They’re thinking big by thinking small

IN the new Wayans brothers comedy “Little Man” (which reaches theaters in July), Marlon Wayans plays Calvin Simms, a 2-foot-8-inch career criminal with a large sense of self who masquerades as a toddler to recover a stolen diamond from a pair of wannabe parents (played by Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington).

But no amount of method acting was going to allow the 6-foot-2-inch Marlon Wayans to convincingly portray a character who’s hyper in diapers. So he was bolted into a chair and filmed only from chin to forehead.

“It was hard,” Wayans says. “This is physical comedy, so I was able to use an asset I’ve always had: a rubbery face.”

From there, some three dozen effects technicians digitized more than 1,000 shots to calibrate the comedian’s facial twitches with the body movements of 9-year-old Linden Porco. That’s nowhere near “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith’s” record-setting 3,500 digital shots and embellishments. But it’s 100% more FX than the Wayans used on their previous identity-distorting romp, 2004’s “White Chicks.”

“I am a special effect for the whole movie,” says Wayans, who also co-wrote “Little Man” with brothers Keenan Ivory and Shawn. “This is like ‘Star Wars’ in that I’m Yoda-size. Bloda -- black Yoda.”

By turns cartoonishly sexual and violent (in a “getting hit in the head with a frying pan” kind of way), “Little Man” was in fact inspired by a cartoon character -- Baby Finster, the cigar-chomping, bowler-hat-wearing, thugged-out baby who terrorized Bugs Bunny during his Looney Tunes heyday.

“It’s an idea Keenan and Damon had years ago but never got around to -- putting my face on a little person’s body in a funny situation,” Marlon says. “You can get inspiration from anywhere nowadays. Why can’t I play Mini-Me?”

-- CHRIS LEE