Keenen remembers the day his family moved into ''the projects'' as the happiest of his mother's life. Often completing one another's sentences and cracking themselves up, they explained how the good, the bad and the ugly of their upbringing helped them make their names in show business. These four sons of Howell (who, paradoxically, sold condoms for a living) and Elvira Wayans recalled their early days as bittersweet. That's where all 10 Wayans children - from oldest to youngest, Dwayne, Keenen, Deidre, Damon, Kim, Elvira, Nadia, Devon, Shawn and Marlon - spent at least a portion of their childhood. While the setting for this business-related family reunion was pretty elegant, the conversation kept drifting back to a more humble location: the Robert Fulton Houses, a housing project in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. Marlon and Shawn wrote the script, but being their brother, Keenen didn't have to be nice about telling them, 'Go write it over 20 more times.' '' Weinstein said, both impressed and amused him: ''I work with my brother, and I see their interaction and it makes me laugh. Watching the Wayans brothers collaborating on ''Scary Movie,'' Mr.
We energize each other.''ĭamon pointed out that some of the energy comes from ''a friendly competition'': ''If I'm in a scene with Keenen and I look him in the eye, I know if I don't get the laugh, he's gonna get it.
''If Damon comes and gives me a note, I listen, because he's my third eye.
''We know each other's sensibility,'' Keenen said. ''And I'm not even in it.''Īlong with the jovial back-and-forth comes a sense of how the brothers work together.
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''This movie is 'There's Something About Mary' funny, which is funny to everybody,'' offered Damon. ''We're the black Beatles,'' said Shawn, with mock bravado. Gathering recently at a Beverly Hills breakfast spot to discuss the rise of their family - and taking every opportunity to plug ''Scary Movie'' - Keenen, Shawn, Marlon and Damon, 39, were in high spirits. ''They've had a particular audience and this is going to widen their audience even more.'' ''I think this is what's going to lift the whole dynasty off,'' said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax with his brother, Harvey, who released the film through their company's Dimension division. Now, with ''Scary Movie'' - marked by a broad tone and an interracial cast that includes Carmen Electra and Shannon Elizabeth - they have established themselves as a force with which Hollywood will gladly reckon. They are more like a loosely formed but tightly knit mutual admiration society - and they do much of their best work together. Still, the Wayanses are not really a package deal like, say, the Marx Brothers. They have enjoyed assorted levels of success as stand-up comedians and on television shows like the influential early-90's Fox sketch-comedy show ''In Living Color'' and the more recent UPN sitcom ''The Wayans Brothers.'' On the big screen, meanwhile, family members also have appeared together in various combinations in ''Hollywood Shuffle'' (1987), ''I'm Gonna Get You Sucka'' (1988), '' 'Mo Money'' (1992) and ''Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood'' (1996).
Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, 42, and showcasing the acting and writing talents of his younger brothers Shawn, 29, and Marlon, 27, ''Scary Movie'' took in an impressive $42 million at the box office in its first weekend and seems likely to make the family hot in Hollywood.Īs individuals, members of the Wayans family have long been familiar faces and respected comic figures. With last weekend's successful opening of ''Scary Movie'' - the ''Airplane''-like spoof of body-count horror flicks such as ''Scream'' and ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' - this family that often plays together has taken a collective giant step forward. Not just to breakfast - for which they are varying degrees of fashionably late - but as a major comedy dynasty. THE Wayans brothers have finally arrived.
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