If Jack Harlow once lit a fire under his career by flirting with Saweetie on a red carpet, the rumors of his suave are true. At a movie premiere — still fresh ground for the Grammy-nominated artist — Harlow is smooth. Taller than you’d expect with a baby face punctuated by diamond earrings, he is several degrees cooler than your average movie star. He doesn’t so much walk a red carpet as he strides his way around it.
Standing on a carpet Wednesday evening in New York City — at the premiere for “The Instigators,” a buddy crime comedy starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, which features Harlow as a petty thief — the rapper told Variety that he’s ready for a fresh try at acting.
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“Shit got killed,” he admitted, admirably, about his first role in the 2023 reboot of “White Men Can’t Jump.”
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For a first-time actor, that had to sting. Harlow said it did. “I learned I’ve got a lot more work to do,” he said, reflecting on his big break. “I’ve got to get better if I really want to do it. It’s tough. It’s harder than I thought.”
The reboot’s poor reception was also an important lesson in the movie business, he said. These days, when many of hip-hop’s biggest stars have longer filmographies than discographies, Harlow said his first film was a trial by fire.
“It’s either you do it or you don’t,” he said. “It felt like ‘White Boys’ was the type of opportunity you take, and then you learn from how it goes. It’s interesting, all the best actors, they know how to let go of control. You can’t control so much of it.”
In “The Instigators,” which is produced by Apple TV+ and will begin streaming on Aug. 9, Harlow doesn’t play it small. He’s joined on screen by two Academy Award winners.
“I felt privileged to be surrounded by that level of talent so early in my career. How did I get over here?” he asked Variety, shyly. About his character, a thief who mentors Damon and Affleck in committing a hapless robbery, Harlow said he broadened his acting chops.
“I’ve got an angry character,” he said, full of charm. “I’m not very angry in general, so to reach for that was nice.”
At Wednesday’s premiere, Harlow was joined by Damon and Affleck, who together reflected on the long Affleck-Damon alliance in Hollywood. For “The Instigators,” Affleck co-wrote the script with Chuck McLean and sent it to Damon to read.
“I send him lots of things,” Affleck said. “I sent him this. It’d been about a week and he hadn’t read it, so it sent it to his wife and she said she’d make him do it.”
Why did Affleck want Damon in the film? “Feeling safe with people on a set means a lot,” Affleck told Variety. “Just feeling like, ‘Okay, I can make mistakes. I can fall on my face.’ That goes a long way. I know someone else is there to keep it contained and have it not end up on screen.”
Damon, standing nearby, butted in on the red carpet. “Don’t be fooled: We get into arguments all the time,” he told Variety. “But we know each other well enough that our feelings don’t get involved. Our relationship is what makes this movie great.”
Doug Liman, who previously directed Damon in “The Bourne Identity,” said chemistry is the key to a movie that’s more akin to “Bad News Bears” than anything else.
“Not since ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ have I had so much chemistry between my two stars,” Liman told Variety. “They go way back to being kids. They’re family. There’s a huge amount of love between them, but there’s also the things they do that have annoyed each other for a lifetime. At the end of the day, there’s no magic to directing, or they don’t.”
See photos from “The Instigators” premiere below.
