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Blake Griffin is producing a 'White Men Can't Jump' remake
Los Angeles Clippers All-Star Blake Griffin has made no secret of his desire to appear in a sequel to “Space Jam.” The high-flying forward dabbles in the world of comedy, played Michael Jordan at a “Space Jam” script reading a few years ago, and faced off against the Monstars in a recent ad for Foot Locker. Yet no amount of pushing or support from Jordan himself appears likely to get Griffin in a starring role ahead of LeBron James. It’s just not going to happen.
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Thankfully, Griffin appears to have found another outlet for his basketball movie nostalgia. According to a Tuesday report from The Hollywood Reporter, Griffin is going to produce a remake of the 1992 classic “White Men Can’t Jump”:
Kenya Barris, the creator of ABC’s acclaimed comedy Black-ish, is teaming with Blake Griffin of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and Ryan Kalil of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers to develop a remake of the 1992 sports comedy for 20th Century Fox.
Barris will write the script for the project, which falls under his overall film deal with Fox that he signed in September. Barris also will act as a producer.
Griffin and Kalil are producing via their Mortal Media banner, along with their partner Noah Weinstein. […]
Griffin and Kalil’s Mortal Media is a relatively new venture but is busy building an active slate with high-profile titles. Among other projects the company is developing is a remake of The Rocketeer centered around a lead that will be black and female. The company also has an NBC comedy in development.
Hollywood development timelines are often very long, so it could be years before we see the new “White Men Can’t Jump” (if we see it at all). For that matter, the plot could have very little to do with the original, which was made at a time when playground basketball was much more a part of basketball culture than it is now. The new version might have to take place on a rec league team to make any sense. As far as we know, hustling is no longer common practice on Los Angeles’s blacktops.
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Then again, some parts of the movie are timeless. Everyone loves a good backdoor cut:
But who will star in the new version? It seems fairly certain that Rosie Perez will not reprise her role as “Jeopardy” champion Gloria Clemente. Here’s what she had to say about a potential remake. From Cinema Blend:
Some classics you shouldn’t touch. Some films should be remade. I don’t think there’s a necessity to remake White Men Can’t Jump. But quite honestly, I’m kind of flattered. I am. Because there’s, you know… that means it had a certain importance to somebody or whomever, to say, ‘let’s do this again.’ But that’s tricky, because White Men Can’t Jump was all about chemistry. Chemistry and timing, you know? Even the audition — the reason why I got the film, the director was like, he goes, ‘You two look like you’re going to make out. My God, enough!’ And we both started laughing and stuff. But it was chemistry.
So Rosie’s out. Thankfully, though, superfan Andrew Garfield seems like he’d be up to take on a major role:
You heard it here first — “Silence” star Andrew Garfield will almost certainly be filling NBA great Marques Johnson’s shoes as stickup man “Raymond” (some NSFW language at the link) in the “White Men Can’t Jump” remake. It’s the part he was born to play!
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
