Spike Lee is calling out a bad call from the Academy more than 30 years later: The auteur, along with most cinephiles, is convinced that Denzel Washington was snubbed for the Best Actor Oscar for “Malcolm X.” Al Pacino instead won over Washington for “Scent of a Woman.”
During the Cannes press conference for Lee’s latest (and allegedly final) collaboration with Washington, “Highest 2 Lowest,” the director compared the Academy’s decision to a poor referee call in basketball, something that Lee also knows all too well about given his status as the patron saint of the Knicks.
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“‘Malcolm X,’ what he did with that film was amazing,” Lee said of Washington, as reported by Variety. “And no disrespect to my brother Al Pacino, I love him. But Denzel, in my opinion, should have won.”
Lee continued, “With these awards, it’s like basketball, where the ref blows a call and you have to make a call. So the call I think was ‘Training Day,’ which he won an Oscar for. But we don’t do our work for awards, which are nice, but it’s the work that is going to stand above all awards.”
It was a decade later, exactly, that Washington won Best Actor for Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day.” And “Highest 2 Lowest” could propel Washington back into the awards circuit: IndieWire’s David Ehrlich deemed Washington’s performance “his most towering since ‘Training Day’” in the review.
As for the legacy of “Malcolm X,” Lee paid tribute to the late civil rights activist, who would have been 100 during the festival. Washington also received a surprise Honorary Palme d’Or during the May 19 premiere of “Highest 2 Lowest,” with Cannes festival heads Thierry Frémaux and Iris Knobloch presenting the award onstage ahead of the screening. Washington had to sit out the press conference for the film, though, as the star had to immediately return to New York to resume leading the Broadway show “Othello.”
When asked if he and Washington plan to collaborate more after their five films together, Lee said, “I think this is it. He’s been talking about retirement, so…Even though he just did another deal [for “Here Comes the Flood”].” (To note, Washington has also already confirmed his role in Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther 3”.)
Lee added, “I thought you said you were retired Denzel, what’s up?! But those five films together, those stand up.”
Lee reunited with longtime collaborator Washington for his English-language reimagining of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film “High and Low.” The duo previously collaborated on “Inside Man,” “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Malcolm X,” and “He Got Game.” “Highest 2 Lowest” will be released August 22 from A24 followed by an Apple TV+ streaming premiere via Apple Original Films in September.
Yet don’t count Washington out of another Lee joint entirely: The actor did say earlier this year that he would work with him again. “Spike is consistently Spike, and I love that about him,” Washington said. “And I love working with him, and I’d work with him again. I just like the way his brain works.”
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