Marlon Wayans Was Killing Dramatic Roles Long Before 'Him' Came Around Actorsvaultpro

The football horror movie Him took a pretty nasty sacking from critics upon its release, currently sitting at a rather dreary 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, even those critics who gave the film a negative review (which was most of them) had to concede that one element worked quite well: Marlon Wayans‘ performance. Wayans has been earning praise for his work as legendary quarterback Isaiah White, with much being made of his more dramatic turn after so many years doing goofy comedies.

But Wayans already proved his dramatic mettle all the way back in 2000 with his role in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. With only a few roles under his belt at the time, Wayans held his own alongside actors like Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Ellen Burstyn. The film might even be scarier in its own way than Wayans’ latest.

‘Requiem for a Dream’s Horrors of Addiction

Artisan Entertainment

Requiem for a Dream isn’t really a horror movie, but it’s certainly plenty frightening. Based on the 1978 novel by Hubert Selby Jr., the film follows a trio of young heroin addicts, Harry (Leto), Tyrone (Wayans), and Marion (Connelly), as their lives descend into chaos in pursuit of their addiction. At the same time, Harry’s mother Sara (Burstyn) becomes addicted to amphetamine-fueled diet pills, rapidly losing her grip on reality.

Requiem for a Dream is one of those great movies that most film lovers only have the stomach to watch once. It’s unrelentingly grim, with a heightened style that pulls the viewer into the madness in ways that more realistic movies about addiction often fail to do. Wayans had only done a few other films before this role came along, most of them comedies with his brothers Damon and Keenan Ivory Wayans. He does a terrific job of selling Tyrone’s addiction and desperation as he descends into criminality to maintain his habit.

In many ways, Tyrone is the character with the most to lose. As the only person of color in the film’s main cast, Tyrone stands to be punished much more harshly for his addiction than his white friends. This is exactly what happens when Tyrone gets arrested after being caught in the middle of a gang war between rival drug dealers. It’s telling that Tyrone is the only character who ends up in prison, while Harry ends the film in a hospital bed with an amputated arm, and Marion ends up stuck in a life of sex work. Not that any of those outcomes seem particularly great, but it’s not hard to imagine that Harry and Marion would be given an opportunity to get clean without criminal charges that likely wouldn’t be afforded to Tyrone.

Ultimately, this film pointed towards a future career for Wayans that never materialized, although he certainly did well for himself. Wayans’ next movie was Scary Movie, which he co-wrote with his brother Shawn, a massive hit that cemented Wayans as the new king of the stoner comedy. From then on, Wayans pretty much stayed in the goofy comedy wheelhouse, racking up other good-sized hits like White Chicks, Scary Movie 2, and Little Man, all with his brother Shawn. These movies were certainly lucrative, if not exactly critically respected.

This isn’t to imply that comedy is a lower form of performance than drama. As any actor knows, doing comedy well is incredibly difficult, but Requiem for a Dream made it clear that Wayans could have taken the path of a well-respected dramatic actor if he’d chosen to. In recent years, he has taken on roles in more dramatic or hybrid comedic-drama roles, such as Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks, the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, and the Air Jordan origin story Air. While Him may not be considered much of a success, most viewers agree Wayans’ work is the film’s inarguable bright spot. Hopefully, he’ll continue to stretch himself going forward. Requiem for a Dream is available to stream on Peacock or for free (with ads) on Tubi.