White Men Can’t Jump An Homage To The Original, “For The New Generation”

White Men Can't Jump

“White Men Can’t Jump” premiered this weekend on Hulu. This pays homage to the 1992 Los Angeles classic basketball bromance by the same name that starred Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. It took a look at west-coast basketball culture and a theme of race relations at the time.

Director Calmatic’s “White Men Can’t Jump” gets its inspiration from the classic, but it stands on its own. How? LRM Online took part in a press event where the creators and actors talked about the making of the film.

Director Calmatic on the set of 20th Century Studios’ WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by Parrish Lewis. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

“The only thing that these two movies have in common is that there’s a black man and a white man,” says Calmatic. “Other than that, it’s a completely different story – different characters, different goals for the characters. It’s just a whole new story, a whole new twist, a whole remix of the original.”

It has to be a very different story. Cameras are everywhere, if you’re into basketball, chances are you follow basketball communities and pages on social media sites. Meaning, chances are if there is someone out there dominating the courts, you’re probably going to hear about it. Also, we live in an age where Basketball is a global sport where superstars can come from all around the world. This is something that the current basketball player and producer of “White Men Can’t Jump”, Blake Griffin, agrees with.

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“People aren’t really going out and hustling people on the Venice Beach courts for money and making enough off that to survive. With social media, people know who the good basketball players are. The world of basketball is much smaller than I think some people know. Going back and showing a side of LA that doesn’t get shown very often was very important,” said Griffin.

(L-R): Jack Harlow as Jeremy and Sinqua Walls as Kamal in 20th Century Studios’ WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP. Photo by Parrish Lewis. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

When you think of basketball films, usually you think of the street courts in New York. That is something that both Calmatic and Griffin wanted change by showcasing the basketball scene in Los Angeles.

“The first thing that stood out to me is that it was an LA story,” says Calmatic. “Los Angeles is one of the most popular places in the world—so many things happen here; so many influential people live here and grew up here. I wanted to tell the LA basketball story. Usually when they talk about basketball, it’s always the East-Coast story—someone living in Brooklyn or somewhere. I know LA like the back of my hand. I grew up going to junior high schools on the weekend, hopping the fence and playing basketball.”

As we noted in the beginning, “White Men Can’t Jump” pays homage to the original but this is something that the director says is, “for the new generation”.

White Men Can’t Jump is now available on Hulu.

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