The Wayans brothers had us laughing and scared at the same time when they debuted Scary Movie in 2000. The film was directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, and it was created by and starred his younger brothers Marlon and Shawn Wayans. Marlon recently chopped it up with Kevin Hart on his “Comedy Gold Minds” podcast and revealed that the Scary Movie franchise was taken from them by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
The Weinsteins are co-founders of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company, and disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for sex crimes and facing extradition to California to face even more charges.
“They were evil as f—. We didn’t walk away from a franchise, they didn’t want to make our deal, and they snatched it,” Marlon Wayans explained to Hart. “[The] Weinsteins did some really terrible, like ‘rape and pillage villages’ type of business… So it wasn’t that we ever walked away from our franchise that we created. It was taken, and us being the creatives that we are was like ‘All right, bet. F— you, now watch what I create.
“The second one they rushed us into, and by the third one, they didn’t want to pay the money, so they snatched it. We found out on Christmas that they hired somebody else to go do it, like n—– write a book about this s—. Like literally,” added the comedian and actor.
Wayans also admitted that a lawsuit should have been filed and he and his family may one day circle back. “We probably should sue for hundreds of millions of dollars, because they probably owe us a s—load of money. And maybe one day we will. But we didn’t walk away from our franchise, them n—–s took it.”
The White Chicks star will appear next in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect starring Jennifer Hudson, which is expected to hit theatres on Aug. 13, 2021. Wayans will portray one of Franklin’s ex-husbands, Ted White.
Listen to Hart’s interview with Wayans and catch him in the trailer for Respect on the next page.
