Jack Harlow makes his acting debut in the new remake of “White Men Can’t Jump.”
“It was grueling. It was a hot summer,” the 25-year-old musician told Variety at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday night. He stars in the movie as Jeremy, a basketball hustler.
While shooting the film, Harlow was also juggling the production of his latest album “Jackman.” “I just made it work,” Harlow said. “I’m a hardworker, I guess.”
Sinqua Walls plays Harlow’s partner in crime, Kamal. On working with Harlow, Walls told Variety, “It was easy. He was one of my first castmates to ever call me before shooting to work on lines together. I have a lot of love for him. I’m telling you right now, this is just the beginning because the sky is the limit for my brother.
“To get to merge my two loves — acting and basketball — it’s just a gift,” Walls continued.
“White Men Can’t Jump” is a remake of the 1992 sports comedy starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes. Calmatic directs the new film. “The opportunity to reimagine something how I would want to create it, that’s a hard opportunity for any creator to turn down,” said Calmatic, who also directed the remake the ’90s comedy, “House Party.”
“White Men Can’t Jump” was shot primarily in Los Angeles, something that made the director feel proud.
“I get overwhelmed at times, me being from L.A.,” Calmatic said. “It’s like I want the world to know, ‘This is where I grew up, this is where I got into my first fight, this is where I had a crush on a girl.’ I just love the city and all it has to offer. The real L.A. place like Leimert Park, Crenshaw, Watts, the Jungles, those are places that mean a lot to me. And I wanted to share them with the world.”
Anthony Hamilton Jr., who plays the 17-year-old version of Kamal in the film, said one of his favorite moments on set was goofing around with the late Lance Reddick, who died in March.
“In the second scene we shot, I was taking shots and he was making faces at me off camera. We had conversations off set and those are moments that I will always hold dear,” Hamilton Jr. told Variety.
For J. Alphonse Nicholson, he best remembers when his character Jermaine steps onto the court to settle some problems with a flame thrower: “I don’t know where he got that from. But it was such a fun moment, and FYI, we used a real flame thrower. I was afraid I was gonna lose my eyebrows. And we shot the scene like five or six times.”
“White Men Can’t Jump” premieres May 19 on Hulu.
