The director who made Robin Williams feel free: “In that I find this incredible power”
Across his storied career, Robin Williams worked with some of the finest directors to ever sit behind a camera. His first leading role was in Popeye, which might not have been perfect, but did link him up with Robert Altman. He starred in Mike Nichols’ excellent film version of The Birdcage and headed up Steven Spielberg’s Hook as a grown-up version of Peter Pan.
Of all the great auteurs to have channelled Williams’ manic brilliance, there is one that stood out the most to the man himself. In 1991, the former stand-up appeared in The Fisher King alongside Jeff Bridges. He plays Parry, a homeless man with delusions of discovering the Holy Grail. Bridges stars as Jack, a radio shock jock who, in search of his own redemption, agrees to help his new friend.
The film was directed by Terry Gilliam, the American-born animation-focused member of legendary comedy troupe Monty Python. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times prior to the film’s release, Williams spoke about what it was like to work alongside a fellow comedic icon. “He frees me in many ways, because I’m not afraid to try stuff,” he said. “The greatest thing is that I’m not afraid to do nothing, to just stop for a moment, and in that I find this incredible power, it’s quite strange – not pathetic but very moving.”
Many years later on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Williams revisited his time on the Fisher King set and told another story that perfectly captured Gilliam’s approach to creativity. “Jeff and I were shooting a scene,” he recalled. “Something screws up and he was like, ‘It’s okay. It’s a gift. Don’t be afraid of it.’ Every time when you make a movie, [it] forces you to make something special that you didn’t plan. You’re in that moment, and you’re forced to deal with it with the other actor. And with him, it was a blast, because you’re playing off of someone who is so good.”
Gilliam, whose other famous works include Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Heath Ledger’s final film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is a contentious figure. He rarely holds back his opinions on the state of cinema and wider society, and his films can get a little abstract. Not that this should come as a surprise; he literally got famous by drawing giant feet and stepping on things. It’s nice to see someone as respected as William praise the director, as whilst his films have obtained cult status over the years, he isn’t what you’d call a mainstream success.
The Fisher King is a really interesting film driven by the stellar relationship between Williams and Bridges. It earned Williams his third Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actor’ and actually scooped two prizes that night – ‘Best Original Screenplay’ and a shock ‘Best Supporting Actress’ victory for Mercedes Ruehl. Whilst Gilliam never directed Williams again, the two did lend their voices to Absolutely Everything, a 2015 directed by another former Python, Terry Jones.
Given how unique his own approach to performance was, it should come as no surprise that Williams found a kindred spirit in his former boss. Strong actor-director pairings are hard to come by, and it’s such a shame that these two didn’t get more chances to show what they could do together.
