Denzel Washington knows all money ain't good money – but he made it all the same
The tag line for Spike Lee's latest film 'Highest 2 Lowest,' in whichWashington stars as a music mogul caught in a ransom plot on the eve of abig business deal, had the two-time Oscar winner reflecting on past moneyjobs in an interview with CNN.
'My mother used to say, 'Do what you gotta do, so that you can do what youwant to do' – it's not the other way around,' he recalled.
'When we had four children, I was doing stuff I had to do. You go back andlook in the mid-'90s – I won't mention any movies, I'll just say the mid-'90s,around there.'
'A couple (of movies) for the kids?' chimed in Jeffrey Wright, Washington'sco-star.
'More than a couple for the kids – and the wife, and the house, and thebank, and everybody else,' Washington replied.
A quick sweep of his credits around then and you'll find a few duds, sure,but there's also 'Crimson Tide,' 'Philadelphia' and 'The Pelican Brief' (surely he doesn't mean these). And at either end of the '90s, two Spike Lee collaborations, 'He Got Game' (1998) and their masterpiece, 'Malcolm X' (1992). Washington's career has been nothing if not consistently packed with gems. As for his kids, the money jobs paid dividends: John David and Olivia are successful actors, Malcolm a film director, and Katia is a producer.
'Highest 2 Lowest' is Lee and Washington's fifth film together. The actorbrought the script, a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa classic 'High To Low'(1963) – itself based on 1959 novel 'King's Ransom' by Evan Hunter – to the director, for what would be their first collaboration since 2006's 'InsideMan.'
Transposing the story of a Japanese shoe executive to the New York musicbusiness, many of the key elements remain. Washington's record exec DavidKing believes his son has been kidnapped, only to learn the kidnapper(A$AP Rocky) has mistakenly taken the son of his chauffer Paul (JeffreyWright). Should King still pay the ransom, even if it drains his bankaccounts, scuppering plans for him to buy back control of his company?What was a clear-cut decision when he thought it was his own flesh andblood is muddied when it's someone else's child.
Interestingly, there's more than a little of Spike Lee in David. Both arecultural titans at a stage in their careers when they're weighing their legacywith an unquenchable thirst to create. Both are balancing art andcommerce, and the event horizon of tech pulling their industries in newdirections. Both happen to have exquisite personal art collections – in fact,the production made copies of paintings by Jean-Paul Basquiat, TimOkamura and Kehinde Wiley, among others, which really do belong to Lee.
But whereas Lee has embraced his industry's newest players – 'Da 5Bloods' was distributed by Netflix in 2020, and 'Highest 2 Lowest' willdebut on Apple TV+ after A24 distributes theatrically – King is a leerier oftech disruption. He rails at soulless AI-generated music, new artists tryingto gain a following on social media, and his son's Instagram addiction.
'I think we'd all be better off without those addictives in our lives,' offeredWright. 'We were promised harmony; that technology was going to make uswiser, more democratic, more peaceful. That has not been the case. In fact,it's been the opposite. I think it's something we should give some thoughtto: Where are we going with all this?'
Does Washington share any of the same concerns as his character? In aword: no.
'They don't affect me to the degree that they affect the character, because Idon't rely on those things for my happiness or my peace,' he reflected. 'Idon't make money off those kinds of things.'
'I don't need to be known, you know? I like being quiet,' he added.
The acting legend, who was baptized and became a minister at the end of 2024, has entered his zen era, content to reel off aphorisms about fame and filmmaking; taking shots while walking backwards into his own mystique.
'If they see you for free all week, they won't pay for you at the weekend,'he said. It's the same warning he reportedly gave to Michael B. Jordanabout the danger of movie star over-exposure.
So no, don't go looking for him on Instagram, or anywhere else but the big(or small) screen.
'All those so-called Instagram accounts, if my name is connected it, you'vebeen had. You've been took. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled,' he said, gleefully.
