Robin Williams has a reputation for being wild. He turns any interview into a stand-up routine complete with all of his funny voices and impressions. It’s obvious many of his great movie scenes are improvised, but he’s also shown he can be serious when the script calls for it. Barry Levinson had no problem reigning him in on Man of the Year.
Williams, Linney Talk Man of the Year
“It’s not that difficult,” he said. “It’s relatively simple. There is a script and as I’ve always said, this is what is written, and if we can improve upon something at any given time we’ll do that. A lot of times if I think that I have the take that I need then sometimes we’ll just try something else. Or sometimes I’ll say to him, ‘Did you ever think about blah, blah?’ And then we’ll kick something around and do another take and something else may happen. And if it’s better and if it’s more interesting great. If not, we can just move on. The good thing about Robin is he has enough discipline as an actor to know where the boundaries are. It’s not like he’s just bouncing off the walls and whatever. He does know where we have to get to and what we have to accomplish and if we can improve on those moments we’ll do it.”
Costar Laura Linney adds her voice to the mellow Williams bandwagon. “First off, he’s not just a comedian, he’s a Julliard trained actor, and he listens,” she said. “He really listens and he really works with everybody who he’s working with. He’s not just a geyser of energy and entertainment and razzmatazz.”
Williams and Lewis Black in Man of the Year
Laura Linney and Williams in Man of the Year
Man of the Year
Christopher Walken in Man of the Year
One scene that did allow Williams to go wild was a three way debate in which TV personality Tom Dobbs rails against his opponents. “We tried some stuff, just pieces,” said Williams. “He would say, ‘Try working up some things that are general enough that they won’t lock it off into a time or specific issue.’ Like it’d be great to talk about the middle east in there but you want to have a campaign that’s talking about things that have been around and will be around. We had issues like alternative fuels and the idea of what is that about. The issue of flag burning which is always brought up.”
When the cameras cut, that’s when Williams could really unleash his comedy. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who made so many people so happy,” said Linney. “I’ve never seen that before. It was so moving in a way, like everywhere he went there’s a generosity that is really staggering, and very brave. I find him very, very brave. He’s not afraid of people the way that a lot of us can sort shut down or start to protect ourselves because it’s all so overwhelming. He’s not afraid of people, and he’s not afraid of giving. And I used to love to be in a room with him and look at everybody’s faces, and they would just be beaming, beaming. It was really an amazing thing to be around. I just love him. We’re very, very lucky that he’s in our business, we just are.”
Man of the Year represents the new millennium this Friday, October 13th.
For the trailer, TV spots, synopsis and more movie info, go to the Man of the Year Movie Page.
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