Wednesday, February 18, 1998
Wayans employs all senses to the max
FILM: Youngest brother follows older siblings’ footsteps with
first starring role in movie
By Aimee Phan
Daily Bruin Staff
Being the youngest in a family of 10 kids can be tough.
Especially in a family full of comedians. Marlon Wayans, whose new
comedy "Senseless" opens Friday, believes that while being the
youngest does have its advantages, like learning from his older
siblings’ experiences and getting their advice, it mostly involves
being the butt of everyone’s jokes.
"In a normal family, I’d be the baby," Wayans says. "But in my
family, I’m something that you would call a victim. Every joke is
on me, basically. They were never mean to me, but they were
comedians and their jobs were to make fun, and I was the butt."
But the jokes in the family soon became their formula for
success in Hollywood. And the name "Wayans" became synonymous with
edgy urban comedy. Led by big brother Keenan, who left college to
try stand-up comedy, Marlon follows a long line of Wayans comedians
who have found success in television and movies. The Wayans’ impact
on television is especially significant starting with the popular
comedy-sketch show "In Living Color." The show was a family affair
with Keenan as executive producer and siblings Damon, Kim, Shawn
and Marlon as cast members. Their presence on television continues
today with Keenan’s late-night talk show and Shawn and Marlon’s
Warner Bros. Network show, aptly named "The Wayans Brothers."
Before the family hit it big in Hollywood, Wayans and his
brothers and sisters grew up in New York City’s lower-income
Chelsea district where his mother worked part-time as a social
worker, and his father was, as Wayans puts it, not an entrepreneur,
but an "entre-poor-noor."
"He sold condoms and sunglasses and wonders why he’s broke,"
Wayans says. "The only good days were sunny days when everybody’s
horny."
But Keenan’s success as a comedian in Hollywood soon paved the
way for many of his siblings to set their ambitions higher than
most of the other kids living in the projects. Wayans remembers
visiting his oldest brother in California and realizing that there
was a life for him outside of the projects.
"That pretty much opened up my eyes to the world out there,"
Wayans says, "that there’s not just the projects. In the projects,
successful is the penthouse project apartment, and that’s what
people strive for. But Keenan broke us out of that mold by doing
what he did."
In his new film "Senseless," Wayans plays a broke but ambitious
Ivy-league college student who tries to support his family and stay
in school by taking as many part-time jobs as possible. His
character, so desperate for money, even volunteers for an
experimental test drug that radically alters his five senses, which
is where the movie takes off. Wayans says he sympathizes with his
character’s financial state, remembering his own odd jobs growing
up.
"I’ve been working since I was 10 years old," Wayans says. "My
first ‘job’ job was at a pizza shop, and I got paid $25 every two
weeks and all the free pizza I could eat. So I was broke, bloated
and constipated."
In the movie, Wayans uses his character’s off-the-wall schemes
to make money to push the comedic envelope with physical comedy,
bathroom humor and racy jokes. Wayans says much of the humor was
improvised and proved to be the funniest scenes in the movie.
"You can’t set boundaries for yourself," Wayans says. "As a
comedian, you want to be totally uninhibited. If you’re inhibited,
you can’t be funny. You need a director who won’t limit you and
will let you go all the way and then pull you back a little."
Wayans got that with Director Penelope Spheeris ("Wayne’s
World," "The Little Rascals"), who encouraged the actors to bring
ideas to the set and then included the best of them in the
film.
"Penelope was great because she allowed me to improvise like I
did," Wayans says. "I loved working with Penelope, aside from my
brother. But that’s family. It was the best experience I had
working with the director."
The feeling is mutual for Spheeris who says that Wayans and the
children in "The Little Rascals" have been her favorite actors to
work with. Spheeris was especially impressed with Wayans’ generous
nature and friendliness with everyone around the set.
"He makes everybody feel good," Spheeris says. "He never
complains, and he’s funny as hell. He comes in the morning and
gives everyone on the set a hug.
"You can’t beat this kid. He’s one of my favorite people I’ve
ever met in my life, definitely my favorite actor I’ve ever worked
with."
With "Senseless" being his first leading role in a film, Wayans
is unsure whether he would want the kind of superstardom that
actors like Eddie Murphy and "In Living Color" alumnus Jim Carrey
have after making it big in comedic movies.
"I wouldn’t mind making that kind of money but that lifestyle of
not being able to go out in the public, you lose a part of
yourself," Wayans says. "I take my hat off to them for just
accepting that role. If that happens (for me), hey, as long as I
work, I’m happy."
For Wayans, he is just happy to have a job he finally likes.
"It’s not about the stardom or the money," Wayans says. "It’s
the fact that I wake up in the morning and I want to go to work. I
love to go to work."
FILM: "Senseless" opens Friday.
Dimension Films
Marlon Wayans plays a college student desperate for money in
"Senseless."