For all of the awful, awful movies that he has made (White Chicks, Little Man, Dance Flick, Norbit...this list could go on a while), Marlon Wayans has actually demonstrated that he can act at least once. Requiem for a Dream is about as anti-comedy as it gets, yet his performance as Tyrone stood up against the likes of Ellen Burstyn and Jennifer Connelly. So why does he not do more drama? Because Requiem made $3 million during its domestic box office run and Scary Movie made $157 million. So with that in mind, people weren't too psyched when Wayans was cast to play Richard Pryor in Bill Condon's upcoming biopic, Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?. He's ready to prove people wrong, however.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wayans opened up about the role, saying that he truly loves making people laugh, but wants to show people that he has more versatility. "I think I've proven to some people -- the ones paying attention -- that I can do more. Everybody else, well, they can wait and see and make up their mind." He also shows great respect for one of the greatest stand-up acts of all time, commenting that he and his brothers would watch Pryor when they were children, and how the man is seen as such a respected figure in the black community, likening Bill Cosby to Martin Luther King as Pryor was to Malcolm X.
The article is worth reading as a whole, if just to fully gauge how much the project means to the actor. He has made a career for himself playing the goofball, but he would hardly be the first comedian to successfully break the dramatic barrier. Many are still disappointed that Eddie Murphy, who worked with Condon on Dreamgirls, turned down the part, but Wayans seems to care enough to be sure he does it right.
