Keenan Ivory Wayans bounces back

Ebony, Dec, 1994 by Aldore D. Collier

One-man conglomerate produces, directs and stars in major movie

Keenen Ivory Wayans is a one-man entertainment conglomerate who does it all - producing, writing, directing and acting.

After doing stand-up comedy, parody films such as Hollywood Shuffle and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the weekly sitcom In Living Color, he has turned to the action-adventure genre, using all his skills as the producer-director-star of the hit movie, A Low Down Dirty Shame.

As in his other ventures, the multitalented star commands immediate attention as a smart but down-on-his-luck private investigator, Andre Shame, who is hired to track down $20 million in stolen drug money. He operates by the motto, "When you can't can the cops, it's a low down dirty shame."

The movie, he says, is his version of an action/adventure film. "I like action and I like comedy," he says. "So I took both of them and put them together my style. It gives me more diversity. It is moving away from the spoof sort of style that I've done. I'll never be tired of comedy but this film is more in a reality vein."

One of the major attractions of the movie is the counterpoint performances director Wayans coaxes from two rising Black actresses, Jada Pinkett and Salli Richardson.

Jada Pinkett, who staffed on TV's A Different World and the recent hit film Jason's Lyric, is Peaches, Shame's secretary and sidekick who wants to take on more responsibility. She has a super soft spot for Shame and ends up helping him out financially on many occasions.

Salli Richardson, who turned many a head with her role in Posse, is cast as Angela Flowers, the woman Shame loved and lost. Angela turns out to be the key to the missing $20 million.

Wayans says he had Richardson in the back of his mind for the femme fatale from the very beginning. "I had seen Salli in Posse and I knew her," he says. "She played a sweet, noble character in Posse, but she has an edge to her. She is a Chicago girl. She definitely has that edge."

Wayans also was well acquainted with Jada Pinkett, but didn't have her in the back of his mind for Peaches. And because of their strong friendship, she was a bit tentative about reading for the role.

"My brother Marlon was the one who told her, `Girl, get in there.' So, she came in to read for me and did really well," Keenen says. "It wasn't until I put her and Salli in a room together and saw the dynamism between them that it all really came alive. The energy was perfect. Jada has that innate sweetness about her. She still has her innocence. With the two of them, I wanted a cat and a kitty. Salli is the cat and Jada is the kitty. My favorite scenes are theirs. I took my ultimate woman and all her attributes and I split her in half, giving all the adorable, maternal loving qualities to Peaches and all the sexy, sultry, devious and diabolical qualities to Angela."

In the film, the two women take an instant dislike to each other and pepper all their remarks with strong doses of sarcasm and veiled threats.

The film also features Charles Dutton as a DEA agent, Andrew Divoff as the villain Mendoza and Gregory Sierra as Captain Nunez, Shame's former boss at the L.A. police department.

Wayans' earlier efforts reached far more youngsters than moviegoers older than 30. It is a trend he doesn't mind and expects to continue. "I know that people over 40 are not my audience, so I don't really target that audience," he explains. "But I think people in their early 30s and younger like what I do. It's a bit edgy and broad in some senses. But, that is my audience and I think that is why they respond the way they do."

And young audiences love action flicks. There's a heavy dose of that in A Low Down Dirty Shame. However, Wayans says all elements are balanced. "There's definitely violence, but even the violence that's in it is not graphic or gory," he says. "There's no brain matter splattering around. There's some blood but not a bloodbath." He even did a lot of his own stunts in the movie, only leaving the truly dangerous work for the professionals.

Soon, Wayans wants to offer fans romantic comedies, dramas and thrillers. A Low Down Dirty Shame, he feels, is a bridge of sorts that will take him in that direction.

Wayans, who is still a bachelor, laughs when the subject of marriage comes up. "I think people have come to realize that [marriage] ain't happening with me. Not for a while," he says. "I march to my own drummer. I'm on a different timetable. For me, 50 is still young. If I get married at 50 and live to be 75, that's still 25 years. So, in the meantime, I'm enjoying life and living each day to the fullest. I'm happy and I have a 2-year-old girl, Jolie Ivory, and I don't know that I need to be married. I do need to be a good father. That is the most important thing to me, being a good father and being supportive of her mother no matter what our relationship is."

At this time, Wayans is not dating Jolie's mother, but he says he has a very positive relationship with her. However, he is dating a woman whose identity he feels should be kept private.