Marlon weighs in

Wayans makes 'Sense' of success

You may have played hopscotch. You may have played jumprope. You may have never played "make me laugh or die."

Well, the Wayans brothers, creators of the humor-or-consequence game, never seemed like part of the hopscotch crowd.

You see, make me laugh or die was a game the brothers played to stay entertained during their early years. The rules were simple. Someone stood up and had 60 seconds to make the others laugh.

If they were successful, then nothing happened. But if the other brothers could keep a straight face for a whole minute, things got ugly. The defeated sibling then had to do whatever the others wished. The most popular punishment was to go wake up their exhausted and overworked father by tickling him. And from this vicious diversion emerged four brothers who have made their mark in various areas of the entertainment industry.

The youngest Wayans brother, Marlon, can be seen starring in "Senseless," where he plays a character who receives super senses as part of a medical experiment. "I liked the idea of a guy who lost all of his senses, everybody wonders about what it would be like, so the high concept alone attracted me to it. It was also a chance to work with (director) Penelope Spheeris."

Wayans has appeared in a variety of films throughout his career, including "Mo Money," "Above The Rim," "Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood," and last year's "The Sixth Man."

Also, unbeknownst to many he came very close to appearing in the "Batman" series. The makers of "Batman Returns" cast him as Robin, but later decided that there were too many characters in the movie and Robin wasn't getting his proper due. When "Batman Forever" came around, new director Joel Schumacher had a different vision for Robin, and the role was recast with Chris O'Donnell. After losing the role of Robin, Wayans joined forces with his brother Shawn for the spoof comedy "Don't Be A Menace ..." on which they both served as writers, actors and producers for the project.

Marlon currently can be seen with Shawn in "The Wayans Brothers," a television show that airs on The WB. Marlon blames "bad writing" for the program's slow start but sees the show maturing as the characters grow up. "We're going to start dealing with more relationships and try to get a girlfriend on the show next year; trying to build and build the dimensions of the characters instead of always going to different things on different episodes."

As his career progresses, Wayans looks to expand his acting repertoire beyond comedy. "I think all comedians should do dramas because you expand your range. But every comedy I do I like to have heart. 'Senseless' had heart. I just have to move into those kind of movies, like 'Mrs. Doubtfire' or 'Liar Liar.'"

He also plans to continue writing scripts with and without his brothers and hopes to eventually direct because it offers him "the ultimate of complete vision." Down the road, along with Shawn, Marlon says he hopes to start a studio and create, star in and fund a movie with their own money.

"There is no way Hollywood wouldn't have worked," said Wayans, "I would have found a way for it to work. There isn't anyone who's going to tell me I'm not going to do it." With such determination, the future appears to be bright for the youngest Wayans brother.

02-23-98