Can't keep the wayans Quiet

They weren't allowed to play with other kids so they amused each other. Wendy Ide wonders if the makers of Scary Movie 2 amuse us It's a showbiz truism that the funniest people on stage tend to be plagued by demons in real life - think Hancock and Belushi. But even so, we generally expect off-duty comic performers to have something approaching a good time - just how serious a business is it making people laugh? So it comes as a bit of a shock to meet three of the Wayans brothers, the men behind the outrageous and unexpected hit Scary Movie. Visiting the UK to promote the inferior sequel, Scary Movie 2, director Keenen Ivory Wayans is coughing pointedly and fretting over air-conditioning.

His younger brothers Marlon and Shawn - two of the co-writers and stars of the picture - are ostentatiously wrapped in blankets against the British chill (in July, for Christ's sake), bickering like two fractious children on a long car journey.

Marlon (dope-fiend Shorty in the film) is berating Shawn (repressed homosexual Ray). "Shawn, if you don't stop, I swear just pick 'em up, put those damn jellybeans away." There's a loud crash as Shawn drops his jar of sweets again.

"Now you see what I have to put up with," says Marlon wearily. In all fairness, they are all clearly exhausted, every last drop of humour wrung from them by the punishing schedule of the past year.

"We had a third of the time we had to make the first one," explains Marlon. "We worked so hard! If you'd have seen our schedule this last year," adds Shawn. "I wish a camera was with us from the time that we signed on to do Scary Movie 2 till now, I would just love to show that tape to the public."

But aren't they afraid of burning out? "No," says Marlon, dead- eyed with fatigue, "I'm a well of ideas."

The puritanical work ethic is a bit of a family trait. The brothers are three of ten Wayans offspring, five of whom have entered the entertainment business - middle brother Damon recently starred in Spike Lee's caustic satire Bamboozled, and sister Kim is currently writing a film script. They grew up in crowded apartments in Manhattan housing projects. Forbidden by their disciplinarian father to hang out with the other neighbourhood kids, the Wayans clan made their own entertainment. It was Keenen, the second oldest of the brood, who first made the leap into the comedy scene as a profession, rather than a pastime.

He recollects now that "show business was so removed from where we were from and how we grew up, that it was almost funny to hear somebody say they wanted to be in it. When I said that I wanted to be in show business, the adults around me were like, 'Are you on crack? You live in the projects. Showbiz where? You don't know nobody in Hollywood.' It was like me saying, 'I'm going to go to the moon one day'."

It's clear that the two youngest Wayans revere their older brother as something of a mentor. For example, they never argue with him over what goes into the screenplay. Shawn says: "It's not a democracy."

Marlon adds: "We completely trust him. He taught us how to do this. He raised us in comedy." They talk with the earnest enthusiasm of the born-again: comedy Wayans-style is as much a belief system as it is a form of entertainment.

For work purposes, some of the siblings have relocated from New York to the west coast, and the contrast between the two is stark. "Night and day," says Shawn. "New York is a fast-paced, great artistic community, great night life; LA is business."

I venture that New York sounds rather more fun, and Marlon stares blankly for a moment. "It's more fun," he says finally, "but you won't have as much focus in New York as you will in LA. LA is where you go to Make It." The capital letters are certainly audible. "We live in LA, but we travel to NY twice a year. Thanksgiving and one other time. Gotta work."

I have to ask, diplomatically, what the boys feel about their new film which, in all honesty, is pretty dreadful. But if they have their doubts, they're not going to voice them. The recipe for showbiz success according to Keenen is: "It's not a matter of knowing that you can do it; it's just saying you can do it." And his brothers have learned the lesson well. The problem with the film, according to Shawn and Marlon, is that the American board of film classification, the MPAA, were rather more strict about what was suitable for entertainment of the masses. "They were sitting there waiting with their guns loaded," explains Marlon. "They let us get away with murder once, and the second time they were waiting for us."

A taste of the missing scenes: "Tori Spelling waxed her legs, then she waxed her vagina, and rips the wax paper off and you can see her vagina on the wax paper. Very funny, very funny." The brothers nod appreciatively.

So what's next for the Wayans? The brothers agree that they want to move away from parody, into more general comedy. Shawn and Marlon have a script for an animated film called Roaches which they are hoping to place with a studio. But first, they have awarded themselves two months' holiday. Marlon starts to get twitchy at the thought of all that inactivity. "I've got another script I want to finish first," he backtracks.

Later on that evening, I see Marlon and his entourage walk into a party held in honour of actor Steve Buscemi. He stands by the dance floor for a couple of minutes, looking tired and confused. Then he marches out of the venue with minders in tow. It's almost as if he's forgotten what a good time is like.

Scary Movie 2 is out now

Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.