One of the hottest musicians of the moment is making a move—or a jump, you could say—to the big screen. Rapper Jack Harlow (aka one of Kanye West’s top 5 favorite rappers, if that co-sign even means anything) will be starring in a remake of White Men Can’t Jump, Ron Shelton’s 1992 street basketball comedy.
In the original White Men Can’t Jump, Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes play basketball players who team up to hustle other streetballers out of thousands of dollars. Rosie Perez co-stars as Harrelson’s ambitious Jeopardy!-obsessed girlfriend. Harlow will be stepping into Harrelson’s Nikes in the new take on the classic film.
According to Deadline, Harlow spectacularly managed to score the lead role in his first-ever screen audition after immediately impressing Kenya Barris (of Black-ish fame), who is writing and producing the reboot. Music video director Charles Kidd II, known by the moniker Calmatic, is at the helm, while Doug Hall is co-writing the script with Barris.
Harlow’s acting talents remain to be seen, but he certainly has the basketball part down, as he demonstrated at the NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game last month (sure, his team lost, but he did put up some solid numbers). Filmmakers have fast-tracked the reboot and are in the process of auditioning actors for Snipes’ role. They’re also reportedly looking for someone for Perez’s part, and if they’re taking suggestions, let the record show that this author thinks Euphoria’s Alexa Demie would be perfect.
In the meantime, here’s Harlow sinking a four-point shot at that aforementioned Celebrity Game—maybe a little preview of what’s to come?
