Marlon Wayans is known for his comedic prowess, having built a comedy dynasty with his many siblings. Now, he's ready to take his abilities to the next level by starring as the late great Richard Pryor in a biopic that's sure to garner plenty of attention. When the role was offered to the actor, as opposed to Eddie Murphy, many naysayers felt he wasn't capable of filling the shoes of such a funny, complex character as Pryor. Wayans is now out to prove them wrong. L.A. Times writer, Geoff Boucher, discusses the role with the actor at length. –gerald radford  


When it was announced that Marlon Wayans and not Eddie Murphy would be portraying Richard Pryor in the long-discussed biopic of the comedy giant, the news was greeted with Internet jeering. Wayans wasn't surprised when he read the disparaging comments — "you can't hang your star on films like White Chicks and Little Man without consequences."

"Look, I want to be able to make the stupidest movies ever, because they make people laugh and they make money," Wayans recently said with a smirk. "But that's not all I want to do. And 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."

Wayans believes he is on the verge of winning over skeptics and just maybe establishing a name for himself that goes beyond his status as "the other Wayans" -- or maybe even "the other-other-Wayans." The 37-year-old is the youngest of 10 children in the show business brood that came to fame on "In Living Color," the 1990s television show created and written by Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans. His position in the family photo has given Marlon Wayans plenty of opportunity — he and sibling Shawn got their own show, "The Wayans Brothers," for four seasons on Fox beginning in 1995 — but also an ongoing challenge in establishing anything resembling an individual identity.

"I have no complaints," Wayans said, "but I do have a plan. I love doing comedy, but I also love to do drama."

When it comes to laughter and tragedy, it would be hard to think of a figure that bundles them together in more compelling fashion than the late Richard Pryor, a Peoria, Ill., native who grew up in his grandmother's brothel, was expelled from school at age 14 and went on to become a firebrand force in pop culture as a stand-up comic, movie star, writer. When, in 1998, he became the first recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, he was described by Lawrence Wilker, the president of the Kennedy Center, as a signature voice in the national conversation: "He struck a chord, and a nerve, with America, forcing it to look at large social questions of race and the more tragicomic aspects of the human condition."

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