I’m going to hear it from him if I’m not bringing it,” Lee tells Vanity Fair. “I don’t want my brother to get my ass slapped. Can’t do that. There’s a standard we have.”

For Washington, now was the right time to reconnect with Lee for two reasons. "It was a New York script, New York story," Washington told For The Win in a recent interview. "The script came to me before Spike [Lee]. He's a New York guy. I'm a New York guy." The second reason was very simple.

Spike Lee talks about his love for Washington and Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, whose 1963 film High and Low he reimagined.