Sinqua Walls as Kamal and Teyana Taylor as Imani in Hulu’s remix of “White Men Can’t Jump.” Image: Parrish Lewis .
2023’s White Men Can’t Jump stars Sinqua Walls and Teyana Taylor were just kids when the original came out in 1992. Their co-star rapper Jack Harlow wasn’t even born yet. So remaking a film that starred Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and Rosie Perez at the beginning of their careers presents obvious challenges. That’s why Hulu’s remix of White Men Can’t Jump didn’t even try that route.
“It’s a love letter to what we saw before and also a love letter to Los Angeles,” explains Walls. “That’s why we took so much pride in it and wanted to pay homage to them and remix it the way we did and rebuild it the way we did. We wanted to let them know that we are thankful for what you did before and we’re not trying to create the same thing.”
Taylor, who joked that the one-time Power actor signed on to the film to work with her, shares that one of the many things that impressed her reading the script, which Kenya Barris co-wrote, is how it highlighted “the women in their lives, and also gave us our own goals and aspirations.” The latter, she says, “was really dope because I definitely didn’t want to sign on to be in a film where I would just be there.”
In their version of the film directed by Calmatic, who also directed this year’s remake of House Party, Walls and Harlow star as Kamal and Jeremy who each have a complicated history with the sport they love. Coached by his loving single father, Kamal was a rising phenom who fizzled out before making a major dent while Jeremy, who is white, is a former college basketball standout with hopes of getting to the NBA despite suffering a major injury. Together they use the underestimation of Jeremy as the odd white guy out to hustle other ballers for cash. Taylor plays Kamal’s wife Imani and together they share a son. She is also a talented hair stylist working out of their home with aspirations of opening her own shop but, equally important, she and her husband are a team.
“One of my favorite parts of the entire film is Kamal and Imani because I think they’re unified under the same goal,” smiles Walls. “I love the scene where she calls him out and says ‘what do you want to do? Like I hear all the things that you don’t like, what do you want to do?’”
She also reassures him, he continues, that “‘at the end of the day, I’m gone go with you wherever we go but it’s not me against you, it’s where are we going, and you need to have a plan.’”
“That’s one of my favorite scenes because it just shows what love should look like,” explains the American Soul star. Taylor, who is married to former NBA star Iman Shumpert, with whom she shares two kids, also chimes in that it shows “how to handle the problem” as well as how “to have healthy dialogue and healthy communication, even healthy disagreements.”
Support is a cornerstone of the film that also extended to the cast, shares the A Thousand and One star who suffered a very personal loss during filming. “I was dealing with my brother’s death, and I was planning a funeral. I had my days,” she explains. “Coming to work and knowing that I’m in great hands [was comforting]. There was so much empathy and compassion. They offered me to stay home and take the days off, but I was like, ‘no, I still have an extended family that I need to show up for.’ So just finding that balance and showing up for my extended family, and also showing up for whatever was happening with me and my family personally at home dealing with my brother’s death, I think that it was a perfect balance that we were all able to be there for each other.”
Since filming, another tragedy struck within The White Men Can’t Jump family with the passing of Lance Reddick who played Kamal’s father Benji. Working with The Wire and John Wick star, who died in March at age 60, was special, they both share. “Even just being in his presence, he didn’t even have to say much,” says Taylor. “You just felt it.”
Working with Reddick “was a gift,” shares Walls. “Character is what you do that kind of stays in the room after you leave, and people remember how you made them feel. You talk about all these projects that Lance worked on with so many people and everyone unanimously has the same thing to say: ‘what a great guy he was, what a supportive castmate he was, what a great friend he was, what a good soul he was.’ He was just so authentic and real.”
Ronda Racha Penrice is the author of Black American History For Dummies and editor of Cracking The Wire During Black Lives Matter.