When it was announced yesterday that Marlon Wayans was taking over for Eddie Murphy as the lead in the proposed Richard Pryor biopic, “Richard Pryor: Is it Something I Said,” most the of the Internet reaction was, “huh? him?”
A deal is currently being discussed by Sony Pictures with co-producers Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Pictures, Chris Rock, Mark Gordon and Jennifer Pryor for Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls”) to direct and Wayans in the lead. Sandler may even take a small role as Pryor’s first manager, Sandy Gallin.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but if all goes well the biopic will shoot next spring (the picture was once set up over at Paramount and then Fox Searchlight who passed on it recently because Eddie Murphy’s asking price was far too high).
But Wayans in the lead? As discussed before, his seemingly only serious role that audiences know him for is his supporting role as a junkie in Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 film, “Requiem For A Dream.” A solid turn, but enough to instill the confidence that he can play the seminal comedian in a biopic?
But as a wise reader points out to us, the Wayans brothers have been clocking the Pryor role for some time and has another serious role under his belt— which is possibly/probably never coming out called — “Behind The Smile,” that is a 2006 film directed by Damon Wayans that is still unreleased and is evidently a dark, dark look at the world of stand-up comedians (the antithesis of “Funny People”), without spoiling it, it’s almost about creating a monster and there’s apparently some pretty horrific elements to it.
Written by Damon as well, here’s the synopsis:
Set in the world of stand-up comedy, “Behind the Smile” tells the dramatic story of the rise and fall of Danny Styles, a young comic from Cleveland, Ohio, who moves to Los Angeles in pursuit of fulfilling a dream. After meeting Charlie Richman, his idol, Danny quickly finds success, but is soon caught up in a seductive lifestyle, which ultimately leads to this rising star’s downfall.
In a 2004 issue of filmmaker magazine Damon Wayans said he wrote “Behind The Smile,” as an cathartic outlet over the disappointment of not being able to get a Richard Pryor biopic off the ground. “I was frustrated about that,” Wayans said about the project that fell apart in development. “I really wanted to do a movie about comedy, so I wrote my own Richard Pryor story. This movie is about everything I’ve seen and heard in my 22 years in stand-up comedy.”
So is little brother Marlon going to get to fulfill Damon’s dream job of bringing the Pryor story to the screen? The ending of “Behind The Smile,” — slightly hinted at here is apparently pretty harrowing and could potentially be very difficult for any actor to pull off. So maybe naysayers shouldn’t write off Wayans yet. He might be better suited to this dramatic role than most people would have thought.