Washington
Which music star will join Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s upcoming feature?
American filmmaker Spike Lee is planning his own version of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 thriller High and Low. The cast includes Denzel Washington and a new hip-hop star…
Denzel Washington dans Fences (2016) © Bron Studios
Spike Lee’s adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s thriller “High and Low” starring Ice Spice
Five years after the release of his Netflix production, Da 5 Bloods, starring the late Chadwick Boseman, New York director Spike Lee is tackling a Japanese cinematic monster: Akira Kurosawa.
According to Variety, the filmmaker has convinced his friend Denzel Washington to join his adaptation of High and Low, a 1963 thriller which follows a villain who kidnaps the son of a Japanese industrialist… but ends up abducting the wrong target.
As the shooting of the film produced by A24 and Apple Original Films has already started, Denzel Washington will welcome a famous hip-hop figure as co-star, the rapper Ice Spice, who will be part of the cast of this upcoming feature scheduled for 2025.
Denzel Washington: The Greatest Actor of the 21st Century according to The New York Times
Although The New York Times’ editors debated at length about the ranking of celebrities featured on their “25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century” list, they admitted that the decision to place Denzel Washington in the first position had been a unanimous choice straight away.
After studying journalism and theater at a private Catholic university, whose campuses bordered Harlem in New York where he grew up, Denzel Washington landed his first major role in the film Carbon Copy (1981), playing the role of a young teenager from a working-class neighborhood who tries to make his way among the Californian middle-class.
A strange prologue for Denzel Washington, who today rules over Hollywood with imposing, testosterone-filled roles (Training Day, Inside Man, Flight) in the tradition of his predecessors John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Following in Sidney Poitier’s footsteps, the actor also regularly puts his talent to good use in politically committed films (Malcolm X, Hurricane Carter, Fences), making him one of the most listened-to voices in American cinema.
Bande-annonce – “Glory” (1989) de Edward Zwick
1. Denzel Washington as a Civil War martyr in “Glory” by Edward Zwick (1989)
To fill in the blank pages of an American history that forgot the essential role played by the black community during the Civil War, Glory uses one type of ink – the blood of the 200,000 African American soldiers who lost their lives. Shot in 1989 by Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai), the feature awakens old demons of a country plagued by racism.
The violence is extreme, especially in the harrowing scene showing the character embodied by Denzel Washington being whipped bloody with a leather strip: “Denzel was ready for anything, and got right into the character’s skin. I sensed an embarrassment he didn’t want to explore, a deep humiliation, the theft of his dignity. I told the cinematographer not to stop, and let the camera roll until Denzel could play the scene. What he discovered was the loss of control. It was one of the most powerful cinematic moments I’ve ever witnessed,” the director recalled during the press tour of the film, which earned Denzel Washington the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1990.
Bande-annonce – “Mo’ Better Blues” (1990) de Spike Lee
2. Denzel Washington as an egocentric trumpet player in “Mo’ Better Blue” by Spike Lee (1990)
Spike Lee didn’t wait for The New York Times to place Denzel Washington as “the greatest actor in the world”. First project of a long cinematic collaboration between the two New Yorkers (Malcolm X, He Got Game, Inside Man), Mo’ Better Blues (1990) stages Denzel Washington as an egocentric jazz trumpet player, whose all-consuming passion for music makes him forget his relatives. While being overall disappointed by the incessant bickering and a plot deemed too flabby, the critics hailed the actor’s performance nonetheless, who carefully learned how to mimic the trumpeter’s movements to perfection, giving the film a real breath of fresh air.
Bande-annonce – “Training Day” (2001) d’Antoine Fuqua
3. Oscar winner as a dirty cop in “Training Day” by Antoine Fuqua (2001)
Denzel Washington made a resounding entry into the 21st century by winning the Oscar for Best Actor for Training Day (2001), a frantic 24-hour race against the misery, violence, drug dealers and crooked cops of the red-light district of Los Angeles. Following the advice of a former member of the LAPD, Denzel Washington shines as an ambiguous anti-drug veteran, alongside Ethan Hawke, rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and a handful of extras casted among the locals.
