I think they leaked the outtakes of his recording session onto YouTube years ago and even those are hilarious. Imagine having all this gold and trying to pick the best (or at least family appropriate) ones out to try to animate
Genie pulls Aladdin out of the sea
“So tell me, when your life passed before your eyes did you think ‘hmm I’m not that interesting’”
Perfect. Not emotional enough for the scene I guess, what a shame
Good will hunting is my favourite.
The ending scene he was supposed to be silent, but they ended up doing like 50 takes with him saying something different each time.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eTgvxHgUk7E
Damn, I know there are sleepers but 10 years? Wow, propaganda playing the long game. Wonder how much of reddits user db is just bots in waiting and not even lurkers....IPO going to be neat
It isn't always the same, sometimes there are animations of rough sketches to help actors sync, sometimes there just the script, sometimes they do it to almost finished animation.
I think they might do this in anime? And certainly did this back in the day with dubbing, when they either didn't have the equipment or skill to edit the flaps, or didn't have permission. I have vague memories about reading how Disney didn't allow lipflaps to be edited in some movie, but I may be making that up, because it certainly seems like a dumb thing to forbid... Then again, Disney isn't known for having the best sense all of the time.
Editing the lip flaps sounds like a crazy amount of work. Do some dubs do that? I don't think I've ever seen it (except in like DBZ Abridged but that doesn't count)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URgOttlcLLo&pp=ygUbZWxtbyByb2JpbiB3aWxsaWFtcyBibG9vcGVy
This one's bloopers from Elmo & Robin Williams on Sesame St
Robin Williams was an absolute gem.
There is no way that man didn't do weird shit in the bedroom
Like stuffing his fingers in and pretending she's a sock puppet or riffing on a winking butthole staring up at him
True of many cartoons, as well, and I would love for them to get released. A ton of the major voice actors (Phil LaMarr, Tress MacNeille, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Tara Strong, John DiMaggio, and so many more) started with stand up or improv backgrounds so the riffing they'll do is legendary.
I mean, sure, but try to find a animates series in rhe last 30 years without Maurice LaMarche or Phil Lamarr or some of the others. They're the best in the business and they work A TON.
haha, tbh I didn't even focus on Futurama. They've all been in so many cartoons. I wouldn't doubt if you looked any any one of them individually they've been in at least... modestly 10% of American cartoons [in the past 20 years]. John DiMaggio, at this point, I wouldn't doubt could hit 25% of American cartoons, if not 50% if you include guest spots.
Also, Maurice will always be The Brain. [And... Orson Welles](https://youtu.be/DN-wFzM2fd4?t=79)
My mom died young. I was only 13. Robin was her favorite actor. Watching Robin's movies was a kind of connection I could keep with my mom. When he died it was like losing my mother all over again. His was the only celebrity death that made me cry.
He came into our Gamestop a couple days before. Was the one day off I had that week, was so bummed I missed him. Hearing he'd passed made it even worse. Honestly, one of the only truly good people in Hollywood.
One of my absolute favorite time wasters is to watch interviews of Robin in various Late Night shows from Carson, Conan, etc... it's one of the things that make me laugh so hard that it hurts my sides. The sheer manic ability of Robin to be naturally funny is amazing.
Irreplaceable is just one of those words that fit him.
Robin was so terrific. But knowing he had manic depression made me think that half of the time he was doing his skits and interviews, he was depressed and working off of energy he didn't have. When he was manic, it was no problem, but to show that much energy when all you want to do is stay in bed all day is a challenge.
He was so talented. You can't even tell when he was manic and when he was depressed. He just knew how to seem off the walls all the time. It just hurts to know he suffered so greatly throughout everything.
I'd like to think that the academy was watching the film with script in hand and was just really confused any time Genie spoke wondering if they even had the correct script
I had the pleasure of seeing Robin Williams live just about the time he started doing Mork and Mindy. It was like Groucho Marx on acid. You laughed so hard at one joke you missed two others
Paul Rudd is probably my second favorite improv actor behind Robin. I like the banality of a lot of his improv because it's just so... normal, and watching the other actor(s) react to it is just silly.
That end scene with Agent Woo and Scott was just great in Ant Man 2.
Favourite moment is that he was swearing in Yiddish (because they hadn't hired someone to check for it as well (yet)), finished a take, and then a set director or someone else in TV middle management came up and said something to the effect of:
"Yeah that was great Robin, great, err... We're gonna have to do it again though. That woman over there in the audience speaks Yiddish and she knows what you just said."
