Marlon Wayans To Star In Psychological Horror Pic ‘Goat’ For Universal And Monkeypaw With Justin Tipping Directing

EXCLUSIVE: For their sports horror pic Goat, Universal Pictures and Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw banner looked to have found the actor to play their greatest of all time athlete as Deadline is hearing Marlon Wayans is set to star in in the pic. Justin Tipping is on board to direct the pic which is produced by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, and Jamal Watson. Executive producers are David Kern and Kate Oh.

The project, based on a pitch by Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, centers on a promising young athlete who is invited to train with a team’s retiring star.

While execs have taken the screen testing route for finding the young athlete character, sources say Wayans was always top of the studio’s list for its titular character. Exec Vice President of Production Development Sara Scott and Director of Development Tony Ducret will oversee the project for the Studio.

Wayans  hit a career milestone with his highly anticipated first-ever stand-up comedy special, Woke-ish, which premiered on Netflix in February 2018.  Wayans’ third comedy special for HBO Max, Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me, dropped on last March. The special received rave reviews from critics and fans. His overall deal with HBO Max included performing a stand-up special and hosting a multi-act special which resulted in his specials Marlon Wayans: You Know What It Is and Marlon Wayans Presents: The Headliners. All of three of his specials are currently streaming on Max.

In March of 2023 Wayans’ had a successful run guest hosting a week of The Daily Show. Onscreen, Wayans recently starred as George Raveling in Prime Video’s, AIR, alongside an all-star ensemble including Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Ben Affleck. In 2022 he starred in and produced Netflix’s The Curse of Bridge Hollow. Other recent credits include starring as Ted White in MGM’s Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, opposite Jennifer Hudson and starring as Dean in Sofia Coppola’s Apple-A24 movie On the Rocks, alongside Rashida Jones and Bill Murray.

As for Tippin, the rising star in the director ranks, Tipping’s debut feature Kicks, which he directed and co-wrote, was produced by Animal Kingdom and released by Focus Features.  His television credits include Black Monday, The Chi, Flatbush Misdemeanors, Joe Vs Carole and Dear White People.

Wayans  is repped by 3 Arts, WME, Vision PR  and Kevin Yorn / Ryan Goodell of Morris Yorn and Tipping repped by UTA, Grandview and Ziffren Brittenham. Peele is repped by CAA and Jared Levine.