Marlon Wayans on his latest parody 'Fifty Shades of Black'
“I write, produce and star in my movies. I get my money independently and I try to kick the hinges off of Hollywood’s door and say ‘hey, I’ve got something for you’”, says writer, producer, filmmaker and long-time comedian Marlon Wayans.
The actor derives from the famed and celebrated Wayans family, which includes Dwayne, Kennen Ivory, Damon, Kim, Shawn, Nadia, Elvira, Diedre and Vonnie – all actors, writers, producers and filmmakers in their own right. The youngest brother of the siblings, Wayans kick-started his career on the comedy sketch series In Living Color (1990-94) before they starred in his own series alongside his brothers in The Wayans Bros. (1995-99). He made his cinematic debut in the 1992 crime-comedy Mo’ Money - alongside his brother Damon - before co-writing and starring in the parody-comedy Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996).
Wayans has since become renowned for his involvement in the parody genre having starred, written and produced the hit comedies Scary Movie (2000), White Chicks (2004), Little Man (2006) and A Haunted House (2013) alongside his brothers – all of which grossed a total of $700million at the box office.
He now marks his latest comedy-parody with Fifty Shades of Black, a spoof of the recently released romantic drama Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). Wayans stars as handsome business tycoon Christian Black who embarks in an intense sexual relationship with timid college student Hannah Steele (Kali Hawk). However, Christian’s shortcomings as a lover soon demotes him as an unorthodox and unnerving amateur.
“I read Fifty Shades of Grey because I wanted to do my first parody book”, begins Wayans. “Girls loved it but, after I read it, I just kept thinking ‘I don’t see why.’” Having gained such success as a parody and comedian, Wayans was not looking to star in another spoof but the material in front of him was deemed too fitting to ignore. “There were so many jokes in this book: the characters, this materialistic world, the creepiness of Christian Grey– I knew instantly that we could make a really fun movie.”
Whilst the parody/spoof genre has proven to be popular with audiences over the years, it is has since taken a backseat within contemporary and mainstream cinema. Having grown up influenced by the likes of Blazing Saddles (1974), Airplane! (1979) and Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), Wayans questions that the genre has since become underappreciated. “I grew up on comedy that was coming out at a time when it was okay to be fearless.” He adds, “When you tell those jokes you are a fearless explorer and you go into these dark caves to hopefully come out with some kind of light. My job as a comedian was to go in there anyway.”
Alongside parody naturally comes insult, a perception that Wayans has continued to uphold throughout his work. “There was a time when you could mention anything and people would listen”, he says. “People may say ‘you went too far’ or ‘you are outrageous’ – have you seen what is on the internet? I am nothing compared to that.” Wayans adds, “If you do a comedy show and three people walk out but 2,000 people are laughing you know you’re doing something right. But if 2,000 walk out and three people are laughing, then you’ve got to fix your show. Just because people are easier offended doesn’t mean that you don’t tell the joke.”
Despite a successful career in comedy, Wayans obtains an extensive background in drama having studied at the prestigious High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts in New York City. One of his earliest roles was as the troubled heroin addict Tyrone in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological drama Requiem for a Dream (2000) which gained the actor universal and critical praise. However, Wayans asserts that drama is currently on the backburner. “I will do drama eventually but not now, I enjoy doing comedy; I want to flex my muscles in other ways.” He adds, “I am dramatically trained but I prefer to do comedy because comedy is hard: we can all cry; we all got pain but comedy is ‘how do I make people cry from laughing?’”
Fifty Shades of Black arrives soon after the controversy surrounding the 88th Academy Awards – an event in which the likes of Will Smith and Spike Lee boycotted as a result of the lack of diversity. Despite the observations and awareness that has since culminated the Oscars controversy, lack of diversity in Hollywood is still an ongoing issue – one which Wayans believes to sit much deeper below the surface. “Hollywood is not racist; they just don’t get it; they don’t know. They didn’t know that African-American movies can travel; we need more budgets to make more movies; we need the academy to embrace the movies that we do so that these audiences can continue to enjoy them - because they do enjoy them”, he says.
“The key is to not point fingers and place blame: we’re all part of Hollywood; we’re all part of that engine”, Wayans adds. “Let’s not sit around and wait or point fingers, let’s use these obstacles to make us greater. It’s a higher mountain to climb so let’s go; let’s make it happen.”
Fifty Shades of Black is in UK cinemas now