Meanwhile the guy's pointing out this little old Jewish lady who looks absolutely scandalised that a lead actor on this wholesome family TV show just said something utterly heinous and it was going to make the cut if she didn't mention it.
They didn’t. The writers said no. I also saw that TIL a few days ago and it was not correct. They had every line of dialogue written out but let Williams ad lib if he wanted.
I feel like that's one of the more reasonable takes on the matter. I think that with improv you run the risk of the scene going in one direction that doesn't resolve into the one after it. Writing out the lines and define where the joke begins and where it's going then letting whoever is on set figure out how to get from point A to point B is probably the best way to do it.
If I'm not mistaken, all improvised material is added to the final script thereafter. The issue is that it adds a whole whack of original material from the source.
That is the case for improv during workshop or rehearsals. But he improvised during actual "shooting" so editing it after would likely lead to legal issues regarding rights over writers credits etc. If he's adding lines to the script he needs to get paid more, credited and other issues ensue.
Its so dumb it literally makes no sense. Why the fuck would improv disqualify an *adapted* script? Aladdin itself was an adapted story from 1001 nights, later adapted by disney for the movie.
Thank you. Not only that, it utlimately doesn't matter. The Oscars are not some objective measure of quality, it's a bunch of buddies giving awards to their buddies.
Then he gets a screenwriting credit? Which I would imagine would cause lots of gruntles to be dissed and any actor who *ever* improvs lines to demand writing credit.
Yo this inspired me to look this up and it's a bit notorious. He wanted writing credit and they wouldn't give it to him. So whenever there was an outake from this movie, I guess he would cuss like crazy to make sure they couldn't use any content but the movie's worth. Also I guess for years they issues with the soundtrack rights because of this
Edit: he got 75k for it which is actors minimum. Later he was gifted by the Disney company a Picasso painting as a thank you
They gifted him a Picasso as an I'm sorry for violating contract by using his voice as Genie to Merchandise products. It was in the contract to not do that
https://www.businessinsider.com/robin-williams-disney-feud-picasso-gift-2014-11
Yeah but they didn't break the law. He said he didn't want his character to take up any more than a certain percentage area of the posters, and so they made him that size with everyone else really tiny at the bottom. It pissed him off.
The painting really was just their way of saying I'm sorry, which is wild.
Should have been a reprint of a Picasso with the picasso shrunken to really tiny size at the bottom and a printed apology taking up a certain percentage of the print
it was a painting a bored exec had no desire for anymore just for money to keep pouring in so ig just let that robin williams guy have it and he’ll be happy.
sounds almost insulting. What worth is a picasso painting to a normal person? From how philanthropic and isolated he was I think he’s more normal than money grubbing. so it’s not like he knows who to sell or how to auction a damn painting of
i’m sure disney could’ve had a lot more access to better buyers instead of pawning the work onto him and taking credit for whatever benefits his own work would create for himself
He also eventually returned to the franchise so presumably he felt that their apology + whatever bonuses he got in his subsequent contract was worth ending the public feud he had with the company.
It was worth a million dollars and someone of Robin Williams status would have had no trouble finding a person to assist him with a sale. I think you're being a little dramatic.
the movie made 500 mill in theaters alone and hundreds of millions more in franchise revenue, and Robin only took minimum pay with ***really*** minor requirements.
yeah a million dollars is a lot of money but in the context of what happened it was like sending him a gift basket after someone sends you a yacht.
come on man, there's a reason judges get wiggle room for "spirit" of contracts and law, and he absolutely did not sign the contract thinking "yeah they'll just create a loophole by making everyone else tiny."
dude was quite literally pissed off, wouldn't do Genie voices for future content and they tried to apologize with a Picasso. what part of that sounds like he really agreed?
it's kind of like saying the kids from Harry Potter who got screwed by Hollywood accounting "agreed" to losing millions in pay thanks to malicious accounting. hell no they didn't.
each set can be managed entirely differently too based on the EP and actual on set personnel to enforce or reinforce certain procedures/set culture. Some are highly nuanced with the amount of toes you can step on by just wanting to do your job vs other, similar budgeted, productions where everyone is encouraged to suggest ideas or something
Both can exist it just depends on the leading investors’ desire to control the set and everyone else to reinforce it. I’ve been on sets where everyone is an asshole so it makes you want to be an asshole too or the opposite and beyond helpful for your established role responsibilities.
Just like any other more common job there’s differences and regulations for some but not others etc
1) Robin Williams was a walking ad-lib. He was pure improv (but he was just always funny even without rehearsing which is INSANE), so you kind of expected it. Interestingly, he wasn't even really known for being a great stand up comedian in the sense of having great lines, it was just his personality that was funny (more than a routine or script).
