You Ask... Robin Williams
The Oscar-winning comedian and star of April's RV answers PREMIERE readers' burning questions.
Garp, Doubtfire, Mork, Popeye, and Patch Adams, Robin Williams has played them all. You'll see him next in RV, arriving in theaters on April 28, in which he portrays a dad who takes his clan on a dysfunctional road trip to Colorado. PREMIERE readers asked the manic funnyman about improv, getting naked in Central Park, and waking up Japanese.
How did you get started in improv, and how do you come up with ad-libbed lines?
—Heather Steinkamp, Philadelphia
Robin Williams: I was going to a college called Claremont Men’s College, and they had an improvisational theater class, an elective, and I was hooked. How do you do it? You just do it, and you’ve got to not be afraid of trying. It makes you kind of fearless, because some of the greatest stuff comes from “beyond.”
Which of your movies are most memorable to you?
—Al Bodmarehuk, Regina, Saskatchewan
I think Dead Poets Society, Awakenings. The Fisher King, because it’s so wonderfully strange. Good Will Hunting. And Aladdin just because it was so much fun, and whenever you get to create a new cartoon character, it’s pretty great.
What was it like working with Terry Gilliam on The Fisher King, and how did it feel to roll around naked in Central Park?
—David Biello, New York City
Terry’s probably the wildest director anyone will ever work with, and also the best. There are no boundaries. The idea of a flaming knight running down Columbus Avenue? He’s like, “Let’s do it!” Rolling around naked in Central Park? It was a cold night, I have to say, for those with the DVD. And there were real homeless people in the background, screaming things like “My name is Mercury!” Shooting a movie about New York in New York as opposed to, say, Vancouver, is always best.
Has there been a movie in the past that you wanted to be a part of and it didn’t work out?
—Eric Hathaway, San Antonio, TX
Well, I rejected it, because I didn’t know how they’d pull it off, but The Truman Show. At the time they had it set in a big city like New York, and only in the end did they change it to being in a small community. But I’m glad Jim Carrey pulled it off with Peter Weir, one of the great directors of our time.
If you woke up one morning in Tokyo as a Japanese, what would you do?
—Yukiko Iida, Yokohama, Japan
Waking up in Tokyo, as a Japanese? Going, “Finally I can read the signs! I got this tattoo, and it doesn’t say ass monkey; it really says golden warrior!” I love Tokyo—it’s the wildest city. You feel like Forrest Gump in Blade Runner.
Are the rumors of a Mrs. Doubtfire sequel true?
—Adam Ratcliffe, Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K.
If they can write it, but if not, it’s not worth doing. And how do you write it given the fact that everyone saw him as him? He’s back, and everyone else has had a lobotomy? Either that or you’re just in Ed Wood territory.
Some of your most memorable recent roles have been playing dark, disturbed characters (Insomnia, One Hour Photo). Some say there’s a close connection between comedy and anger. Do you agree?
—Tracy Charlton, San Francisco
Oh, very much. Comedy is basically just this side of an expressed grievance, you know? It’s channeled fury. That dark side is always a part of it, and you realize playing characters like mine in those films that you have license to explore behavior you’d otherwise have to do time for.
With movie adaptations of TV shows in vogue these days, have you ever considered doing a movie version of Mork & Mindy?
—Christine Gentz, Savannah, GA
No, no. And no amount of medication would make me consider that. It was hard enough the first time. It’s like going, “I’d also like to do a film version of a colonoscopy.” Not at all, thank you.
What’s the weirdest place you’ve seen your image?
—Shane McCormack, Rockspring, Ferns, Ireland
In a Moroccan DVD store. That’s always pretty weird. And a guy wanted me to sign his head in Scotland, and I did. He said he was gonna get it tattooed. I didn’t see the follow-up, but I was worried.
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