For the May 20 issue of Variety, I spoke with Marlon Wayans about his extraordinary journey from a New York City housing project to Hollywood stardom, as well as his long-awaited return to the “Scary Movie” franchise after it was snatched away from him and his brothers by the “tyrant” Weinsteins.
We covered quite a bit of ground in the story, from his trauma over losing 62 loved ones during the COVID pandemic to how he negotiates having a trans son and being best pals with Dave Chappelle. But there was plenty that didn’t make it to print.
On release day for “Scary Movie,” the sixth installment in the Wayanses celebrated horror-spoof franchise, here are the best parts we left out, including the idea to set “White Chicks 2” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky banning him from having sex during the making of “Requiem for a Dream” and losing out on the role of Robin.
On Whether Lorne Michaels Has a Grudge Against Him Over “In Living Color”:
“I would like to think not, but I haven’t been asked to host yet. Maybe one day I’ll be hot enough to host SNL. It would be a privilege and an honor. We pay respect to the guys that did it before us — guys like Lorne Michaels, Mel Brooks and the Zucker brothers we’ll always give respect to. If they weren’t the visionaries they were, we wouldn’t have been able to dream like we do, and it’s never a competition for us.”
On Whether the Wayanses Will Reboot “In Living Color”:
“Maybe my calling is to reboot ‘In Living Color!’ The only people that can do it is us. Some things you don’t need to resuscitate. ‘In Living Color’ was an institution and I wish it was still around, but it’s hard to execute that level of humor every week for multiple years. And we have to be in it. ‘In Living Color’ died one season after Keenen [Ivory Wayans] left because he was the beating heart of that show. But if you asked me 15 years ago if we’d be doing ‘Scary Movie’ again, I’d say, ‘Hell no, the ship has sailed!’ But if God has that in our cards, if ‘Scary Movie’ can happen, then maybe an ‘In Living Color’ reboot can happen. But it’s not in the cards right now.”
On Setting “White Chicks 2” at Mar-a-Lago:
“That’s not a terrible idea! I just had that conversation with my big brother and I shot him down. ‘White Chicks’ can go anywhere, but Mar-a-Lago and Florida would definitely be a fun place to make that happen and see our girls in that world. ‘White Chicks’ are like Medea — you can send them to space and they’ll be funny. I wanna do ‘A Very White Chicks Christmas.’ I have a different idea, but we’re discussing. And we’ll find the right place to put them.”
On the Dark Comedy Film “Behind the Smile” He Made with Brother Damon Wayans That’s Never Seen the Light of Day:
“It’s Dave Chappelle’s favorite movie. He’s always asking me to screen ‘Behind the Smile.’ It’s a dark drama about comedy and it’s a great movie and my best performance. I tell Damon, ‘You got my Oscar in the closet.’ And he goes, ‘I’ll release it when I’m dead.’ And I go, ‘What’s the point of that?!’”
On Telling Shannon Sharpe He’s Getting Rid of His Tesla Because of Elon Musk’s Transphobia:
“I haven’t even been home to drive it. I’ll get rid of it when I get home!”
On Darren Aronofsky Ordering Him to Not Have Sex During “Requiem for a Dream”:
“Darren is crazy. He asked, ‘What are the three things you love most?’ I said, ‘I love chocolate, sex and drinking.’ He said, ‘Great. So then here’s what I want you to do: I don’t want you to have sex or masturbate, I don’t want you to eat sugar and you cannot drink.’ It was for the three weeks before filming that he called ‘three weeks of wrath,’ and he said, ‘I want you to do without so you know what it feels like when you’re fiending for something, because you guys are junkies.’ And I said, ‘Bet.’”
On Being Cast as Robin in “Batman Forever” and Then Losing the Part:
“It wasn’t supposed to happen. If Robin happened, I wouldn’t be Marlon. I might’ve blown up and become something different. I might’ve been Will Smith, but then I wouldn’t be Marlon. God wanted something different from me. You think I want to slap Chris Rock? [Laughs] Everything in my life has happened for a reason, and you may not understand it in the moment, but now that I’m 53, I can look back at that disappointed 19-year-old that got that part and was so hurt that it didn’t happen and I’m glad it didn’t happen. If it happened, I probably wouldn’t have created my own TV show with my brother at 20 years old. I probably wouldn’t have written and produced over 15 movies and been a part of creating the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise, and ‘White Chicks’ and ‘Don’t Be a Menace…,’ and create the show ‘Marlon’ and do stand-up. I did these things because I wanted to work and my brother taught me that as a Black man in this industry you can’t be waiting for work, you have to create your own opportunities.”
On Abandoning the New York Knicks:
“You know, I got tired of heartbreaks. I was a Knick fan since I was 12 and then I was like, ‘You know what? These negroes ain’t gonna win!’ How many season tickets is Spike Lee going to buy? I gave up on the Knicks because I met this phenom named Michael Jordan. I was on the Jordan train, man. Basketball hasn’t been the same since Jordan retired.”
On Melissa Barrera Wanting to Be in “Scary Movie”:
“Now you tell me! I wish I’d heard about that. That would have been a lot of fun. I definitely would’ve tried to make that work. That would’ve been a masterful cameo. Maybe for Part 7!”
On Turning Down ‘The Nutty Professor’ Role Dave Chappelle Got:
“I was jealous watching Dave murder that role. But I never look at doors and wish that door reopened. That wasn’t for me. That was for Dave. We’ve been on a similar path, but different. Back in the day, Dave would call me and be like, ‘Marlon! Let’s write a movie together,’ and I’d be like, ‘Bet! Let’s do it.’ And then Dave would disappear. And then six months later, he’d call me and say, ‘Marlon! Let’s write a movie together.’ And I’d be like, ‘Bet!’ and then he’d disappear again.”
On If Winning an Oscar Is a Goal of His:
“I look at it like a golden key that unlocks the industry and gets you the anointment of the industry. It makes life easier when you’re the guy that gets the best scripts with the best directors and the best budgets. It’s been elusive for me, so I’ve been blessed to become my own industry. I may never get that statue, but every time I do a project and every time I get to gather a family of creatives to go have a great time for a few months and tell these jokes that will hopefully make people laugh, I have a statue. I have an Oscar. I’ve been blessed to have fun every day of my life.”
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