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One thing people on the internet will do is debate a topic<\/a>, even if there isn\u2019t actually anything to argue over. Marlon Wayans\u2019 screen test for a Richard Pryor<\/a> biopic recently surfaced online, and some fans rallied behind Mike Epps as the person who should play the late comedian.<\/p>\n A screenwriter shared the leaked footage on X, including a little over two minutes of Wayans depicting the Peoria, Ill. legend. \u201cThe first scene, if you close your eyes, sounds just like Pryor,\u201d one fan commented. \u201cYou will most likely have to watch the whole movie to wash out Marlon\u2019s face from your mind and replace it with Richard. Like Denzel Washington for Malcolm X or Jamie Foxx for Ray Charles.\u201d<\/p>\n The screenwriter replied, \u201cHis standup voice in this is spot on I think.\u201d There were many mixed reviews for Wayans\u2019 performance, which gave way for the Epps coalition to start boosting their guy. \u201cMarlon Wayne Playing As Richard Pryor Instead Of Mike Epps,\u201d one fan wrote with a clip<\/a> of the classic The Breakfast Club interview where Safaree freestyled and Charlamagne Tha God said \u201cNah, that aint it, y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n Another fan quoted Wayans\u2019 clip and wrote \u201cSh*t look like [Marlon] playing Damon Wayans playing my drunk dad. They better get Mike Epps on the phone.\u201d Another fan admitted he enjoyed Marlon\u2019s performance, but there was a better choice. \u201cIdk man. I like this but i still think Mike Epps is the man for the job.\u201d One user created a criteria for why Epps deserved the role over Wayans. \u201cYou can\u2019t play Richard Pryor if you\u2019re not as funny as Richard Pryor,\u201d they wrote. \u201cMike Epps not only looked like him back then but comedically was much closer to Richard Pryor than Marlon was.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the thing: the screen test everyone is reacting to isn\u2019t tied to any Richard Pryor biopic coming out soon. In fact, Wayans auditioned for the role back in 2010, and it was a completely different movie <\/a>based on Pryor. A fan of Twitter confirmed that Epps got the role for the particular biopic they are well referencing, and a quick Google search revealed that the project has been in limbo since 2014 due to casting issues and an issue between Epps and Pryor\u2019s widow<\/a>. Lee Daniels was the director of that film, and Eddie Murphy and Damon Wayans were reportedly also involved.<\/p>\n Fortunately for fans interested in seeing a reimagining of the legendary actor\u2019s life, Kenya Barris <\/a>is currently working on a 10-episode series covering all of his experiences from birth until death. \u201cIt is my baby,\u201d Barris told Variety<\/a>. \u201cI love it. He is my comedy god. A super flawed guy, but who everything, to this day, the comedy that we remember \u2014 even including [Dave] Chappelle \u2014 is derivative of what he started. That honest, reflecting, observational look at what the world is and the differences between us that actually make us more similar than we are apart.\u201d<\/p>\n More from VIBE.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Vibe’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One thing people on the internet will do is debate a topic, even if there isn\u2019t actually anything to argue over. Marlon Wayans\u2019 screen test for a Richard Pryor biopic recently surfaced online, and some fans rallied behind Mike Epps as the person who should play the late comedian. A screenwriter shared the leaked footage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2008433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[354259,311778,366825,364331,366824,366826],"class_list":["post-2008432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-damon-wayans","tag-marlon-wayans","tag-marlon-wayne","tag-mike-epps","tag-richard-pryor","tag-screen-test"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Marlon-Wayans-Or-Mike-Epps-Fans-Debate-Who-Should-Play.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2008433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2008432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2008432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}