Marlon Wayans: what films influenced the actor's career (20 photos)

In Hollywood (as well as everywhere else) many actors are representatives of entire acting dynasties or relatives of already famous personalities, so it was much easier for them to break into the cinema than for those who do it from scratch. And the famous actor Marlon Wayans was no exception. But despite the fact that Marlon is the youngest of the Wayans acting family, he starred in the largest number of films.





Brief biography

Marlon Wayans was born in 1972 in New York to supermarket manager Howell Wayans and social worker Elvira Wayans. Moreover, Marlon was the youngest of 10 children.



The parents of the future actor were not connected with cinema in any way, but their son Keenen Ivory Wayans (the second oldest child) at one time dropped out of school in order to become a stand-up comedian and actor. It was under his influence that some members of his family also wanted to try themselves in acting. And some of them (Damon, Sean and Marlon) will indeed succeed in becoming famous actors.





From left to right: Shawn, Marlon, Damon and Keenen Ivory Keyans

Marlon attended an arts school as a child, and then went on to Howard University, where he also studied film. And it was thanks to his older brother Keenen that he managed to get into film, and later became the most famous actor in his family.

Beginning of a career

As I already mentioned, Marlon got into film thanks to his brother Keenen. In 1988, 18-year-old Marlon played a small role in his brother's action comedy "I'm Gonna Get You, Motherfucker." Keenen came up with this film based on one of Eddie Murphy's sketches that was not included in his program. Keenen asked Eddie to give him permission to use this material, to which the actor not only agreed, but also helped financially.

Thanks to this project, as well as the support of Eddie Murphy, the Wayans brothers were able to loudly declare themselves, and already in 1990 the television project "In Vivid Colors" was launched, through which many of the Wayans went, including Marlon himself.

By the way, in addition to the Wayans brothers, Jim Carrey, who was then unknown to anyone, also participated in this project, for whom the show "In Vivid Colors" also became a kind of impetus for his career.



Money, Money, More Money

4 years later, he "flew" into the movie "Money, Money, More Money", in which his brother Damon played the main role (he was also the screenwriter and producer).

Success

In 1995, one of the most famous (at least in our country) films starring Marlon Wayans was released. It was a parody film "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood". Here he played the eccentric cousin of the main character named Loc Dog, and also participated in writing the film.



Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood

By the way, in addition to Marlon, his brothers Keenan and Sean also starred in this film, and Sean actually has the main role here, while Keenan played only a small role as a mailman who occasionally appears.



The film was not well received by critics, but nevertheless it was quite successful, grossing $20 million at the American box office alone with a budget of $3.8 million. Moreover, it was thanks to this film that Marlon Wayans was finally noticed, and now he could no longer depend on his brothers.

Failures

But Marlon's success was short-lived. In 1997, the film "The Sixth Player" was released, which failed at the American box office, earning only $14.7 million with a budget of $11 million.



The Sixth Player

And in 1998, the film "Without Feelings" flopped at the box office. It tells the story of a student who greatly enhanced his 5 main senses with the help of an experimental drug. Personally, I simply adore this film, and have watched it many times. I even have a videotape with this tape.



Without Feelings

But, unfortunately, this film was successful only in our country, and not in the USA. As a result, the film collected only 12.8 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 15 million. However, it is also worth noting that at the same time as this film, James Cameron's cult film "Titanic" was released, which shifted all attention to itself. And if "Titanic" had been released, then the film "Senseless" would have had a much better chance of recouping its budget. In general, the film was clearly released at the wrong time.

New success

The double box office failure greatly affected Marlon Wayans. Because of this, he even dropped out of cinema for a while. But Marlon did not despair, and in 2000 he returned to cinema. It was the famous parody film "Scary Movie" today, where Marlon played a supporting role (a character nicknamed Shorty), and also participated in writing the script with his brother Sean, who also starred in this film. Well, the director of the film was Keenan Ivory Wayans. Thus, the family was reunited again, and quite productively.



Scary Movie

With a budget of 19 million dollars, the Wayans brothers' film collected a gigantic 278 million dollars at the box office. It was a colossal success, especially for Marlon's career, who at that time was worried about his failures.

At the same time, Marlon Wayans was filming a far from comedic movie, "Requiem for a Dream." Moreover, director Darren Aronoffsky did not really want to see Wayans in his movie, but Marlon "gnawed" at the role in this film. He auditioned for the role in the film four times, but was constantly rejected.



Requiem for a Dream

However, due to the fact that the director could not find a suitable actor for the role of Tyrone Love (and those who were suitable, refused the offer), Aronoffsky, gritting his teeth, took Marlon for this role.