'Highest 2 Lowest' is released in US cinemas on August 15 before debuting
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Travel + Leisure
a minute ago
- Travel + Leisure
Las Vegas Is Filled With Hidden Kitschy Wonders—Here's a Local's Guide to 11 Experiences You'll Find Nowhere Else
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If you don't finish your plate, your server-nurse reserves the right to publicly spank you. It's all part of the fun, and cheers can be heard across the dining room as each victim is led up to receive their punishment. Vegas has a thing for ceilings painted like the sky. You can find them at both the Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes as well as Paris Las Vegas. Miracle Mile Shops, however, takes the illusion one step further. At the mall's free Rain Show feature, water literally pours out of the ceiling as dramatic thunder rumbles. There's lightning, images of dancing water spirits, and a footbridge that you can cross to get rained on. Not a bad way to cool off on those 110-degree days. The Big Apple Coaster at the New York New York. Alessandra Amodio/Travel + Leisure If you're planning to ride the Big Apple Coaster—New York New York's outdoor roller coaster—then definitely go at night. The line might be a little longer, but the views will be entirely worth it. As the ride climbs 76 feet, and then another 144 feet for the second drop (not to mention two loop-de-loops), you'll watch the lit-up Vegas skyline do somersaults around you. The ride isn't free ($25 per person) but don't worry, you can probably make it all back in the casino after. Visitors in the Venetian Las Vegas going for a gondola ride. There's something uncanny about cruising past replicas of the Doge's Palace and St Mark's belltower inside an authentic Venetian gondola as the Nevada sun beats down. Talk about escapism! The ride, offered at the Venetian Resort, is admittedly on the short side, but the talented gondoliers, who serenade guests with classic Italian songs and arias, make it a memorable trip. No one knows exactly why a chunk of the Berlin Wall is displayed inside a men's restroom at Main Street Station. The historic casino, located across from Fremont Street Experience, is full of miscellaneous treasures and antiques, including a chandelier from Figaro Opera House in Paris, a giant brass boar from Nice, and a 1927 Pullman train car. Female-identifying guests can ask for a peek, too; just find a security guard to escort you in. Already checked the Fountains of Bellagio off your list? Then it's time for a different kind of water show. At Silverton Casino, you can see a live mermaid swim, twirl, and blow heart-shaped bubbles in a 117,000 gallon aquarium with hundreds of tropical fish, stingrays and sharks. The free show happens every half hour from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday (on Sunday, the show is 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m). If you feel like trying on the tail yourself, consider enrolling in mermaid school. There are dozens of wedding chapels scattered around Las Vegas, but few are as delightfully retro and photogenic as Sure Thing. The all-pink, by-appointment-only chapel is decked out with velvet drapes, a vintage photo booth, and an electric organ. Pay extra and you can be married by a female Elvis impersonator or enjoy a burlesque performance after your ceremony. Just remember to tip your dancer. If you're looking for a luxe night out, you could do worse than Top of the World. The upscale menu features lobster tacos, Wagyu New York strip steak and specialty cocktails, but the real highlight is the view: the revolving restaurant sits on the 106th floor of Vegas' highest freestanding structure, and if you time it right, you'll be able to catch stunning views of the sun setting behind the mountains. The wildlife habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Just past the Flamingo Las Vegas' lobby, you'll find an unlikely sanctuary for swans, pelicans, koi fish, turtles, and the hotel's mascot: pink Chilean flamingos. The 4-acre wildlife habitat is free and open to the public from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and its waterfalls, ponds, and palm-shaded nooks make a welcome escape from the madness of the Strip. If New York City's Boom Boom Room and Dean & Deluca had a baby, it would surely result in Caspian's, the new caviar bar located inside Caesars Palace. Crab caviar tacos, oyster and champagne pairings, and Golden Osetra are on the menu, but it's the hidden live music venue that sets the place apart from other caviar joints in town. Show up any night from Tuesday to Saturday to rock out in an intimate, jewel-toned lounge. Caesar himself wouldn't have it any other way.
