The only “perfect” co-star Robin Williams ever worked with: “Shit, I’d better act now”
Even the best actors can find themselves daunted by the calibre of co-star they find themselves up against, and for all the confidence and charisma that Robin Williams projected onscreen, he knew he needed to up his game when he went toe-to-toe with one of the all-time greats.
Of course, as his Academy Award win for Good Will Hunting and performances in Good Morning, Vietnam, Awakenings, Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, One Hour Photo, and more can attest, Williams was no slouch in the drama department, either, even if he was a comedian by trade.
He may have made his name as the frantic, frenetic, and endlessly improvisational maestro who could riff on almost anything, but he was also a Juilliard-trained thespian, so he was less of a comedian-turned-actor than an actor-turned-comedian-turned-actor, which gave him the best of both worlds.
Whether he was tugging at the heartstrings or aiming for the funny bone, Williams shared a cast with some of the finest actors in Hollywood, an expansive and impressive list that includes Gene Hackman, Robert De Niro, Jeff Bridges, Dustin Hoffman, Judi Dench, Mel Brooks, and many more.
That’s not to say he was phoning it in or taking things easy in the films he made with them, but when he was cast as the antagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, the prospect of being pursued by Al Pacino’s dogged detective was one that forced Williams to raise his game to another level.
“He’s played all these amazing characters, but I just loved talking to the man,” he reflected. “For me, it’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘I have to work with this guy’. And when you’re watching him, it’s quite surreal, because you’re like, ‘I’m watching Al Pacino!’ And you’re in a scene with him. You go, ‘Shit, I’d better act now.'”
He wasn’t completely starstruck, though, with Pacino’s habit of roaring like a lion before every take being replicated by Williams bleating like a goat, even if Nolan didn’t think the latter’s habit of entertaining the cast and crew between takes was particularly funny.
The psychological thriller unfolds in a remote Alaskan town where it’s nothing but daylight for 24 hours of the day, and as much as Pacino favours the method, Williams suggested that recently becoming a father aided his performance as a veteran cop who struggles to sleep, and finds his sanity slipping as a result.
“I think it was beyond method acting, because he really wasn’t getting any sleep,” the actor surmised. “He was just really raw, but that was perfect.” The pair made excellent foils for each other, with Williams’ against-type turn setting him up nicely for the run of movies he’d come to call his ‘Triptych of Evil’.
