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RENAISSANCE MAN
By Antony Teofilo
February 28, 2005
The first thing Robin Williams did when he sat down at the table was open a Red Bull.
“Hoo-boy,” I thought, “I’m in for a show.”
Yet…Robin Williams drinking a Red Bull is probably a bit like taking a whiz in the sea: it happened, but probably doesn’t have much overall effect. The boundless energy that snaps his characters to life crackles from Williams like static lighting from a Tesla coil. It’s palpable. It’s infectious. It’s hilarious. And in many cases, it’s completely unprintable.
Robin Williams is the king of the riff. Landing an interview with this guy is like getting a front row seat to twenty minutes of his live act. Unfortunately, for you to get it, like most situational jokes...you really have to be there.
And that’s something that Williams has mastered: being there. Being in the moment. He’s as comfortable telling racy jokes to the troops in Iraq as he is entertaining a group of little kids, and can produce material on demand for either (or both) groups with an improvisational speed that borders on inhuman.
You hear nightmare stories of previous interviews, where journalists left the room laughing, but without a single topical quote to build an article around. Ask Robin Williams a question he’s been asked a hundred times, and you’re liable to get the first two verses (and a refrain) of a made-up Broadway song about the male reproductive system, as one writer recently did. Ask him about something that truly interests him, and you get a lucid, level-headed response that provides evidence that this is indeed a guy who went to Julliard.
Making a return to big screen animation for the first time since ALADDIN, Williams plays Fender, a streetwise scavenger who takes a small-town hick robot under his creaky wing in the upcoming CG animated flick ROBOTS. Nutty as a rusty metal fruitcake, Fender gives Williams a chance to do what he’s always done so well: improvise. Below, Williams talks about why he’s coming back to the animated world now, why he’s been away so long…and what’s up with all those ‘bad guy’ roles he‘s been playing lately, anyway?
Riffin‘ with Robin
An Interview By Tony Teofilo
February 23rd, 2005
Q: When you’re playing a role, how important is it to you to deliver the words written for you in the script?
RW: They say, ‘Well, here are the lines‘. Then I’ll go in, and go off. For this, I tried different scams and things because [Fender]’s a street scam artist. You try to get fire for what the character’s voice is. First I tried kind of a bowery thing, then I did some homeboy, then some crankpot, then I brought it back and I made it a little ‘off’. Once you’ve got the base, you go off. With computer animation, you can build on it over time, and add layer after layer. You riff.
Q: My generation grew up with you in ALADDIN…
RW: Oh, yeah! That was the first time I could really riff. It was like standup [comedy] on film…
Q: Do you want to do more of it?
RW: I’d love to, but you have to pick and choose. You don’t want to hear the kids say, ‘Is that him again? I’d like to see a movie without him.’
Q: What brought you back to animation?
RW: Seeing the design, the world. I play a lot of computer games. I love computer graphics. I’ve had Pixar in me for a long time. After ALADDIN, then we had that falling out with Disney, and then the reconciliation, and then this came along and I caught a wave. I wanted to be part of it.
Q: What are your favorite computer games?
RW: HALFLIFE 2 is pretty great. The scary thing about you when go online is that there’s two different schools. One is like WARCRAFT, where you have these really bright people who go on quests and build up these massive inventories, and create communities. The other is people just going online and shooting the shit out of each other and trash talking. It’s kind of interesting to sample both.
Q: Do you go online?
RW: Yes. I don’t play with myself. That was before computers. [Laughs]
Q: What do you think of Chris Rock hosting the Oscars this year?
RW: I think it’s great. I think it’s opening it up. People are always saying when is this going to get interesting? They’re doing it. They’re bringing it into the 21st century. It’s an unpredictable year with him hosting. It’s not going to be like, [deep voice] ‘And now, ladies and gentleman, Jack Valenti. Please don’t operate heavy machinery.’ [Laughs]
Q: Is there any chance you’d ever host the Oscars?
RW: No. I’m not built for that. I have voluntary Tourette’s. I don’t want to go up there. It’s just too weird of a night for me. I love being backstage, or doing littler things like BLAME CANADA.
Q: Who would you like to win?
