Jack Harlow realizes that when it comes to acting, "I've got a lot more work to do"

Jack Harlow made his acting debut in the 2023 reboot of the movie White Men Can't Jump, and it didn't go so well. In fact, it made the rapper realize that, as he puts it, "acting is harder than I thought."

But Jack's trying it again in the new movie The Instigators, a buddy crime comedy that opens in limited release Aug. 2 and streams on AppleTV+ Aug. 9. Speaking to Variety at the film's premiere, he says of his first movie, "S*** got killed," but he learned a valuable lesson.

"I learned I've got a lot more work to do. I've got to get better if I really want to do it," he said. "It's tough. It's harder than I thought." He added, "It felt like White Men was the type of opportunity you take, and then you learn from how it goes."

Jack plays a thief in The Instigators, co-starring with two Oscar winners, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon. He tells Variety, "I felt privileged to be surrounded by that level of talent so early in my career. How did I get over here?"

He says the role was actually a stretch for him.

"I've got an angry character," he tells Variety. "I'm not very angry in general, so to reach for that was nice."

So far, The Instigators doesn't seem like it'll help burnish Jack's resume: it currently has a 50% score from critics on RottenTomatoes.com. Still, that's better than the 26% score that White Men Can't Jump received.

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