The iconic scene in ‘The Birdcage’ that Robin Williams improvised
There was no one quite like Robin Williams, and it’s likely that there will never be anyone like the iconic comedian and Hollywood star again. A unique performer with a wide child-like grin and quick-witted persona, Williams leant his skills to Disney’s Aladdin, appearing as the frenetic blue genie, and took to the titular Mrs. Doubtfire with a touching charm that set him apart from any other legendary character actor.
While Williams is undoubtedly known for his comedic character roles, his personal life suggested a more sobering reality, with his unfortunate inability to deal with his inner demons resulting in his death in 2014. This side of Williams often emerged in more serious cinematic roles, from his performance as a therapist in 1997s Good Will Hunting to his sage-like influence on the boys of Welton Academy Prep School in 1989s Dead Poets Society.
The dramatic and comedic sides of his star persona merged in the 1996 film The Birdcage, directed by Mike Nichols, in which Williams starred as Armand Goldman, the openly gay owner of a drag club in South Beach, Florida. Starring alongside Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest and Hank Azaria, Williams shines in this remake of Édouard Molinaro’s La Cage aux Folles.
Breaking boundaries upon its release by being a landmark LGBTQ piece of comedy, the characters of Nichols’ film remain iconic to this very day, with Williams’ Armand and Lane’s Albert often producing the very best moments. One such moment comes when Williams slips and falls in the kitchen, a stunning moment of comedy co-star Azaria recently revealed was totally improvised.
Strutting in panic around the kitchen because he forgot to prepare a starter for his dinner guests, Williams’ character proposes that they use shrimp as an alternative shortly before the actor spontaneously falls to the floor.
“That was absolutely not intentional,” co-star Hank Azaria tells AV Club, adding, ”And if you watch that little piece of film again, you’ll see me laughing and Robin laughing”. Continuing, the actor explains: “It’s one of those things that happens that you never really think they’re going to use, but I was so emotionally upset in the scene—I was supposed to be crying—that I just pretended that he was making me cry even more. But I was actually laughing”.
As a keen improviser, it was tricky for Williams to restrain himself for this scripted role, with Azaria recalling, “We sort of got all the improvising out of our systems the first two weeks, and then we shot basically what we all agreed on. And it was very tough for Robin, who really wanted to still go bananas”.
Thankfully for Williams, he was allowed these moments of off-the-cuff creativity, with Azaria adding, “He still would once in a while, when Mike [Nichols] was amenable. When the shot allowed, he would do what we’d call the ‘wild takes,’ just for Robin to go crazy. And much of that did make it into the movie. But I pretty much stuck to what I had worked out in rehearsal”.
Take a look at the iconic comedic moment below.
