Shawn and Marlon Wayans Once Lied to Paris Hilton’s Sister About the Inspiration for ‘White Chicks’
Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky Hilton were used as inspirations for the movie White Chicks. But when Nicky Hilton confronted the Wayans brothers herself, the two initially denied this was the case.
Shawn Wayans came up with the idea for ‘White Chicks’ after reading an article about the Hilton sisters
Shawn and Marlon Wayans were used to co-starring and sometimes even developing their own projects. The pair enjoyed a long run on the hit sitcom simply titled The Wayans Bros. Afterward, the duo turned their attention to movies, and developed two of the Scary Movie films. Disagreements with the studio would eventually see the two Wayans brothers leave the Scary Movie franchise behind. But this allowed them to tackle a brand new movie idea in White Chicks.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Shawn Wayans revealed he rung up his brother Marlon with a new potential film in mind.
“I was in my robe, walking around my house one night, and the idea hit me. I read an article about Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton. They were on the cover of FHM. They were getting in fights and stuff and acting real rowdy and raunchy. And I just thought it would be funny for me and Marlon to play two white girls like this,” Shawn recalled.
Marlon, however, didn’t think much of the idea at first. But after sleeping on it, he took more interest in the concept.
“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,'” Marlon recalled.
Shawn and Marlon Wayans once lied to Nicky Hilton about ‘White Chicks’ being about her and Paris Hilton
Shawn Wayans’ intuition was correct. White Chicks turned out to be a solid hit commercially, with The Numbers reporting that it made $111 million worldwide. But even before the Wayans brothers officially revealed who inspired their film, Nicky and Paris Hilton had a feeling it was them. Nicky Hilton tried to confirm her suspicions during a chance encounter with the Wayans brothers.
But the Wayans brothers initially refused to tell Hilton what she already speculated.
“I ran into the Wayans brothers in the green room at the [MTV Movie Awards], and I said, ‘Nice movie.’ And they were like, ‘It’s not about you,'” Hilton once said according to Contact Music. “I’m like, ‘Guys, the movie features two blonde hotel heiresses with houses in the Hamptons, New York and LA, and you’re really gonna tell me it’s not about us?'”
But the Wayans didn’t deny the Hiltons’ influence on the project for long.
“They just laughed and said, ‘Okay, whatever – it was loosely based on your life,'” she recalled.
What Paris Hilton thought about ‘White Chicks’
Hilton is as much of a fan of White Chicks as anyone else. In an interview with the New York Post, she revealed she held no hard feelings and found the film genuinely funny.
“I thought the movie was hilarious just seeing them playing inspirations of us,” Hilton said. “I was just with Marlon last week and every time I look at him I think of White Chicks. I thought the movie was so genius and hilarious it was laugh-out-loud funny 2000 humor. I always want to laugh at myself and have fun so I didn’t mind.”
