Marcus Scribner on Going Full Nutty Professor for ‘black-ish’s Halloween Episode (VIDEO)
Exclusive
black-ish knows how to do Halloween, and the Johnsons know how to dress up for the occasion.
However, that’s not the case this season in “Everybody Blames Raymond,” as no one’s seeing eye-to-eye on the family costume. While they’ll have different looks, there will, however, be one, from a popular movie.
“It’s honestly very exciting,” Marcus Scribner told TV Insider of the Halloween episode. “It will be unique.”
Here, Scribner previews this season’s Halloween episode, his character getting into character as the Nutty Professor, and more.
Let’s talk about Halloween on black-ish. How does this one compare to past Halloweens?
Marcus Scribner: One of the cool things we do this year that we haven’t really done in the past is a lot of us have different costumes. Usually, in the past, for black-ish, we’ve done one costume set as a family, but this time, we’ve all got a ton of different costumes and outfits I’m excited for everybody to see. This year around, I also got to play the Nutty Professor, so I did some pretty heavy prosthetic makeup, which was a lot of fun, but at the same time was so hard to get off. We really went full force with the costumes this year.
Watch the family debate their costumes in the exclusive clip below.
We do have a through-line with our Us costumes, but there’s a ton of other outfit choices I’m excited for people to see. I don’t want to spoil them.
You mentioned the prosthetics for your costume. Can you talk about that process?
I read it in the table read, and I don’t think I thought too much of it. Then everybody was like, “you have three hours of prosthetics to get this done and then 45 minutes of removal time for it.” And it still didn’t get everything off. The week before was when I really understood. When they started fitting me for the fat suit, I was like, “oh, okay, here we go, this is the real thing.”
What was it like getting into character as Junior as the Nutty Professor?
It was pretty fun. I love Eddie Murphy and just what he did with the character. It was cool just looking up videos of the Nutty Professor and watching how he speaks. Junior goes all in with whatever he does, especially when it comes to Halloween, so I really tried to get everything down, even the way he walked and talked.
And what makes this the perfect costume for Junior and why is he determined to wear it, especially with the family debate over costumes this year?
He tries to get his family to go along with him, and this is his idea of a lot of fun. He also likes to make baby Devante laugh. And the Nutty Professor is a character that’s close to Junior’s heart, somebody he watched growing up.
(ABC/Mitch Haaseth)
Speaking of Devante, in this episode, Junior wants his first trick-or-treating experience to be perfect. What’s he envisioning and how does it presumably go wrong?
Junior wants an experience in which Devante walks around with his parents, gets to go door-to-door, the traditional trick-or-treating experience. Bow and Dre, they’ve had a ton of kids at this point, and so they’ve had experience doing all that and they kind of forget about Devante and the fact he is a baby and needs to have some time spent to make his first experience special as well. Junior tries to step up and take the reins and do it himself. He’s still not completely satisfied because he wants Devante’s first experience to be with his parents, but he’s doing alright.
Junior isn’t going to college. How is that affecting his relationships with his family this season?
It’s made that relationship not great because Junior doesn’t have a place to stay, he doesn’t have any income, he doesn’t have any direction, and he’s really trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life right now. That’s created a lot of turbulence. But at the same time, his family knows he’s on the path he’s chosen and that he will figure it out.
We see a lot of Junior with his father and grandfather. Can you talk about working with Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne? Have they given you any advice that’s stuck with you?
It’s been a lot of fun. We have so many legendary actors on set you just sit back and enjoy and appreciate their work and try to learn from them. I’ve definitely learned a lot from Laurence and Anthony, not so much from them directly telling me, but just watching the way they act and the way they move about the world and their business.
(ABC/Mitch Haaseth)
One of the tips Laurence gave me when I was a lot younger was to diversify and make sure I’m always switching up my craft and doing different things so that people don’t put you in a box. I’ve definitely taken that to heart.
Is there anything coming up for Junior this season that shows a different side of him or you’re particularly excited for fans to see?
I’m very excited for people to see Junior outside of the lens of the family. We’ve seen a lot of things with him going into an office and in a formal work space and we’re going to explore that even more. I’m excited for people to see how Junior operates in the real world.
Is there anything coming up in his personal life? Any new love interests or friends?
Junior does have a love interest on grown-ish. As for now, you’ll have to wait and see for black-ish. Junior’s definitely got sparks flying.
black-ish, Tuesdays, 9:30/8:30c, ABC