The film was released in limited release with the expectation that if it was successful, it would be released in wide release. But the film did not do very well in limited release, collecting 7.4 million dollars with a budget of 4.5 million. Therefore, one could forget about wide release. Nevertheless, after some time, the film attracted great interest from viewers and even gained cult status. Moreover, many appreciated Wayans' performance, who was able to prove that he can handle a dramatic role.



Well, in 2001, the film "Scary Movie 2" was released, which, although it did not repeat the success of the first part, was still quite successful. With a budget of $45 million, the film grossed $141.2 million.

More Failures

Thanks to the way Marlon Wayans played his role in the film "Requiem for a Dream", he was noticed by the famous directors, the Coen brothers, who invited the actor to their film "Gentleman Games" (2004) with Tom Hanks in the lead role.



Gentleman Games

It would seem that such a film should have been a success, because critics have always had kind words for the Coen brothers' films. But this time, something went wrong. The main reason for the bad reviews was that the film was a remake of the 1955 film, so it was constantly compared to the original. Moreover, the comparison was almost always in favor of the original film.

The audience also did not rate this film very well, and as a result, the film "Gentlemen's Games" collected 76 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 35 million. And it seems that this film cannot be called a box office failure, because it was able to recoup the budget and even make a little money, but critics and viewers were very harsh on it, as they were on the acting.



White Chicks

And in the same 2004, the comedy "White Chicks" was released, where the main roles were again played by Shawn and Marlon Wayans, and the director was their older brother Keenen Ivory.

Critics and viewers gave this film a good run, and despite the fact that the film earned 113 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 37 million, it turned out to be a failure. The thing is that the Wayans decided to loudly announce their new project, spending about 30 million dollars on an advertising campaign, which is why the film was no longer able to pay for itself at the box office.

As a result, Marlon was practically no longer invited to large projects. Therefore, he had to return to his roots again, that is, to filming with his brothers. By the way, these films also failed at the box office. For example, the film "Scoundrel" (2006) collected 104 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 64 million.



Shalun

The actor's situation was not saved by the film "Norbit" (2007) starring Eddie Murphy. Yes, the film did quite well at the box office, but it collected a huge pile of "Golden Raspberries" and was simply booed by critics and viewers.



Norbit's Tricks

And it seems that in 2009 the actor was lucky enough to get into the film "G.I. Joe" by Stephen Sommers, and in one of the main roles. And it seems that the film had a good background (G.I. Joe toys). Plus, the director of the film was Stephen Sommers, who at one time became famous thanks to such films as "The Mummy", "Deep Rising" and "Van Helsing".



G.I. Joe

But none of this helped. The film failed at the box office, collecting $302 million on a $175 million budget.

This had a strong impact on Marlon's internal state, which is why almost nothing was heard about him for several years.

Success Again

Having gathered his strength, Marlon tried to return to cinema, starring in the parody film "The House with the Haunted Phenomena". In addition to playing the main role in this film, he also became its producer.

And oddly enough, this parody film turned out to be a mega-success, despite the fact that the parody genre was already dying out. The budget of the films was only 2.5 million dollars, and the film collected as much as 60 million at the box office.



A house with paranormal phenomena

At the same time, he starred in the film "The Heat" with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in the lead roles. And this film also turned out to be quite successful, collecting 230 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 43 million.

Having realized that he needed to "strike while the iron was hot", Marlon was inspired by the idea of ​​making a sequel to "The House with a Haunted House". And in 2014, the sequel to this successful film was released. Yes, the success was not as stunning as the original, but nevertheless, with a budget of 4 million dollars, the film collected 25 million at the box office.



50 Shades of Black

Having decided to "hit" the parody again, Marlon starred in another parody film "50 Shades of Black", which seemed to recoup its budget, but was very mediocrely received by critics and viewers.

The death of a film career?

After that, the actor stopped appearing in big projects. Yes, in 2017, the film "Naked" was released, but it went unnoticed by viewers, and it was filmed specifically for the streaming service "Netflix". And in 2021, the film "Respect" was released, which has already failed at the box office, collecting just over 60 million dollars with a budget of 55 million.



Respect

The last film to date with the participation of Marlon Wayans was the film "The Curse of Bridge Hollow" (2022), but here Marlon did not have to count on success.

It's been 2 years since the actor last appeared on screen, and we haven't heard anything about any new plans in the cinema. Of course, Marlon said that he has two projects in his plans that he wants to implement, but both of them are exclusively for "Netflix", and you shouldn't expect them on the big screen.



Of course, we can't say that Marlon's career is dead, because he actively performs with his stand-up concerts, but most likely we will not see any new ups in his acting career.