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How two black guys became "White Chicks"

By Mike Szymanski
Zap2it.com

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Keenen Ivory Wayans couldn't think of a more difficult role for his brothers. As they were sitting around one day, flipping through magazines, talking about their next project together, the guys who collaborated on "Scary Movie" and "In Living Color" saw an article about white socialite debutantes in the Hamptons.

Keenen decided to turn his black brothers into "White Chicks."

Shawn and Marlon Wayans were both up for the funny idea, but weren't aware at first that it would take up to six hours for them to have the makeup, hair pieces and body paint put on — and more than half that time to take it off again.

"We expected them to lose it at some point, but they never did," says makeup artist Keith VanderLaan. "It was as grueling taking it off, because you didn't want to hurt the skin."

VanderLaan teamed up with Greg Cannom, who won an Oscar for makeup when he turned Robin Williams into a nanny for "Mrs. Doubtfire."

They faced the challenge of creating facial prosthetics for the two handsome African-American men with strong chiseled features.

"We couldn't use too much makeup because they became drag queens — we had to soften them," Cannom explains.

The story is about two FBI agents who try to foil a kidnapping plot by becoming socialites Tiffany and Brittany Wilson. They have to try to fool their friends, family and old boyfriends. The three brothers wrote the screenplay together while the two actors each lost 30 pounds to look more svelte for their new roles.

The most difficult makeup challenge was to figure out a way to cover up all of Shawn and Marlon's dark skin. Cannom created a new base to cover the skin and then put Revlon Color Stay over that.

"White Chicks" opens nationwide Wednesday.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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