Zelda Williams names her “favourite movie ever made”
As the daughter of one of the most significant actors and comedians to ever walk the earth, Zelda Williams has undoubtedly been imbued with a sense of effortless humour and charm. The child of the inimitable Robin Williams is beginning to carve out her own legacy in the film industry with hopes of emulating her father’s success.
At the same time, one ought not to compare children to their parents, and Williams is of her own generation and own beliefs and is capable of establishing herself in the entertainment realm of her own accord. With a handful of acting credits to her name, Williams is beginning to make waves on the directorial circuit, too.
Williams has made her feature directorial debut with the 2024 comedy horror movie Lisa Frankenstein, written by Diablo Cody and starring Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse; telling of a young goth girl who brings a Victorian-era corpse to live to make him into her dream man. Williams once spoke of the films that inspired her the most and gave particular attention to Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
“I grew up on Brooks’ films — my parents were showing them to me at a very young age — and when Kathryn [Newton] walked on set, and I put that crazy wig on her, I genuinely couldn’t get over how much she reminds me of Madeline Kahn,” Williams told A-Frame of the relation between Young Frankenstein and Lisa Frankenstein. “A lot of young women in movies nowadays, they have to take themselves so seriously, and they’re so driven, and there are glass ceilings and all this stuff.”
She added of Young Frankenstein’s stars, “Madeline Kahn wasn’t unserious as an actor — she’s an incredibly talented actor — but she would be so comfortable being deeply silly. Very similarly, Gene [Wilder] is considered to be one of the best actors who’s ever lived, but he could be so happily, gleefully silly.”
Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Peter Boyle and Teri Garr, was released in 1974 and is a widely beloved comedic masterpiece parodying the many Universal Studios Frankenstein movies of the 1930s. Brooks clearly loves such films, although he injects his 1974 work with his trademark wit and irreverence.
Gene Wilder plays the grandson of the legendary Dr. Victor Frankenstein and has attempted to remove himself from his legacy by studying at medical school. However, after inheriting his grandfather’s Transylvania castle, Frederick Frankenstein is drawn back into the macabre and gloomy world of reanimation.
Going on to draw the link between Brooks’ film and her own, William said, “Lisa Frankenstein, for me, is the first time I’d read a script where the leading lady could be as ridiculous and camp and larger than life. So, Young Frankenstein for obvious reasons — they’re both Mary Shelley homages — but the performances really resonated with me.”
She signed off, “Gene and Madeline and [Marty] Feldman, everyone in that movie, are 110 per cent dedicated to silliness and laughter, and it’s earnest. It isn’t meta. It’s not nodding to anything else. I think earnestness is underrated, so I will forever hold it in the highest regard. It’s one of my favourite movies ever made.”