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‘Peacemaker' Season 2's Red Band Trailer Is Ready to Drop Bombs
Call it a crisis of superhero faith in himself; DC Studios' Peacemaker (John Cena) is back with a big bombshell of a secret. And no, it's not that there's a new theme song or dance—we already knew that. It turns out another pocket dimension really does exist, and it happens to be located in Peacemaker's daddy's room. When this piece of information gets out, none other than Rick Flagg Sr. (Frank Grillo) uses it as an excuse to finally exact revenge on the man who killed his son—no matter how much he's changed since The Suicide Squad. With the option to literally peace out into another timeline, Chris considers taking on his Peacemaker mantle in a better world for him, one that doesn't want him dead, but that would mean leaving behind his friends. Watch the red-band trailer below, complete with an intro from James Gunn and John Cena, that's full of fucks to give and lots of nudity during Chris' messy era post season one. Suffice to say, if you're browsing at work—you've been warned. Recently at SDCC 2025, we uncovered that the timeline that Peacemaker exists in is very likely deteriorating. Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and friends have hit a new low since Waller blacklisted them, so their world is falling apart in so many ways. Thankfully in this trailer Eagly appears to be ok and hopefully swoops in to raise the spirits of the 11th Street Kids. Will Peacemaker let his reckoning come and stay with his band of misfits? Or will he run off into Superman's more idealistic world in the new DCU? The answers will arrive on August 21, when Peacemaker returns to HBO Max with a whole lot of explaining to do. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Forbes
a minute ago
- Forbes
Q&A: Splash House Founder Tyler McLean On The Palm Springs Festival
Tomorrow (Friday, August 15) thousands of fans will once again converge on a trio of Palm Springs hotels for weekend two of the annual Splash House event. Part music festival, part pool party, part concert, the two-weekend event has become both an iconic celebration and showcase for top electronic dance music talent. The brainchild of Palm Springs native Tyler McLean over a decade ago, Splash House has also become, as it was intended to be, a love letter to and a showcase for his hometown. I spoke with McLean about the evolution of Splash House, the music, the community and what makes it such a unique and beloved summer soiree. Steve Baltin: How much of a break do you get between the two weeks? Tyler McLean: The two weeks in a row is nice because then nothing has to be rebuilt So, the second weekend you're kind of going into it with fresh legs. We definitely have a few days to recover before the next one. Baltin: Do you find that the two have very different vibes similar to the way the two Coachella weekends have very different vibes? McLean: That's an interesting question. I don't think so. But maybe it's a little tougher to gauge because these are two different lineups. So, yeah, in a certain sense, the vibes are, of course, a little different, but it's an entirely different lineup. So, it's intentionally meant to be somewhat of a different experience. But I think that our fans are our fans, whether it's weekend one or weekend two, and it's not so much of a choice of like, 'Do I want to go weekend one verses [weekend two] Baltin: Do you get a lot of repeat customers? McLean: Yeah, we have a thing called the season pass. So if someone wants to be able to go both weekends we offer them the ability to do that. But there are a lot of people that go both weekends, whether they are local and they just like to attend both, or they have different groups or big groups or just love the show. So, there's definitely a small but mighty fan base for this show. Baltin: I interviewed, not long ago, the CEO of Summer Fest in Milwaukee, and I'm thinking of something with Quentin from Jazz Fest a year ago. A lot of great festivals are so tied to their city. For you as a Palm Springs native, do you feel like this can happen or is it very distinctly Palm Springs? McLean: I wouldn't say that it can't happen anywhere else, but I will say that the show was created and designed, and I have put everything into the show with the ethos of Palm Springs in mind. That starts with just the general model of it. The idea of stitching multiple hotel resort pools together into a music festival, that's so uniquely Palm Springs, the city that has more pools per capita than any city in the world. It is, in essence, a love story to Palm Springs, it's a celebration of Palm Springs, this idea of celebrating pools, pool life, pool culture, resorts, and bringing them all together into one larger music experience across all of these. And each venue has its own personality, its own look and feel that drives its own subculture within the show. So yeah, I think without a doubt the show is so intertwined with the ethos of Palm Springs and that's how it started and it's how we've grown and evolved over the years. We've just embraced that as part of our ethos of the show. I don't want to rule out the idea of maybe trying this somewhere