Bande-annonce – “Antwone Fisher” (2002) de Denzel Washington
4. Denzel Washington’s first steps behind the camera with “Antwone Fisher” (2002)
When producer Todd Black discovered the unique story of a security guard working at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, he convinced the latter to write an autobiographical screenplay. Indeed, the man grew up in an extremely tense environment – his mother killed his own father, so he decided to enlist in the navy before consulting a psychiatrist who rescued him from his fate, making him a man of admirable integrity… Denzel Washington was chosen to handle the film adaptation, the actor’s debut feature as a director. Antwone Fisher (2002) is full of coarse lines and melodramatic situations that might have led us to guess this unlikely anecdote: a few years after the release, Denzel Washington would direct episode 9 of season 12 of Grey’s Anatomy…
Bande-annonce – “Fences” (2016) de Denzel Washington
5. “Fences”, a feature film made for the Oscars (2016)
Adapted from a famous play written by August Wilson in 1983, Fences recounts the painful story of a working-class black family struggling to live in America during segregation in the 1950s. If the honors were reserved for the charismatic Viola Davis, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the third film directed by Denzel Washington gives us an understanding of why his name appears at the top of The New York Times’ list. Both behind and in front of the camera, Denzel Washington films himself as he knows best – performing authority, anger, remorse… So many flamboyant emotions that, while lacking any form of nuance or subtlety, work wonders when it comes to building characters designed for the mainstream and Hollywood cinema.
The release date of Spike Lee’s new feature film, starring Ice Spice and Denzel Washington, is unknown yet.
Traduction by Emma Naroumbo Armaing.
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This story contains descriptions of fatal violence against a transgender person.
The Seattle Police Department are searching for a suspect after a 19-year-old University of Washington student was stabbed to death in an off-campus student apartment complex on May 10.
Seattle Police Department Detective Eric Muñoz told NBC News that the victim is “believed to be a 19-year-old transgender female” who was enrolled at the university. The victim has not yet been publicly identified by name. She was found in the housing complex laundry room shortly after 10 p.m. on Sunday night.
The housing complex, Nordheim Court, is privately managed but affiliated with the university, located near an upscale shopping center in Seattle’s U-Village neighborhood. According to NBC News, residents received an official alert from UW to stay inside their homes and lock all windows and doors — an alert that was lifted around 1 a.m. with the acknowledgment that “a death investigation remains ongoing.”
According to SPD detective Eric Muñoz, police and the fire department attempted lifesaving measures but ultimately “pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.”
“Officers are actively searching for the suspect, believed to be a black male with a beard, 5’6-8” tall, wearing a vest with button up shirt, and blue jeans,” Muñoz wrote in a blotter report.
Muñoz noted that the victim would be identified by the medical examiner’s office in “the coming days.” The SPD did not immediately respond to Them’s request for comment.
This is the seventh known trans person to be violently killed in 2026. In mid-April, 39-year-old transmasculine farmer Luca RedBeard was fatally shot in rural New Mexico. Last week, police in Marion County, Florida opened a homicide investigation into the shooting death of a 29-year-old who went by multiple names and referred to “transitioning” on social media. In Kentucky, an investigation into the disappearance of 22-year-old trans college student Murry Foust remains ongoing.
Police are asking anyone with information about the University of Washington case to call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000, emphasizing that anonymous tips are accepted.
This is a developing story.
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On a quiet stretch of Des Moines Memorial Drive in South Seattle, the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture rises like a long‑overdue acknowledgment. Its brick exterior doesn’t shout; it invites. Inside, the rooms hum with the stories of families who crossed borders, harvested fields, organized classrooms, and built communities across Washington state—often without seeing their histories reflected anywhere on a museum wall.
For Rogelio Riojas, founder and CEO of Sea Mar Community Health Centers, the museum is a promise kept. “We wanted to make sure the contributions of Latinos in Washington state are recognized and preserved for future generations,” he told The Seattle Times when the museum opened in 2019. It was a simple statement, but one that captured decades of work—both visible and invisible—by the region’s Latino communities.
