When it comes to acting, Spike Lee claims that A$AP Rocky was not intimidated by the prowess of Denzel Washington.

During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Lee lauded Rocky’s performance in his latest film, Highest 2 Lowest.

“Yeah, don’t sleep on A$AP,” Lee said. “In this film, Denzel and A$AP go toe to toe.”

“What’s interesting is, even before I got involved with this film, I always thought that A$AP looked like he could be Denzel’s son. There’s a big resemblance. So when you see it on the screen, it adds an element of father and son. Don’t sleep on A$AP. Don’t sleep on A$AP,” he added.

Lee also said that Rocky was not overwhelmed by Washington’s aura like he had seen with other actors.

“I’ve done five films with Denzel, and when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. He’s one of the world’s greatest living actors. But A$AP wasn’t having that,” Lee explained. “Toe to toe. I mean, they were going at it.” 

Slated for release in theaters on August 15, Highest 2 Lowest, and then on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5, the film is Lee’s movie is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 Japanese kidnapping drama High and Low, which is loosely based on the 1959 novel King’s Ransom by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter). Along with Washington and Rocky,  Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Ice Spice, Dean Winters, John Douglas Thompson, LaChanze, Aubrey Joseph, Michael Potts, Wendell Pierce, and Elijah Wright star in the film.