Marlon Wayans sees work in sitcom, movie as finally coming into his own – The Columbus Dispatch

By Ian SpellingNew York Times Syndicate

Marlon Wayans is the youngest of 10 children and, as such, he has always been called "the Baby Wayans." He even named his production company Baby Way.

He turned 45 in July, however, is the father of two children, and has been performing for more than 25 years, starring in not only "The Wayans Brothers" (1995-1999), "Scary Movie" (2000) and "White Chicks" (2006) but also "A Haunted House" (2013), "The Heat" (2013) and "Fifty Shades of Black" (2016).

So is he really still the Baby Wayans?

"Im always going to be the Baby Wayans," he replied, speaking by telephone from his office in Los Angeles. "Im always going to be the Baby Wayans its just who I am, and I never want to stray from that in my personal life, I think. And Im proud of it.

"It was 20 years of learning with my brothers," he said, referring to Shawn, Keenan Ivory and Damon Wayans. "It was five years of learning by myself, and now Im like, 'OK, now I think God got me ready to execute.'"

Wayans' latest movie, the romantic comedy "Naked," makes its debut Friday on the streaming service Netflix.

Then, on Wednesday, hell headline the NBC sitcom "Marlon." Hes also working on his first stand-up special.

"Naked," a remake of a Swedish film called "Naken" (2000), casts Wayans as Rob Anderson, a good guy, if an immature one, trying to marry the love of his life, Megan Swope (Regina Hall)

For mysterious reasons, hes forced to relive the hours before his wedding over and over again until he gets it right.

"Ive always been a big fan of Groundhog Day (1993)," Wayans said. "To me its one of the top 10 movies, comedies, of all time, just the concept, the way Bill Murray played it. And so I wanted to bring the magical comedy back, because nowadays everything is based in reality, and I just think the magical comedy and escapism is what we need right now."

Wayans never saw "Naken" but read the "Naked" script and helped build it into a vehicle that would play to his strengths. As a result, theres plenty of broad comedy, much of which finds Wayans naked and frantically running around.

"The journey the character goes on, with all these obstacles, it felt natural, although it was magical," he said.

Only five days after "Naked" arrives, Wayans will return to the small screen in "Marlon," in which he plays a recently divorced man still very much connected perhaps too connected to his ex-wife (Essence Atkins) and their kids.

"I always wanted to do a show about my life, about my family, about me as a dad with my kids, about my relationship with Ang," Wayans said, referring to Angelica Zachary, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two kids.

"Even though theres divorce in the show, its really about love," he said. "This show is about a family. Its a different kind of TV family, with a different kind of TV dad. So I just felt like it was time, for me and for a character like this."

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Marlon Wayans sees work in sitcom, movie as finally coming into his own - The Columbus Dispatch

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero