Lee was joined in the Cannes press conference by Wright and Ilfenesh Hadera, who plays King’s poised and skeptical wife Pam. Highest 2 Lowest marks Lee’s first collaboration with one-time muse Washington since 2006’s Inside Man.

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington have walked a long road together. The director and actor’s collaboration has run for 35 years, starting with “Mo’Better Blues” and including the seminal “Malcolm X.” But one thing they’ve never done is ascend the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival as comrades in arms.

Before the Cannes Film Festival gala premiere of Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, the audience was treated to a surprise. The festival director Thierry Frémaux came out on stage to give Denzel Washington an honorary Palme d’Or.