Top 10 Unscripted Robin Williams Moments That Were Left in the Movie
#10: Slipping on the Floor
“The Birdcage” (1996) In one of his more underrated comedies, Williams plays Armand Goldman, the owner of a Miami drag club. He’s forced to act straight with his partner - Nathan Lane dressed as a middle-aged woman - while meeting his son’s conservative in-laws-to-be. In the climactic dinner sequence, Armand slips and falls while carrying a pot of soup. According to Williams’ co-star Hank Azaria, Williams actually slipped and fell while filming the sequence. Ever the pro, Williams simply got back up and carried on, although he nearly breaks while telling his son to “go, go”.
#9: Much of the Movie
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“Jack” (1996) One of Francis Ford Coppola’s lesser efforts, “Jack” stars Williams as Jack Powell, a kid who ages four times faster than a typical child. When Jack is ten years old and attending school, he has the body and appearance of a 45-year-old Robin Williams. According to Coppola, Williams improvised many of his lines at his insistence. He told the Christian Science Monitor, “The easiest thing about working with Robin was encouraging him to improvise, for he’s brilliant. When he began to ad-lib, it was screamingly funny.” While it’s not known what specific lines were improvised, it’s clear that Williams had to carry much of the film on his shoulders. Even if the results were mixed, Williams’ dedication is undeniable.
#8: Pinocchio
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“Aladdin” (1992) Despite some strong competition, Williams’ performance as the Genie may just be his best work. Not only is the voice acting terrific, but it encapsulates everything that made Williams such a fantastic entertainer - his manic energy, his uproarious comedy, and his unending creativity. Animation supervisor Eric Goldberg fondly recalls Williams’ improvisations in the recording booth, which included making a “booo-wooop” sound to indicate Aladdin’s lie. It was meant to represent the sound of Pinocchio’s growing nose, so Goldberg and his team worked around Williams’ improv and added Pinocchio’s face into the movie. It’s amazing to consider how much creative leverage Williams had on the creation of “Aladdin.”
#7: Tomas & Tim
“Friends” (1994-2004) In 1997, Williams and Billy Crystal co-starred in the Ivan Reitman comedy “Fathers’ Day.” The day before it premiered, Williams and Crystal also appeared together in this “Friends” episode. Their presence was not planned, and their characters never appeared in the script. Rather, Williams and Crystal were both near the “Friends” set and were asked if they wanted to cameo. They obviously agreed and reportedly improvised the entire scene. At one point, Matt LeBlanc even got in on the action and improvised a rude interruption, resulting in an annoyed admonishment from Billy Crystal. It was probably the highlight of his career!
#6: Stole My Line
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“Good Will Hunting” (1997) Sean Maguire is one of Williams’ more reserved and dramatic roles, and it was the one that earned him his only Academy Award. The ending of the movie sees Will going to California to reunite with Skylar and leaving Sean a note telling him he had to “go see about a girl”. This is a reference to a line Sean uttered earlier in the film. According to Matt Damon, Sean’s reaction to the note was completely improvised by Williams. The script didn’t have Sean saying anything, but Williams - ever the ad-libber - reportedly improvised a different line on each take. When he said the line that now appears in the movie, Damon grabbed the director in excitement, knowing that Williams had just uttered gold.
#5: Many Things
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“Mork & Mindy” (1978-82) “Mork & Mindy” served as Williams’ mainstream breakthrough hit. It all started when Williams was cast in the “Happy Days” episode “My Favorite Orkan,” and he reportedly impressed the network executives by improvising most of Mork’s dialogue. His character proved so popular that he was given a spin-off, and Williams quickly became a household name. While stories of Williams’ improv have been greatly exaggerated and mythologized, he still improvised to great success. One of the show’s writers, David Misch (mish), told Gizmodo, “He didn’t do extended ad libs, but what he did that would be so brilliant were these little things—a line here and there, a word here or there, a face, a voice—those were the things that blew people’s minds.”
#4: Melting Icing
“Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993) In one of this movie’s greatest sequences, Daniel is forced to play both himself and Mrs. Doubtfire when social worker Mrs. Sellner pops by for a surprise visit. Having lost his mask, Daniel shoves his face in a cake and pretends that it’s Mrs. Doubtfire’s “nightly meringue mask.” That much was scripted. The rest was all Williams. The hot studio lights began melting the icing on Williams’ face, and it genuinely began dripping off into the tea. Williams decided to just run with it, and he gave audiences a classic bit of comedy in the process.
#3: The Broadcasts
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“Good Morning, Vietnam” (1987) In this war comedy-drama, Williams plays Adrian Cronauer, a real United States Air Force Airman who served as a military DJ throughout the Vietnam War. Williams’ performance as Cronauer was widely acclaimed, and it earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. According to the movie’s producer, Mark Johnson, most of the DJ scenes were entirely improvised by Williams. In the movie’s production notes, Johnson stated, “When he sat down in the control booth to do the scenes involving Cronauer’s broadcasts, we just let the cameras roll. He managed to create something new for every single take.” Such was the manic energy, and unbelievable creativity, of Robin Williams.
#2: Farting in Sleep
“Good Will Hunting” (1997) Despite being one of his more serious roles, Williams still found time to imbue Sean Maguire with a funny bone. During a heart-to-heart with Will, Sean mentions that he has to learn to embrace a woman’s imperfections. To give an example, he tells Will that his late wife used to fart in her sleep. That line, and the resulting discussion, were entirely improvised by Williams and Matt Damon, and Damon’s laughter was reportedly genuine. Some viewers even notice the camera shaking right after Sean says “I didn’t have the heart to tell her,” indicating that the camera operator was laughing alongside Williams and Damon. Oh, what it would have been like to work with this man.
#1: Celebrity Impressions
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“Aladdin” (1992) As stated before, “Aladdin” may be Robin Williams’ greatest work. So much so, in fact, that he reportedly gave the filmmakers sixteen hours of content. Animation supervisor Eric Goldberg recalls that he had Williams for four four-hour sessions, and Williams filled that time with improvisations, jokes, lines, and tons of celebrity impressions. Goldberg told Entertainment Weekly, “When we got Robin in the recording studio, out came all the celebrity impressions. So aside from busting a gut laughing, we just looked at each other and said, ‘We can’t not use this stuff.’” The result was Genie’s signature use of celebrity impressions and the rare case of animators working around a voice actor. Williams really could do anything.