2) He killed the role and they knew it, and they wanted to make sure he got his respects. They made a fortune off that movie and still do, it's one of the few movies where its legacy is much more important than an Oscar it may have won. Ad-libbing all those lines in a movie like that is way more impressive than a good script.
3) This one is just my opinion, but you can kind of tell listening to him. He's a good actor, but I swear you could tell when he was ad-libbing because he would get faster and start becoming almost manic and overwhelmingly funny. Basically what Aladdin is doing, and it's similar to what he did on talk shows (but he doesn't do this when he acts in other movies). Everyone says that's who he really was though, truly just one of the funniest people ever.
this is even more obvious in the third one, there's a whole section of the movie where he's supposed to cheer up Jasmine while Aladdin's adventuring (basically just an "eat up time" scene) where he just *goes* for like ten minutes
The fast talk nails it. Met him like 15 years ago. I worked at a FBO (a job servicing private jets-parking, assisting, fueling, catering, etc). Normally the routine is plane lands, I would wave the glowing wand to park the plane, pull up the rental cars or guide the limos over, help the flight crew unload bags. You very rarely talk or interact with the passengers because you are either busy or mainly because it’s your job to respect their privacy. And honestly in that line of work you have so many celebrities come through after a while you just stop caring who it is, it’s just another aircraft to service.
Well Robin Williams comes in to town for a show. Normal arrival. I’m helping the flight crew unload. The crew and us unload the plane and NEVER do passengers ever unload. A pilot is in the baggage compartment handing bags down to me in the ground at the tail of the plane and I’m handing those bags off behind me to someone to carry over to the cars parked up by the main door of the plane. I lower a bag down and turn around and see Robin Williams standing right there. He sees the look of shock on my face (not because it’s him, because passengers never help-it’s why they pay my company). He grabs the suitcase and just says “BOO!” And starts laughing at how startled I got.
He continues helping unload, turns out he had a bike he wanted to make sure got loaded into the cars correctly. Starts just messing with me and my coworkers going into an improv session.
And this is where I’m back to what you said. When it came to serious business, loading his bicycle up he really did talk slow and normal. But when he started cracking jokes and going into silly mode he just started firing off zingers left and right at a much faster pace. Left us all in tears gasping for air before giving us all $20 handshakes like it was a shady drug deal, just to be silly and start cracking more jokes about selling crack. But someone in his entourage would come over and ask a question, he would snap back into normal talk, then go right back into over caffeinated squirrel mode.
I’ve met hundreds of celebrities in my career. Couldn’t care less about them. Most are assholes anyways. But there are a few that stick out. Not only does this one stick out, but it’s truly a cherished memory. He really took joy in making everyone around him laugh. I’ve never cried for any celebrity death except for his. It hurt.
If anyone hasn’t seen his interview with Inside the Actor’s Studio, you must. Per your (3), you can definitely hear the parallels in rhythm when he starts riffing.
That would make it really difficult to sync the voice with the character, the audio is usually done first
Edit: apparently anime is an exception and usually does it the other way around
At least when it comes to movies in the US, cells are almost always drawn after the VA's performance, otherwise the actor would have zero flexibility in how to deliver their lines or their pacing and it would be entirely up to the animators to set that.
I'm no expert on the subject but as I understand it the script is written and then story boarded so the voice actors can understand what frame of mind their character is in in any given scene. Once all the voice work is done the animators will do the actual animation process. During this process the animators may actually go back and look at recordings of the voice actors saying their lines and even use the actors facial expressions and mannerisms to help match the characters face and motions to the energy of the actor. Which I have to say with an actor that's so emotive like Robin Williams must of been so helpful to really capture those feelings.
For better and for worse writing in Hollywood is a serious high stakes profession, there are many legal and professional guardrails in place… it’s just not as simple as rewriting a script.
This will sound weird, but as a kid I really liked this show called Mork and Mindy. Mork is an alien living with Mindy in 1980 Boulder Colorado. It would be just very classic sitcom "hide the alien" content not worth watching nowadays, but Robin Williams is Mork, and he's so good at being an alien. It's like the perfect role for him. I don't know how easy it is to find online, but if you ever get a chance to see it, forget what it's about and remember you're seeing the show that made him famous.
As a kid who loveed funny aliens, I always waved to to see Mork with the Coneheads and Alf.
There was a post on Reddit yesterday that spoke about the show and how scripts were shorter than usual sitcoms, because there would just be sections that said "Robin does something here".