else, but I think for right now I would agree, it is meant for Palm Springs only. Baltin: Palm Springs has such a unique history and such a unique color to it. Talk about how that incorporates into it. McLean: Yeah, it has a cool history to it as this like playground for LA. And it's close, but it's a total escape from the city. I think that is part of the identity of the city and it's part of the identity of the show. It's not just like I said, the pools, but it's the architecture, it's the look and feel of the whole city. And I think we definitely try to embrace that and envelop that into our brand. Various stage designs are built, like in the past one of our stages was a mid-century house like a Wexler design butterfly roof house. We tried to showcase the city in its architectural heritage or its design identity, whether that's the on-site production of the physical experience on-site or how we present ourselves as our brand. Baltin: Don't you incorporate quite a bit into nightlife and other areas as well? McLean: Yeah, we have the Air Museum. When we started the show, it was only the daytime thing. And then over the course of three or four years, we slowly started throwing after parties. Then at a certain point, I called the Palm Springs Air Museum, and I said, 'Hey, would you be willing to have us?' They not only have had us, but they've totally embraced us. So, the Air Museum has become our bigger stage, our nighttime home. We call it after hours at the Air Museum. We have both our Friday night opening party there and as well as Saturday night main stage concert there. So, we have some major artists there this year, from Disclosure to Cloonee to Diplo and Blondish. So, you have definitely that nighttime compliment to the daytime pools. Baltin: How important was it to add nighttime programming? McLean: Yeah, our official programming, we have the main hotel stages and then we have the air museum which goes until 2 a m. But the subculture of renegade room parties is definitely a thing at the show that has evolved and grown beyond anything I could have [imagined]. Across the three hotels, we have about 1200 hotel rooms. These are total buyouts of every hotel, the Saguaro, Riviera and Renaissance. So, everyone staying at these hotels is part of the show. It's somewhat like a cruise ship, right? Everyone's there for the same experience. But so many people that are coming to the show are just bringing in DJ gear and decking out their rooms like their own festival experience in there. So, you could spend hours after our official programming ends hopping between all these different room experiences and room parties. It's like little immersive experiences within the show. So, it's just something that the fans have taken on and embraced and developed into its own part of the show. It's pretty wild and amazing. Baltin: In 13 years there are people who played multiple times. Are there one or two artists that you feel are really synonymous with Splash House, those people who represent the Splash House vibe? McLean: Yeah, I think that Cloonee this year is a pretty awesome one. Cloonee is someone who has basically played almost every stage of the show. He started at the Saguara at the smallest venue and then moved to the Riviera during what was kind of a hurricane here for us and then now is playing our biggest venue at the Air Museum. I think those kinds of stories of artists fit perfectly in our lane. Cloonee's not the only example, but I think it's a great one. There are a lot of artists that played the show multiple times. Diplo is one of those too that have played multiple venues. Super appreciative of these artists that keep coming back and playing. Twelve years in, I think we've gotten through most of those white elephants, but I'm sure there's a few more out there that we will want to get out here. Baltin: Next obvious question: who's the dream? McLean: I have to say that the fact that we had Justice doing a DJ set at the Renaissance pool is pretty damn cool looking and elegant in back. I don't know how you can top that. Baltin: Give me your top two or three tips of how you do Splash House for the first time. McLean: You've got to pace yourself. Don't come out of the gate too hot. That's definitely important. Drink a lot of water. Make sure you have some cooling portable fan. But then what I would say is split your time. If you're going to do multiple hotels in a day split it in half. If you want to do, let's say the Saguaro and the Renaissance start your day at the Saguaro and then move to the Renaissance for the second half of the day, take two hotels in a day and then another two hotels in the next day. It's easy to get between these hotels, but at the same time it's like you might as well spend more time at the stage versus traversing between these venues. So definitely try to shuttle between the stages. The shuttles are always there. But once you get to a venue around six or seven PM, stay put. Find your home base where you want to catch the later half of the day. So that's definitely part of it. But don't miss the Air Museum. It's a pretty awesome part of the experience. And definitely check out all three hotels. They all each have their own unique feel.