RW: I’d love Hillary [Swank] to win. I’d love Jamie [Foxx] to win. Having seen the movie, and I met Ray Charles a few years ago, I think it’s a double-bill, combined with the fact that Jamie’s a comic and he’s brilliant. And also because it’s a comedian breaking through it’s great. He did two great roles this year. I mean, COLLATERAL, he was the real lead in COLLATERAL. I wish he could have had two leading nominations.
Q: This year there are a lot of people who are nominated for playing real people. Is there someone you’d like to play someday?
RW: I would love to play Einstein at some point. There’s a great script about [psychoanalysts Sigmund] Freud and [Carl] Jung which is wonderful.
Q: What’s in your future?
RW: Coming up is a small movie in New York called THE NIGHT LISTENER. I play a writer and he finds out there’s a kid who’s a fan of his, and they want to meet. It’s very convoluted and dark. It’s based on actual events.
Q: There’s a new Superman movie coming out…how do you feel about that, considering the loss of your good friend Christopher Reeves this year?
RW: I don’t know. I didn’t even know they were doing it. I’ve just been kind of dealing with him dying, kind of feeling this phantom friend pain where you think he’s still around. When he got ill, I thought he’d make it. He’d made it through all these other things. His wife was wise enough to know. She told me, ‘You’d better talk to him.’ She knew he was starting to have a hard time. So I talked to him a week before he died.
Q: You went through sort of a dark period for a few years, where you were played a string of evil characters. Was there something going on in your personal life that made you want to be the bad guy?
RW: No. I was just that I was offered these parts that I’ve always wanted to do, but I was never allowed because the studios would say, ‘You play nice warm cuddly people.’ INSOMNIA was a great [experience] for three reasons: I wanted to work with [Director] Christopher Nolan, to be in the room with Pacino and work with him, and then to play a sociopath. Playing those characters is great. It’s really freeing on that level for any actor, because you get to explore behavior you can’t do in real life without doing time. Ask Robert Blake. [Laughs].
Q: Do you have trouble shaking that off at the end of the day?
RW: No. I’m not a method man.
Q: Pacino is a method man….
RW: He is, but he isn’t. He’ll prepare, and he’ll be in that thing. I remember the first day on INSOMNIA when I was working, he’d roar like a lion and that was the signal for ‘Don’t fuck with Al’. So I would come up on stage and tickle him, and ‘Say, Hi Mr. Pacino. I’m out of order! I’m out of order! Hoo-ha!’. And then we established a relationship. [Laughs].
Q: One of your darker pictures didn’t do very well. Now that some time has passed, how do you feel about DEATH TO SMOOCHY? That’s one of my favorites…
RW: Me, too. The interesting thing is that I just came back, I did another show in Iraq. I had all these guys coming up and saying, ‘That’s my favorite movie.’ It’s not for kids. I love the movie just because it’s nasty fun.
Q: Is there any possibility of doing MRS. DOUBTFIRE 2?
RW: No, they’re trying to write it. A friend of ours is writing it, and so I think if she can do it right, it’ll be okay. If they’re not going to do it right, it’s not worth doing. You have to find a way to do the character, and how to take it on after so long. Why is she dressing up again? How does she get away with it? The first one was so good was because the concept was pretty good, and the makeup was great.
Q: Would you do a MORK AND MINDY reunion?
RW: No. They haven’t asked, and I think they know better. For me, it was a wonderful memory. And Pam…she looks the same. She’s got two kids, and she’s still hot. I’d go on other shows with her, but not MORK AND MINDY.
Q: Why is it important to you to perform for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?
RW: Because it’s a great audience, but also you just want to let them know that we haven’t forgotten about them. There’s still 10,000 people there. You meet hardcore great people. My favorite is when you go to Afghanistan and you meet the special forces guys, and they look like these heavily armed surfers. These guys are the best. You see guys dressed as full Afghans, but then wearing a Yankee’s hat.
ROBOTS opens in the US March 11th, 2005 and is brought to you by Blue Sky studios, the same folks who took you to the ICE AGE. Check this flick out, especially with the kids. Like THE INCREDIBLES, there’s plenty for both the young and old to enjoy alongside one another.
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