Damon Wayans Jr. costars with his uncles Shawn and Marlon, as well as aunt Kim Wayans, in the new 'Scary Movie,' in theaters June 5
Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Damon Wayans Jr. jokes to PEOPLE that he takes a pay cut when he works with members of his family like in the new Scary Movie
- Damon appears with his uncles Marlon and Shawn, as well as aunt Kim Wayans, in the family’s reboot of the iconic horror spoof franchise
- Scary Movie is in theaters June 5
Damon Wayans Jr. says there is a price that comes with collaborating with his uncles Marlon and Shawn.
Wayans Jr., 43, has worked with his father Damon, 65, on sitcoms like CBS' Poppa's House. Now, the younger Damon is appearing in Marlon and Shawn's reboot of the Scary Movie franchise, which marks the first Wayans brothers-led Scary Movie entry since 2001's Scary Movie 2.
The New Girl actor has also appeared in movies like The Other Guys, The Harder They Fall, and, most recently, in Apple TV's Shrinking, among other projects. So what's the biggest difference between working with his family and acting outside of the Wayans family's projects?
"The pay. I get paid a lot more not working with them," Damon Jr. tells PEOPLE on the red carpet at Scary Movie's premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 3. "They get a little Damon discount. But I love them and they paved the way, so I'm happy to do it," he adds. "I'll do it for free. Not for real. Close to it."
The new Scary Movie marks a retooling of the franchise that comes more than two decades after the Wayans brothers exited following Scary Movie 2. The franchise's original stars like Regina Hall and Anna Faris are back in their leading roles alongside Marlon, 53, and Shawn, 55, who wrote the movie with their brother Keenen Ivory, 67, and nephew Craig Wayans, 50.
"I'm very proud of them. I think that they fought hard and they got the franchise back. Shout out to Harvey Weinstein," Damon Jr. tells PEOPLE on the red carpet. (Marlon recently claimed in an interview with Variety that Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein, who produced the movies in the early 2000s, "stripped [Scary Movie] from us" before work began on Scary Movie 3.)
"They got the franchise back and I think they're going to do great work with it," Damon Jr. adds. "And in success, there's plenty more Scary Movies where this came from because… horror movies [are] having a resurgence too, so there's going to be so many things to parody now. So Scary Movie 7 on the way, baby."
Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty
The Wayans brothers were the creative forces behind the first two Scary Movies and exited the franchise prior to 2003's Scary Movie 3. Marlon announced in 2024 that he and his brothers were returning for the franchise's new movie.
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In that recent Variety interview, Marlon claimed that he, Shawn and Keenen Ivory were excised from the series after the Weinstein brothers refused the Wayans' demands for raises to make a third Scary Movie and subsequently stole their idea for the third entry.
Credit: Phillip Faraone/Getty
Damon Jr. is not the only other Wayans family member who appears in the new movie. His aunt Kim Wayans, who also stars in the new movie, tells PEOPLE on the red carpet that the film marks "a healing moment and a beautiful moment" for her family.
"I feel like the universe is blessing this moment," she adds.
Scary Movie is in theaters June 5.
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