Walking through the galleries feels like stepping into a living archive. One of the most arresting sights is a pair of original farmworker cabins, transported from Eastern Washington. Their narrow wooden frames and sparse interiors speak volumes about the migrant families who once slept inside after long days in the fields. The cabins are not replicas or artistic interpretations; they are the real thing, weathered by sun, dust, and time. They anchor the museum’s narrative in the physical realities of labor that shaped the state’s agricultural economy.
Sea Mar describes the museum as “dedicated to sharing the history, struggles, and successes of the Latino community in Washington state,” a mission that plays out in photographs, letters, student newspapers, and oral histories contributed by community members themselves. These aren’t artifacts chosen from afar—they’re family treasures, personal archives, and memories entrusted to the museum so they can live beyond the kitchen tables and shoeboxes where they were once kept.
The story extends beyond the museum walls. Just steps away is the Sea Mar Community Center, a sweeping, light‑filled gathering space designed for celebrations, performances, workshops, and community events. With room for nearly 500 people, a full stage, a movie‑theater‑sized screen, and a catering kitchen, the center was built with one purpose: to give the community a place to see itself, gather, and grow. Sea Mar describes it as “a welcoming space for families, organizations, and community groups to gather, celebrate, and learn,” and on any given weekend, it lives up to that promise.
Together, the museum and community center form a cultural campus—part historical archive, part living room for the region’s Latino communities. Students come to learn about the Chicano activists who reshaped the University of Washington in the late 1960s. Families come to see their own histories reflected in the exhibits. Visitors come to understand a story that has long been present in Washington, even if it wasn’t always visible.
The Sea Mar Museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., offering free admission to anyone who walks through its doors. For many, it’s more than a museum—it’s a recognition, a gathering place, and a testament to the people who helped shape the Pacific Northwest.
Preserving Latino History and Community Life in Washington was first published on Washington Latino News (WALN) and republished with permission.
Celebrate Mothers Day with à la carte brunch at Lady Madison featuring seafood, entrées, desserts, and premium beverage options.
Celebrate Mothers Day in sophisticated style at Lady Madison, located inside Le Méridien Washington, DC, The Madison. Join us on Sunday, May 10, 2026, from 12:003:00 PM for an elevated à la carte brunch experience in downtown Washington, DC.
Enjoy a refined selection of chef-driven brunch classics, fresh seafood, seasonal salads, and elegant entrées. Highlights include a Build Your Own Omelette, Crab Benedict with lime hollandaise, Chilled Seafood Trio, and signature mains such as Roasted Rack of Lamb, Cedar Plank Sea Bass, and Marinated New York Strip Loin.
End on a sweet note with classic desserts including Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, Fruit Tart, Strawberry Shortcake, and Passion Fruit Cake.
Enhance your experience with beverage offerings, including bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys for $30 with house selections. Piper-Heidsieck Champagne is also available by the glass for $16 or by the bottle for $49.
Reserve on OpenTable:
https://www.opentable.com/booking/experiences-availability?rid=1426987&restref=1426987&experienceId=695240&utm_source=external&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=shared
À La Carte Menu
Les ufs & Brunch
Egg White Frittata $24
spinach, tomato, mushrooms, green onion
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Build Your Own Omelette $24
ham, smoked salmon, vegetables, cheeses (choose up to 3)
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Crab Benedict $24
lime hollandaise, salsa cruda
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Brioche French Toast $17
berry compote, whipped butter, maple syrup
Les Froids & Salades
Chilled Seafood Trio $28
Jonah crab claws, shrimp, cocktail sauce
Spring Berry Salad $17
brie, berries, champagne vinaigrette
Golden & Crimson Beet Salad $18
red wine vinaigrette
Add protein: shrimp, salmon, skirt steak +18 | chicken +16
Les Plats Principaux
Roasted Rack of Lamb $42
mint sauce, huckleberry reduction, sweet potato purée, asparagus
Cedar Plank Sea Bass $49
saffron rice, spring vegetables
New York Strip Loin $42
mushroom sauce, truffle croquette potatoes, haricots verts
Les Desserts $14
Crème Brûlée Cheesecake
Fruit Tart
Strawberry Shortcake
Passion Fruit Cake
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