Denzel Washington on 'Sparring' with A$AP Rocky & Advice He'd Give Younger Self (Exclusive)

Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright chatted with “Extra” about their new Spike Lee neo-noir crime thriller “Highest 2 Lowest.” 

Denzel plays a music mogul who is targeted in a ransom plot and forced to fight for his family and legacy. 

He talked working with Spike again, saying, “I don't want to say, ‘Just like old times,’ but you know, you're back in the saddle.”

“Highest 2 Lowest,” based on the 1963 classic by Akira Kurosawa, marks Washington’s fifth Spike Lee joint, after “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Malcolm X,” “He Got Game,” and “Inside Man.”

Why does it work? “He leaves me alone,” Washington admits. “I don't know what he's doing. And he put together a great team of actors… Wendell [Pierce] and Jeffrey and Michael Potts and myself, and then the young buck A$AP, and just let it rip.”

Jeffrey dished on the joy of working with Denzel, saying, “What I appreciate about the way that he works is he gives you so much to play off of, you know, very generous in that way. And it's really just about it's about telling the story.”

He called Denzel and Spike “one of the great duos in American cinema,” adding, “It was a great joy and a privilege for me to get in there and mix it up a bit.”

Jeffrey’s son Elijah is in the movie, and Denzel raved that he “has the gift.” Wright agreed, calling Elijah “organic” and “grounded.”

He insisted, “I got little tricks that I keep in my pockets. He can't play those tricks because he has no tricks.”

Denzel and Jeffrey also praised A$AP Rocky’s performance, noting their chemistry.

Jeffrey said, “He's great. He's lyrical. But these guys together, that's where the boxing was.”

Denzel added, “That’s where the sparring was. He was throwing, too. He was throwing them back. 

As for any advice Denzel would give his younger self, he shared, “Pray more. That's it. Pray more. That's what I would tell that younger Denzel Washington. Pray more. Get on your knees more.”