Betting and hustling seemingly extended into life behind the scenes of “White Men Can’t Jump.” In ESPN’s 30th anniversary retrospective, actors and crew reportedly confirmed to the outlet that gambling was rife on set, on both pickup games and actual shots for the film. So naturally, for the scene in which Billy bets his tournament money on one dunk, Harrelson and Snipes had a side bet running.
Woody Harrelson was adamant he could dunk, and persisted in trying even as he continued to fall short. as Former NBA player Marques Johnson, who played Raymond in the film, recalled:
“Ron Shelton’s like, ‘We gotta lower this thing, Woody. We don’t have all night.’ So Woody’s, like, ‘No, no, whatever you do, don’t lower the basket. I know I can do it. I’ve done it before. I’ve been workin’ on this for the past couple of months.'”
At this point, everyone seems to recall things differently. According to Harrelson, who recounted the story to Yahoo, Wesley Snipes went to his trailer, during which time a woman from the sound team told him to stretch: “I started stretching and the next thing you know, I could dunk the ball.” But Johnson told ESPN it was Harrelson who left to his trailer, at which point Ron Shelton ordered the crew to “Take that thing down to nine and a half feet,” after which Harrelson could dunk. What isn’t in dispute, however, is that Snipes lost money.
In Harrelson’s recollection to Yahoo, he continued to pretend he couldn’t dunk after his co-star returned to the set, just to get him to bet more money: “We upped the bet and upped the bet and then I slammed it […] I’ll never forget the look on Wes’s face. That was a joyous moment.”
