Geekscape Interviews: Marlon Wayans and Gabriel Iglesias Talk ‘A Haunted House 2’

Marlon Wayans has created another funny ass film, and this one is even crazier than the first! He reprises his role as “Malcom” in “A Haunted House 2.” This time out, Malcom is getting a fresh start with a new woman (Jaime Pressly), a new house, new dog (Shilo 2), and a new neighbor played by comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. As parody films go, “A Haunted House 2” does everything it’s supposed to, aside from this sequence of scenes that I just can’t seem to shake. It involves Marlon and this doll named “Delilah.”

Allie Hanley: So last night at the screening I saw this man hooking it up with this crazy doll.

Marlon Wayans: Man, …why’d you do that man (looking at Gabriel Iglesias).

Gabriel Iglesias: I was at WrestleMania, I don’t know about you.

Allie: And I was getting a little bit hot and bothered!

Marlon: “Oh!” <laughing>

Allie: So how much of that was acting and how much of that was real?

Marlon: Well, I commit. I commit. You see what had happened was….<laughing> I don’t know why I did this because now I am having to explain this!

Iglesias: Yes, you do!

Marlon: They always be asking me this. I don’t know why I did that because now I am having to go and explain it.

Iglesias: It’s legit though isn’t it? <smiling big>

Marlon: Ok, I didn’t get off! Ya, I didn’t let off,!…if that is the question?

Allie: I wasn’t going for that!

Marlon: Now she did twice <laughing and meaning the doll.>! But I was very committed (switching from comedic to serious). I feel like this… When I do it, when I choose to go there, I just black out and I do it. I just go have fun and you can’t think about vanity. You can’t think, what’s my mom gonna think? She’s not gonna think, because she’s not going to see the movie. I was actually in the elevator laughing. I was thinking, what would my parents think if they saw this movie? I was just thinking of my Dad (in an impersonation of his Dad) “This N*****’s crazy,… this… the crazy N*****!” My mom would say (in an impersonation of his mom), “This boy’s done left…. You need to show some of those moves to your father.” <everyone laughing>

 Commenting on his writing alone vs with his brother Shawn Wayans (2004 White Chicks) 
Marlon: We actually get along really well. We complement each other but actually we have very different writing styles. Shawn likes to write in his house and he likes hanging out. We’ll hang out for like twelve hours and we’ll get like two hours’ of work done but we’ll have a great time. I’m like, we gonna work eight hours, and we gonna just bang bang bang (mimicking typing) and we’ll laugh in between. I like Shawn’s process of having fun but I’m more work driven. The minute I get there, I work, and the quicker it’s done, the quicker I can get to filming. I like working, I like acting.

Allie: So last night at the screening there was a guy sitting next to me that was actually getting scared.

Marlon: Good

Allie: Physically scared like it was a regular horror film.

Marlon: Because he didn’t know if there were going to be any more penises jumping out at him! Ah, I thought another penis was gonna pop out at me! Ahh shiiittt!

Allie: So actually back to the doll scene… <everyone laughing> Can you describe that day on the set?

Marlon: I’m gonna give you a tutorial after this, just me and you. <winking at me and making faces, everyone laughing>

Allie: So what was it like and how long did it take to shoot that on the set because there’s nothing else in another film where a guy goes this far with a doll!

Marlon: Hours.

Allie: Wow, it was almost like porn.

Marlon: Well it’s an inanimate object so it’s not porn. Well, I think that’s fun, doing something disgusting to this doll, or a nice little furry stuffed animal (in regards to Haunted House), but the day on the set, …that wasn’t even written. I just went up and looked at the doll. All I was supposed to do was walk up to the doll and say “Heeyyyy, how you doen,?” and then we yell “cut!

Gabriel: And then you saw what happened.

Marlon: And that was improv. I just sort of went for it. And three hours I’m there full of sweat and my director is like “hold your ass in this position,” and I was like “ok.” So we just kind of did it! Then I heard Jaime (his co-star who plays his girlfriend) downstairs yelling “on my God, are you fucking kidding me!” And we was like this is definitely staying in.

Allie: So was that real sweat!

Marlon: Oh ya, I go in!

Gabriel: And the scene was actually much longer.

Marlon: Ya, it was like seven minutes.

Allie: That’ll be out on the DVD extras.

Marlon: I may just do that, and a compilation DVD of the puppets from the first one and just hand that out as a bonus and a tutorial.

Parody films, such as “A Haunted House 2” can be really fun, or just plain horrible (Vampires Suck, 2010). This one falls somewhere in between. Wayans pays special attention to pushing the racial limits of humor “by being an equal opportunity offender.” The part with the doll was simply insane. The guy worked that doll over, and it wasn’t just a few shots but a good five minutes of every position you could imagine. Gabriel Iglesias does a great job fitting into a cast bringing his own flavor of comedy to an already packed cast of comedians.

Film opens April 18th.

Director: Michael Tiddes
Writers: Marlon Wayans, Rick Alvarez
Stars: Marlon Wayans, Jaime Pressly, Cedric the Entertainer, Gabriel Iglesias
Open Road Films.