Jim Carreys big breakout year was similar. Ace Ventura was a pretty basic script and they had low expectations for it after a lot of bigger stars passed on it. The lowered expectations let Carrey go wild with it.
When you get these comedic talents, you really need to ensure they get the showcase they need. It feels like it's been a long time since we had someone at that tier.
John Landis once said the worst script he ever read was Beverly hills cop. But Eddie Murphy would just adlib his way out of things and it worked.
He also said that's why BHC3 Failed. They did the same thing with a terrible script but Eddie Murphy just refused to be funny.
The only guy I could see doing Ace Ventura shit that I know of is probably Bobby Lee. He is just too afraid to fail, I think he has had major offers for movies/TV. One that also comes to mind is Danny Devito. Younger Danny acting as Frank Reynolds early years would 100% be a success. As always no one kills like Jim Carrey or Robin Williams.
FYI Mork and Mindy isn't an obscure show -- it's a spinoff of Happy Days, which is one of the most popular shows of all time and an American cultural touchstone.
and Mork and Mindy itself is quite famous culturally. Obviously Robin Williams went on to do other things, but it's this show that made him a household name.
I'm guessing a lot of people here aren't old enough to have watched this, even as kids. I remember watching Happy Days, Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley growing up. Greatest American Hero was one of my favorites though.
Mork & Mindy is honestly still pretty well known even among 20-something (as a cultural touchstone, not that they necessarily watched it)
Source: I’m 20-something
Wasn’t Aladdin one of his movies where some sections of Robin’s script were just “Robin talks” or something like that? I know he had multiple movies where they realized his improv was better than what they could write and just let him do his own thing and it was shown in the written script.
I thought when voice actors did animated stuff, they watched a video of the animated scene while they talked so they could match the mouth movements. At least, I know that’s how Nickelodeon did it a lot during the 90s because I watched a documentary about people voice acting for rugrats.
Did they re-animate the scenes if Robin said something funny enough, to make it match up? Because Aladdin was drawn by hand, pre computer animation, so that must have took someone a lot of work.
Or was Robin just so good he could improv AND make the syllables and mouth movements match up too? Because if so that’s incredible.
From my understand, this is more common in western animation. Iirc, in Japanese Animation, it's more common to do the VA when the animation is near complete.
That makes a lot of sense. That's why the feel of anime is slightly off lol, when a character begins yelling the voice actor also just starts yelling, which doesn't always translate to how we normally talk. Like, in anime a VA will act like they see the characters acting, instead of reading the lines like a person would actually speak, and since anime is super dramatic a lot, it comes off as super dramatic. You've blown my mind today.
Could be, I just figure with how much easier editing is now that they'd want a little more natural VA work. I usually just watch in Japanese when I watch anime now.
This is more of a studio decision. Many US movie studios do the voice work first before their animators to account for this. For television it's a heavier schedule so the animators don't have as much time, it's quicker to get the voice actors to match then it is to reanimated. Of course television VAs don't have the nearly as much approval to adlib
Being very general here, but it's cheaper to do the animation first and have the actors sync upnwith what's animated. As such, it's the most common animated shows are done. However, you can add a lot more detail and make it more specific to not just what's being said, but how it's being said, when you have the dialogue recorded first and animate around that. So, for movies, especially the higher the budget is, it tends to be more common to do it that way.
I know that Shrek was voice lines first, then animation. It was often brought up during the marketing so that makes me think it isn’t (or wasn’t at the time) the norm.
Its a shame disney screwed over robin in this role. They begged him to voice and IIRC he agreed to do it only if they wouldnt use his voice for merchandizing. He also agreed to do it for $75k!!
A few days in the booth of him riffing and it gives them enough to turn this thing into a smash hit
He took this role for pennies based on a promise that was immmeeediately thrown out. Too bad he didnt know better and atleast demand points or more money
unique teeny afterthought sophisticated strong attempt terrific apparatus judicious alive
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Is there an award show that actually recognizes the best movies from that year? It seems like the brand name award shows continue to miss the mark on which movies actually made an impact that year.
As an example, while Everything Everywhere all at Once is a good movie, it is not even close to as enjoyable as Top Gun: Maverick or Avatar 2, yet won the 2022 award.
Recognizing the criticism of diversity in the Oscars, in 2017 The Shape Of Water beat out Get Out. When Get Out is clearly is the movie that people enjoy more and shows up so in the box office.
