White Men Can’t Jump remake star Sinqua Walls promises that rapper Jack Harlow has hops. The original 1992 film followed Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as two streetballers who join forces to hustle unsuspecting challengers on the court. The film was a decent hit at the box office, nearly tripling its $31 million budget with over $90 million grossed. 20th Century Studios first announced plans of a White Men Can't Jump remake in 2017 with Black-ish creator Kenya Barris penning the script and NBA star Blake Griffin and former NFL player Ryan Kalil producing.
The remake went dormant until last year when famed music video and commercial director, Calmatic, signed on to helm the reboot. Soon after, the White Men Can't Jump remake cast rapper Jack Harlow in a role equivalent to Harrelson's Billy Hoyle, followed by Power star Sinqua Walls as a contemporary version of Snipes’ character, Sidney Deane. The remake's cast also includes The Wire's Lance Reddick, rapper Vince Staples, Teyana Taylor, Laura Harrier, Tamera Kissen, Myles Bullock, Zak Steiner, and Andrew Schulz.
During an exclusive interview with Screen Rant about his TIFF selection Nanny, which releases in theaters on November 23, Walls also spilled some tea on the White Men Can't Jump remake. Contrary to the popular stereotype which the title refers, Walls assures audiences that Harlow has the hops necessary to perform his own dunking stunts in the film. Read what he said below:
I can genuinely say I don't know about all white men, but I know that Jack Harlow can jump. As this process has begun and continued, I tell people that the biggest thing is that he did a lot of his own stunts. There are some jumps in the film that Jack Harlow did indeed do. So, I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for him. He actually can jump.
The 1992 film contains a famous scene in which Sidney mocks Billy for his inability to slam dunk, telling him "white men can't jump." Billy insists he can and bets $5000 of his tournament prize money to prove it, but ultimately fails to dunk despite having three attempts. Of course, Billy later redeems himself during a street game when he catches an alley-oop pass from Sidney and dunks it home for the winning point. The White Men Can't Jump remake will likely recreate this famous sequence in some way, and based on Walls' comments, Harlow should be dunking the basketball for real, as opposed to Harrelson, who had to have the hoop lowered to nine-and-a-half feet.
More important than Harlow's hops is what the White Men Can't Jump remake will have to say about the current state of race relations in America. Like any good sports movie, the original film was about more than just basketball and other than race relations, it also explored the experience of gambling addiction. With Black-ish's Emmy-nominated creator, Kenya Barris, having written the remake, Harlow's White Men Can't Jump appears to be in good hands. Until there is more news on that front, audiences can catch Walls in the new horror film, Nanny, releasing in theaters this November prior to streaming December 16 on Prime Video.