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.”

In their new film, “Highest 2 Lowest,” Spike Lee and Denzel Washington continue a partnership that began in the 1990s and still, more than 30 years later, represents a gold standard for Black Hollywood’s past and present.