussed the lively improvisations that fueled "Highest 2 Lowest," how the LA Riots inspired him to change the opening of "Malcolm X," and why he's thinking more about his legacy these days.

Business Insider: "Highest 2 Lowest" is based on a Kurosawa movie. How did you go about making this different from "High and Low"?

Spike Lee: This is a jazz musician's interpretation of American standards. The scene with Denzel bringing out the grenade — that was improvised. That was a prop. I didn't even ask my prop guy why there was a fucking grenade on his desk, but it worked. Also, when Denzel goes into his study and the photos of Aretha Franklin and James Brown are on the wall, and goes, "What would you do, Aretha?" "What would you do, James?" Again, improvised. That's the genius.

Now, I don't want to get into any G.O.A.T. conversation because I know if I call up my brother Marty [Scorsese], he's going to say De Niro. If Sidney Lumet were alive, he'd say Pacino. If I called up Francis [Ford Coppola], he'd say Brando. I'm not arguing that. But, for me, it's Denzel. 

Denzel didn't just improv with props — he also worked off the actors across from him. The best scenes in this movie are the ones where he and Jeffrey Wright, who plays Denzel's right-hand man in the movie, are just seemingly riffing.

Oh, yeah. In a lot of ways, the director is the manager, the head coach, the GM. And it's your job to know who could do what. You have to know your personnel. So when you have Denzel on the set: Michael Jordan. He's got the green light to do whatever he wants to do. If Denzel wants to get off-script, I'm not saying a motherfucking thing. 

But I would think Jeffrey, too, got the green light. That great line he gives when he's holding his gun, "This is Jake from State Farm," that's not written. 

Oh, yeah. And then, "This is Mayhem." [Laughs.] And that started because Dean Winters is in the movie.

Are you big on rehearsals with the principals before shooting begins? 

We do a read-through. That's the first thing we do. After that, we have lunch, and then we break it down into scenes and shoot them. 

Have you done that on all your films?

All of them. Here's the thing, and I talked about this with Jim Jarmusch once: You can read a script, but that's not the same as actors saying those words. It's entirely day and night. You might think you wrote some great shit, and then when the actors read it, you're like, "Damn!" When we do the read-through, I have my red marker and just cross shit out. Outta here! 

I love that you said that you do a read-through because a lot of actors I talk to tell me they are usually bouncing from one project to the next, and there's no time for rehearsals or read-throughs. 

If someone is doing an action movie, there might not be a lot of dialogue, so maybe they can pull that off, but you have to take the lead from the director. There are many directors, great directors, who put time in the schedule to do that and make sure they get it right. But it's also making sure you're casting it right. Great actors bring support, the weight. It's not the director alone. 

For you, what is the peak Denzel Washington performance out of the movies you two have done together? 

"Malcolm X." That's the one. 

I know there were so many challenges getting that movie made, but talk for a moment about the importance of putting the Rodney King footage at the start of the movie.

Well, the day we flew out to LA to screen the four-hour cut for the heads of Warner Bros., Terry Semel and Bob Daly, later that day, it turned out, while we were screening the film, the uprising happened.

The riots after the officers who beat King were acquitted.

Yeah. People rose up and had to demonstrate their feelings about those police officers beating Rodney King. I could never forget that day. And to Terry and Bob's credit, they stayed throughout the whole four-hour screening. They could have easily said, "Spike, I'm sorry, the city is in flames, and we gotta get home." So, no matter what our differences were, making that movie, I have to give respect to both of them because they stayed throughout the full four-hour cut. Their secretaries were coming in and out with notes, so I could only imagine what they were being told, but they stayed. I thank them for that. 

Then, going back to the editing process, I said, we have to change the opening. That's where the footage of the beating of Rodney King comes in. We recorded one of Malcolm's speeches, and we brought Denzel in, and he recorded the speech, and we put that over the savage beating of Rodney King and then used the score from the great Terence Blanchard. That's the story. 

You have been such a supporter of Ryan Coogler's work. He invited you to see "Sinners" before it was released. He made news when it was revealed that he'll own the movie in 25 years. Have the rights to any of your movies reverted back to you?

I own "She's Gotta Have It," that's the only one. I commend Ryan and Zinzi, his wife, for pulling that power move. It's great. I didn't know anything about that until I read the story about it. I think it was the smart move. I know that the companies that passed on it, they wished they hadn't. You have to give a shout-out to Pam [Abdy] and Michael [De Luca], the co-chairs of Warner Bros. They bet on Black. 

"Highest 2 Lowest" is very much about legacy. Do you think about legacy more lately?

I do think about it more now than in the past, but I don't count the clock, look at the calendar; I just keep it going. When a film comes out and I'm done doing the press, it's gone. I'm on to the next one. But I was told recently, "She's Gotta Have It" will be 40 years old next year. I said, "Goddamn!"

Your movie reimagines a Kurosawa classic. Do you hope one day someone will remake one of your works?

You know what? "School Daze" came out in 1988. People still come up to me to this day and ask me when that is going to be put up on Broadway. Since 1988 they have been saying that, so hopefully that will happen one day. But no way in the world is "Do the Right Thing" going to be a remake. Can't do that!

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

"Highest 2 Lowest" is in theaters now and streams on Apple TV+ starting September 5.