A Classic Marilyn Monroe Movie Helped Inspire The Wayans Bros.' White Chicks

Keenan Ivory Wayans' 2004 comedy "White Chicks" was an unlikely hit when it was released in 2004. Unlikely, because the premise is wild. Shawn and Marlon Wayans play Kevin and Marcus Copeland, two FBI agents and brothers who, as punishment for a bungled drug bust, are forced to escort a pair of annoying, vapid, wealthy white socialites to a fashion event. However, the vain sisters Tiffany and Brittany (Anne Dudek and Maitland Ward) receive small facial cuts in a low-impact car accident and refuse to go out in public with such injuries. To save face (heh), Kevin and Marcus decide to contact a makeup artist friend of theirs, have masks constructed, and masquerade as Tiffany and Brittany. The film's comedy extends from two adult Black cops trying to behave like young rich white women.

"White Chicks" was panned roundly by critics and was nominated for five Razzies. Its low humor was not appreciated, and its racial commentary was subsumed by its uninspired slapstick. In his one-and-a-half-star review, Roger Ebert wrote that audiences will "attend 'White Chicks' [wanting] sharp, transgressive humor, which they will not find." Nevertheless, the film made a startling $113 million at the box office against a $37 million budget and even made waves on Netflix as recently as last year.

"White Chicks" has six credited writers, including the above-mentioned Wayans brothers, as well as Andy McElfresh, Michael Anthony Snowden, and Xavier Cook. In Entertainment Weekly's 2020 oral history of the film, Shawn and Marlon Wayans remained very positive on "White Chicks," noting how classical the movie is. Specifically, the Wayans didn't think that "White Chicks" would work until they remembered Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy classic "Some Like It Hot." If a 1959 comedy about men in drag could work, then, they figured, so could "White Chicks."

For the poor souls unfamiliar with "Some Like It Hot," it's a film about Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), two destitute musicians living in Prohibition-era Chicago. When they accidentally witness a mob hit (itself inspired by a real-life tragedy), they elect to hide out by dressing as women — Josephine and Daphne — and taking a job with an all-women's traveling music ensemble. However, the ruse is complicated when Joe finds himself drawn to the ensemble's lead singer, Sugar (Marilyn Monroe). It's one of the funniest and most progressive comedies of the 1950s.

Shawn Wayans told EW he was inspired to write "White Chicks" after reading an article in FHM Magazine about Paris and Nicky Hilton, and he felt it would be funny if he and Marlon played characters like that. Shawn pitched the idea in the middle of the night, but Marlon, awakened and groggy, wasn't enthused. Later in the evening, though, Marlon warmed to the idea when he remembered "Some Like It Hot." As Marlon recalled:

"He tells me in my sleep, and I'm like, 'Go to sleep; you're sleep-deprived. What do you mean play two white women?' I hung up on him and called him back the next day, and we got together and he throws this article down, like, 'This is what we should do.' And I was like, 'Okay, you were high.' I'm like, 'How?!' And we went through it and started talking about it, and then we realized it could be done. I think 'Some Like It Hot' just crystalized it for us, like, 'Yeah, we could do this.'"

And that was that. If "Some Like It Hot" could work, then "White Chicks" could work. The Wayans found their next hit.