Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Terry Crews, and Vanessa Carlton look back on the outrageous 2004 comedy.
“You know who lovesWhite Chicksthe most?
With the family moving on from the franchise, they were in the market for a new project.
Credit: Joe Lederer/Columbia
MARLON WAYANS:Shawn called me up at like 2 in the morning.
SHAWN WAYANS:It was like 5 in the morning.
I didn’t sleep a lot back then.
Everett Collection
And green tea makes him sweat and think of stuff.
I read an article aboutParis Hiltonand Nicky Hilton.
They were on thecover ofFHM.
Everett Collection
They were getting in fights and stuff and acting real rowdy and raunchy.
And I just thought it would be funny for me and Marlon to play two white girls like this.
What do you mean play two white women?”
And I was like, “Okay, you were high.”
I’m like, “How?!”
And we went through it and started talking about it, and then we realized it could be done.
SHAWN:We called Keenen up and at first he thought I was high too.
They thought it was an interesting, fresh idea.
And it was crazy, I agree.
“Buffy the White Girl Slayer.”
And they’d turn to an NFL player-turned-actor who was still trying to find his place in Hollywood.
I actually had auditioned forMy Wife and Kidsearlier in the day.
So Damon and his sister Kim and the family was all over that first audition.
I really wanted itand I bombed.
I got in my car and drove across town for myWhite Chicksaudition, and I didn’t care anymore.
It was kind of like, “Maybe this is not for me.”
I had a bad attitude and I didn’t care.
And everything just clicked.
[Laughs] Clearly they didn’t have time to talk to each other.
MARLON:Nothing was unexpected from Terry.
SHAWN:And he sings Vanessa Carlton songs.
CREWS:I based Latrell on people I knew, football players and athletes that were just like that.
They were all about themselves and getting women and they had all the techniques.
And they were like, “Hell no!
No, man!”
He picked his prototype, I picked mine and found the voices.
MARLON:Shawn is probably one of the most handsome black men I’ve ever seen.
Like, this is a handsome, handsome man.
But as a white woman… [Laughs] He’s not flattering as a white woman.
SHAWN:You know who really freaked outour children.
They came to see us, and they were standing by us and didn’t know it.
Then we started talking in our regular voices, and it was hilarious.
MARLON:Seven hours of makeup every day, and then we’d work.
SHAWN:It felt like the old Coke bottle caps were glued to our eyelids.
It ruined your mood.
MARLON:It was the most uncomfortable movie ever.
All their work earned the admiration of their castmaybe even too much in one case.
CREWS:I’ve got to give credit to Marlon and Shawn because it was torture.
Sometimes they would just leave pieces on; I saw their faces breaking out.
It was a total miserable experience.
I thought they were going to go crazy.
By the end, they were just frustrated.
I would just sit back and laugh.
SHAWN:We were still writing with our dresses on.
CREWS:It was bizarre.
And it was just weird because they were in there, but they weren’t in there.
It was miraculous how detailed it was.
I actually began to refer to Marlon as his character.
To me, he’s a blond white woman.
When he was in his thing, I was like, “You look so cute!”
MARLON:We hung with Terry the whole time.
CREWS:There was a moment that went too far that they didn’t put in the movie.
Well, there were lots of moments that went too far.
And they were like, “Oh, that’s way too much!”
It was assault on the dance floor.
So many things went that far.
MARLON:It almost killed us, but we pulled it off.
We slept literally two hours a night for 65 days.
We were showing skin, and it was so cold out there.
SHAWN:It was freezing out.
And the chase scene, I wasn’t even wearing shoes.
So it was very uncomfortable.
He looked at me and said, “N, you just got here.
You got all day.”
That’s when I realized, “Oh s, what did we get ourselves into?”
Like I was actually having feelings for this character.
As an actor, you’ve got the option to’t really separate it.
When it was over, there was a bit of grief, like, “Where is she?”
[Laughs] I actually fell in love.
So I’d just spend those days pretending that I was doing the scene.
SHAWN:It was popular but it was pure.
And I used to listen to it because I thought it was funny.
[Laughs] And everyone had heard it, so we all picked it.
Because that’s not what this is, and that’s not who I am.
And of course the Wayanses know that on some level.
CREWS:I was so ready that I did the whole thing in one take.
They were like, “There’s nothing else we can do.”
[Laughs] And I actually thought it would be too much, and I tend to think that.
But with this there was no overdoing it.
[Laughs]
CARLTON:I thought it was funny.
Either way, the whole reason why they used the song is because they like the song.
And the whole point of the joke with Terry is that it’s a song that literally everybody loves.
Despite that song having such a classical piano part, it’s somehow totally genre-crossing.
I mean, with Abe Laborial Jr. on drums?
There’s no way it won’t make every head in the room the move!
MARLON:It was just absolute hell for my character.
CREWS:When I say we played that thing like one time, everything was real.
Like, he didn’t know I was going to touch his cheek.
He goes, “[Squeals].”
Everything was played perfectly, all of his reactions.
Every time we did something, he gave me exactly what I needed.
MARLON:You know who lovesWhite Chicksthe most?
That’s how you know it’s a good movie.
And what’s beautiful is that we’re equal-opportunity offenders.
And I think that’s what makes it a cult classic to this day.
CARLTON:People bring it up [to me] all the time.
MARLON:We felt like we did the impossible.
We were busy but so productive during that time, and still managed to have fun.
SHAWN:And we were in wonderful hands.
Keenen is amazing and steered the ship and made sure everything came out excellent.
It was the ‘95 Bulls.
CREWS:We were a family.
It was just beautiful from start to finish.
I didn’t want it to end.
I would go home and get depressed.
I literally missed everybody, all the ladies, Shawn, Marlon, Keenen, the crew.
We knew we were making something super-special.
My life changed forever.
Regardless, they all want it to happen.
CREWS:We got to get a 2.
I’m staying ready to this day.
If we can getWhite Chicks 2, I would jump into that so fast.
Think about it,White Chickswas pre-Kardashian.
There’s so much to mine.
SHAWN:We would love to make a sequel.
MARLON:I think the audience wants it.
SHAWN:We’re getting death threats now if we don’t make a sequel.
MARLON:[Laughs] From white chicks!
They’re writing us letters.
SHAWN and MARLON:[White girl voices] “We are so frickin’ pissed!”
MARLON:There’s so many white girls having BFs all over the world.
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