Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Hulu, Movies | Tagged: film, hulu, streaming, white men can’t jump

White Men Can't Jump Director Draws Comparisons to the Original

The director of Hulu's film White Men Can't Jump recently discussed unavoidable similarities to the original 1992 film.

The upcoming movie White Men Can't Jump is both a sports comedy film and a modern reinvention of the 1990s flick, where two basketball players come to realize that they have much more in common than they initially imagined.

Having previously experienced moderate success and prevalence in pop culture (by earning more than $90 million worldwide), the first film managed to generate enough reboot interest from studios as early as 2017. So after more than six years of attempts to bring it to life, the Hulu production has a lot to prove. Now, the film's director is teasing what fans of the original can expect from the 2023 version of the story.

Hulu's White Men Can't Jump Revives a Few of the First Film's Creative Choices

When discussing the upcoming reboot of White Men Can't Jump with Comic Book, the film's director Calmatic addressed a few similarities in the new adaptation, explaining, "There's a moment when the guys are chasing Kamal in the car, and he hops in the car, and then he yells at them and gives them the finger, just like [Wesley Snipes] did. And I remember when that scene came up, it wasn't in the script, and then [Sinqua Wells] just did that, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, that's the right thing to do in this situation.' And I think that's one thing I learned; it's so hard to do a remake because you try to do everything so different."

The director then elaborates, "You almost refuse to do it the same way [as the original]. But then you realize there's a reason why they did it that way in the original because that was the best way to do it. You know what I mean? We filmed at maybe three of the same locations that were in the original. And we're like, 'Man, let's find a way to flip this. Can we put the court this way? Can we paint the fence, or can we do something?' And it was like, no, actually, the way the sun rises, the lighting is perfect this way, so it's best to shoot this way. So once I stopped trying to fight against 'copying' the old movie, I feel like I was able to focus on other things that were more natural to our script."

The upcoming film stars Sinqua Walls as Kamal Allen, Jack Harlow as Jeremy, Teyana Taylor as Imani, Laura Harrier as Tatiana, Vince Staples as Speedy, Myles Bullock as Renzo, Lance Reddick as Benji Allen, Tamera Kissen, Zak Steiner, and Andrew Schulz.

White Men Can't Jump will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu starting May 19, 2023.

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