The performance Christopher Nolan says “absolutely stands up to multiple viewings”
Throughout his career, Christopher Nolan has directed a string of memorable performances from a number of the industry’s finest actors, several of which have gone on to gain awards season recognition in their own right.
However, one that he holds in particularly high esteem went almost completely overlooked despite being an against-type turn from a beloved legend that was every bit as unsettling as it was unexpected. On paper, casting Robin Williams as a murderer doesn’t make much sense, but in practice, it was nothing short of extraordinary.
A remake of Erik Skjoldbjærg’s 1997 Norwegian original, Nolan’s Insomnia takes many cues from its predecessor, albeit with the filmmaker’s distinct fingerprints evident in every frame. Al Pacino’s veteran detective, Will Dormer, is sent to a remote Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, and it isn’t long before he settles on his prime suspect.
Although Williams already had an Academy Award win after scooping ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Good Will Hunting and had proven himself countless times over in dramatic roles, playing a cold-blooded and calculated killer was something audiences had never seen from him before. As was to be expected from someone of his immense talents, the iconic comedian was incredible from start to finish.
Diving into the darkness as an outwardly ordinary guy who harbours a horrifying secret or two, Nolan explained to Spliced Wire that Williams playing Finch as such an unassuming figure was the secret to fully embodying the character, yielding a performance he’s adamant stands up just as strong each time anybody revisits Insomnia.
“To me that’s why he’s so creepy, because he’s a very ordinary guy who’s crossed this line and he’s trying to figure out where that’s going to take him,” he said. “I’ve seen his performance in this, one way or another, thousands of times at this point, and it’s totally real. It absolutely stands up to multiple viewings. Most performances don’t. Most performances, after you’ve watched them and watched them and watched them, you start to see the tricks. It starts to get stale.”
Hiring Williams as a remorseless murderer wasn’t the most obvious route, but Nolan shared that he didn’t face any issues whatsoever in convincing the star to rein in his signature energy in favour of bringing a more reserved and introspective nature to the part.
“I didn’t find it so, to be quite honest,” he continued. “What I found was that all of the control he has as a performer – that allows him to create these various characters be they manic or whatever – it’s exactly the same control that allows him to reign it in.” A rare talent, Williams was just as capable at being broad and playing for the cheap seats as he was dialling it right back to a minimum, with Nolan and Insomnia benefitting immeasurably as a result.
