Spike Lee thinks Highest 2 Lowest will be his last collaboration with Denzel Washington

Spike Lee has revealed that his new movie Highest 2 Lowest will probably be his final collaboration with Denzel Washington.

In the neo-noir crime thriller, an English-language reimagining of the Japanese film High and Low, Washington plays a music mogul who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake.

It marks Lee and Washington's fifth collaboration after Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game and 2006's Inside Man - and it may well be their last.

"I think this is it - five," Lee said during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday. "He's been talking about retirement, so... Even though he just did another deal. I thought you said you were retired Denzel, what's up?! But those five films together, those stand up."

The Training Day actor did not attend the press conference, however, he supported the film at the photocall and premiere on Monday. He hit headlines after getting into a confrontation with a photographer on the red carpet.

During the conference, Lee noted that he and Washington were both surprised when they discovered they last worked together 18 years ago.

"It's an 18-year gap and we were surprised it was like yesterday, because we didn't lose a step," the Do the Right Thing filmmaker said.

He also reflected on their 1992 collaboration, Malcolm X, and insisted that Washington should have won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance over Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman.

"Malcolm X, what he did with that film was amazing. And no disrespect to my brother Al Pacino, I love him. But Denzel, in my opinion, should have won," he continued, reports Variety. "But we don't do our work for awards, which are nice, but it's the work that is going to stand above all awards."

Highest 2 Lowest, also starring Jeffrey Wright and A$AP Rocky, will be released in the U.S. in August.