Jack Harlow Faces Waterboarding and Death in Matt Damon’s ‘The Instigators’

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Instigators on Apple TV+. Read at your own risk!

Last year, rapper Jack Harlow launched his acting career with the 2023 remake of White Men Can’t Jump, and now he’s back in action in the new Matt Damon movie, The Instigators, which premiered on Apple TV+ on Friday. However, fans of Harlow might be in for a shock. Harlow’s character, Scalvo, meets a brutal end within the first 20 minutes of this new heist comedy. To top it off, he is also subjected to torture via waterboarding. Clearly, this film is a stark contrast to the fun and light-hearted White Men Can’t Jump!

Directed by Doug Liman and written by Casey Affleck and Chuck Maclean, The Instigators features Damon and Affleck as Rory and Cobby, respectively. They are the only survivors of a heist gone terribly wrong and must go on the run. Harlow’s character, Scalvo, plays a crucial role in bringing Damon and Affleck’s characters together for the risky job. In his first scene, it is evident that Scalvo had no other choice.

Harlow’s debut in The Instigators shows him being waterboarded by Alfred Molina’s character from Spider-Man, while mob boss Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg) screams at Scalvo for screwing up a job. Molina’s character holds Harlow’s head under a gushing sink faucet in an industrial kitchen, with a gun pointed at him. So, if you ever wanted to see Jack Harlow soaking wet and pleading for his life, this might be your chance.

In a desperate bid to save himself, Scalvo promises his boss that he can find two guys willing to do a new job: robbing the corrupt mayor of Boston. The fictional Boston Mayor Miccelli (Ron Perlman) is expected to receive piles of under-the-table donations on election night. Thus, Rory, Cobby, and Scalvo set out to rob the event and steal those donations. Unfortunately, Scalvo’s sloppy planning leads to their downfall.

When the trio reaches the safe, they find almost no money because the donations have already been moved to a secure location. In a frenzy, Scalvo decides to rob the mayor and his associates at gunpoint. This desperate decision proves to be his undoing.

During an interview for the official Instigators production notes, Harlow described his character as someone “really thirsty for validation [who] wants to be the boss someday, but he finds out quickly that he’s in over his head.” This description turns out to be quite an understatement. Pointing a gun at the mayor in front of an armed police officer is a fatal mistake. On the mayor’s command, a police officer shoots Scalvo right in the forehead, ending Harlow’s character arc abruptly.

This sudden demise is likely to disappoint some fans who tuned in just for Harlow. The buzz around Harlow being cast in the film was significant. Co-writer Chuck MacLean noted, “I got more text messages about Jack Harlow being cast than I did about the thing getting made.”

Despite the brief screen time, Harlow made a lasting impression. “It was great to see how confident and flexible he was,” Affleck commented, acknowledging that this was only Harlow’s second film. “He came in with 10 good ideas for every scene. It was as if he’d been acting for a really long time.”

For Harlow, participating in the film, even for a short time, was a valuable experience, especially working with renowned director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith). “You definitely feel a gravity, like you’re working with a genius,” Harlow said. “He had such a desire to make every moment great. I was taking notes, absorbing, the whole time. People are in for something unique and fresh here. Doug has done something classic and timeless.”

Source: Decider