Brothers Marlon and Shawn Wayans talk big for 'Little Man'

In the film, Darryl Edwards (Shawn) is so eager to become a father that he mistakes a short, baby-faced thief Calvin (Marlon) on the lam for an abandoned toddler. He and his wife take the "baby" into their home while the thief's partner tries to help him recover a stolen diamond. Once inside the Edwards home, the tough, cynical Calvin finds life as a "baby" to be a living hell and retrieving the diamond much tougher than he'd imagined.

Considered the most successful African-American filmmakers in cinema history (the brothers also write and produce their films), Marlon and Shawn discuss "Little Man" in the following interview:

Question: Marlon, was it challenging playing such a short person?

Marlon Wayans: It was kind of hard, first of all, because I'm 6'2", not 2'6". Then, on top of that, I had to play a baby, too. That was asking a lot. All that, and I couldn't use my body, just my head. And when I'm acting, and supposed to be driving in a car, I'm really sitting on a box. I'm not in a car. And when I'm running, it's not really me running. It's somebody else running. I may as well have had my head chopped off and just had that come to the set so my body could be home sleeping.

Q: What was it like having to perform against a blank green screen?

Marlon: It was just me and, like, some green background. I felt like I was working with Shrek's skin all over the damn place. I had nobody to talk to, so I just thank God for developing my imagination when I was young, since none of my brothers would play with me because I was so damn annoying.

Q: Shawn, how would you describe your character?

Shawn Wayans: Darryl is a young man who has reached that point in life where he really wants to have kids. He really wants to have that responsibility and that camaraderie that you share with children. So, he's really excited about that next level in life. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm about having babies is not matched by his bank account which can't really accommodate kids at this particular time with his wife. But that doesn't stop him from trying. So, he wants to be a dad, and he will be one.

Q: Was it hard to generate chemistry not really having each other to work off of as you shot your scenes?

Shawn: The chemistry was still there, surprisingly, through our brother Keenen [who directed the film], because he knew what it was that I did, and then Marlon would match the scene with what it was that he was doing. So, I shot most of my stuff first with his body double, and then Marlon would watch what I did and then ad-lib what he would normally ad-lib if we were both doing the scene together. It was an interesting process. It was different. I missed having him on the set with me at the same time because we have a blast doing it. But this turned out really good.

Q: Do you two see yourselves as similar to a classic comedy team like Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello?

Marlon: Me and Shawn are kinda like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, but we're not white. Or older, yet. Who knows what we'll become when we get older. But we're going to be grumpy old black men. I know it. We were born a comedy team. We're twins, but I just so happened to come out late. Of course, he came out prettier, because he came out on time, and I came out a little shriveled up and funny-looking, but it's all good.

Q: What's it like being directed by your big brother?

Marlon: I didn't want to get in his way, because I didn't want to get a spanking. Sometimes Keenen would give me a look like, "You want to get the hell off the set?" And I'm like, "Okay."

Shawn: Keenen likes to do what is written first, or close to what's written. Most of the time, Keenen is cool, he'll let you play. You'll come up with something, and then he'll come up with something, and it just becomes this whole other thing. He's always trying to elevate the material, trying to take it up ten notches from what it was when you read it. That's the blessing of working with Mr. Keenen Ivory Wayans. Although sometimes he's like, "That's my line. Keep it like that or you're going to change the story structure."

Q: Is it fun for siblings to get to work together so often?

Marlon: Yeah, I'd go to work everyday and it's not like work, it's fun. I mean, it is work, but I like doing it. I'm happy, because I love working with my brothers. I do. It could be a challenge, but when you overcome that challenge and look at the filmography of the movies that we've done together, I'm damn proud. It's just amazing what we've been able to accomplish.

(Opening soon across the Philippines, "Little Man" is distributed by Columbia Pictures, the local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.)