'Him' star Marlon Wayans 'got to lose myself' as an unhinged GOAT quarterback

Marlon Wayans was always the “Scary Movie” guy. With the football horror film “Him,” he finally gets to be the scary movie guy.

The longtime actor and multi-faceted filmmaker crafts an unhinged, go-for-broke performance as a legendary quarterback putting his potential heir apparent (Tyriq Withers) through a psychologically torturous training camp.

It’s the kind of role that Wayans, 53, has never done before but knew he could do after five decades of movies, TV, stand-up comedy and theater.

“I got to lose myself,” he says. “I didn't have to worry about being Marlon, wasn't trying to think funny. Comedy is a hard thing to do, man, because it's such a desperate medium. This film allowed me to slow it down and just transfer all that kinetic energy that I have into intensity.”

Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.

With “Him” (in theaters now), director Justin Tipping cast stars who would somewhat reflect in meta fashion his two main characters. Played by Wayans, San Antonio Saviors franchise player Isaiah White has enough championship rings to fill both hands and now mentors the next generation. And played by newcomer Withers, top prospect Cameron Cade wants to prove himself as somebody who could be a GOAT yet finds that his idol might not be ready to give up his spot.

“Every athlete is trying to beat Father Time, it’s always about the Fountain of Youth,” Tipping says, and with Isaiah, "I wanted to go older and then mold him to look younger." But thankfully, Wayans “already looks like he was doing the thing.”

“He just has a wealth of experience, and we met at this very amazing time in his life where he was making changes and going through his own transmutation. You could feel it in his performance that's really breathtaking.”

After coming up on “In Living Color” and “The Wayans Bros.” in the 1990s, Wayans first turned heads in 2000’s “Requiem for a Dream” with a stirring dramatic role as a heroin addict. That same year, Wayans and brothers Keenen and Shawn launched the first horror spoof “Scary Movie" (a sixth installment is in development). In playing an antagonist in a legit fright fest, Marlon Wayans aimed to be the “good bad guy” audiences love to hate, like Heath Ledger’s Joker in “The Dark Knight” or Denzel Washington’s formidable cop in “Training Day.”

Those characters “have fun doing what they're doing. You want them to win. And if you can make the bad guy likable, you did your job,” says Wayans, adding that Tipping would use “orchestra fingers like a conductor” to get him to play up Isaiah’s unpredictability.

“He wants me to do me. It's Miles Davis throwing the sheet music out and just create your version of what you think ‘My Funny Valentine’ should sound like.”

Wayans believes he has “always had great instincts” but especially with “Him,” after so many years of creating and performing entertainment, “I have a confidence that I didn't have before.” He likens it to sports superstars like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in their later years, not having to dunk every time and sometimes laying up the basketball or changing up the way they play as students of the game.

“When you give Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant the ball, the chances of y'all winning that game and him making the right decision is very good,” Wayans says. “I just try to do that as an artist, and when the director hands me the ball, I’m able to deliver.”