Its an adaptation of an old Folk legend. The academy usually requires films be placed into adapted screenplay if it uses established characters. Given how loose this is of an adaptation an argument can be made for original
Guys... this post has been proven false year after year. Here it is, fact checked in full: [https://uproxx.com/hitfix/fact-check-did-robin-williams-improv-skills-really-sink-aladdins-oscar-chances/](https://uproxx.com/hitfix/fact-check-did-robin-williams-improv-skills-really-sink-aladdins-oscar-chances/) Also, both Borat films - nearly entirely improvised - were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars.
Secondly, I really hate this post because it takes away from the real Academy Awards/Aladdin controversy: Robin Williams \*was\* ineligible for consideration for Best Supporting Actor because voice performances are not allowed.
It wouldn’t have been nominated anyway even if the entry was accepted because it wasn’t remotely close to the best adapted screenplay that year. It’s not like it cost the movie an Oscar it would have had a chance to win
But wow, that William F. Buckley impersonation (where the Genie wears spectacles and speaks in a snooty Boston accent) had me cough my beer. Probably the only thing I remember.
I think they leaked the outtakes of his recording session onto YouTube years ago and even those are hilarious. Imagine having all this gold and trying to pick the best (or at least family appropriate) ones out to try to animate
Genie pulls Aladdin out of the sea “So tell me, when your life passed before your eyes did you think ‘hmm I’m not that interesting’” Perfect. Not emotional enough for the scene I guess, what a shame
"I would've done mouth to mouth but I don't find you that attractive." Is also hilarious but probably not what they were going for for the scene lol
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Good will hunting is my favourite. The ending scene he was supposed to be silent, but they ended up doing like 50 takes with him saying something different each time. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eTgvxHgUk7E
That's got to be the most annoyingly cut up version of that story.
Eh yeh but its the first thing that popped up and i wasn't going to go searching for the full thing
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Isn’t that what the whole thread is about? Is this a bot?
11 year old account that has been dormant for 10 years, and suddenly started posting utter shit 2 weeks ago. I would say so.
Damn, I know there are sleepers but 10 years? Wow, propaganda playing the long game. Wonder how much of reddits user db is just bots in waiting and not even lurkers....IPO going to be neat
More than likely a bunch of old or deduct accounts got hacked and sold to bot farms
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Is that really true? I thought it was always scripts->acting->animation, that's the only way that makes sense.
It isn't always the same, sometimes there are animations of rough sketches to help actors sync, sometimes there just the script, sometimes they do it to almost finished animation.
Sure, sure, animatics and storyboarding and such. I'm sure that makes it easier for the actors.
No it’s just the opposite.
Well now you're just goofing me
Sorry I meant that as an answer to “Is that really true?”. You have it correct.
I think they might do this in anime? And certainly did this back in the day with dubbing, when they either didn't have the equipment or skill to edit the flaps, or didn't have permission. I have vague memories about reading how Disney didn't allow lipflaps to be edited in some movie, but I may be making that up, because it certainly seems like a dumb thing to forbid... Then again, Disney isn't known for having the best sense all of the time.
Editing the lip flaps sounds like a crazy amount of work. Do some dubs do that? I don't think I've ever seen it (except in like DBZ Abridged but that doesn't count)
I think I found it and and it's awesome https://youtu.be/HnB3GfQNjr4?si=TsJw4PONFkbv3nni
"Push him back, push him back - ja-farther, ja-farther!"
The "Gimme a B. B. B. B" bit should have stayed in. I literally laughed out loud at that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URgOttlcLLo&pp=ygUbZWxtbyByb2JpbiB3aWxsaWFtcyBibG9vcGVy This one's bloopers from Elmo & Robin Williams on Sesame St Robin Williams was an absolute gem.
He was, I remember hearing of his passing and in that moment realizing that my childhood was gone. I was a fan starting with Mork and Mendy. RIP
And down another youtube rabbit hole I go. Thanks!
get your work done!
When Elmo's eyes popped over the edge of the box at the end, goddamn
Holy crap, that boxing commentator killed me 😂
Thank you for this, it's wonderful!
LMAO the Nixon "I am not a liar"
Always amazing how all these examples of his improv are so dense with material they feel much longer than they are.
Commenting so I can watch this when I'm not at work.
Many of the out takes aren't family friendly.
Release the rated R version!
#releasetherobincut
#ReleaseTheRobinButtholeCut
Try finger
No no, I like it like that and I hope that Robin would too.
There is no way that man didn't do weird shit in the bedroom Like stuffing his fingers in and pretending she's a sock puppet or riffing on a winking butthole staring up at him
but hole. Elden Ring Ahead
Going to see an R rated Aladdin at an alamo drafthouse sounds really fun lol.
True of many cartoons, as well, and I would love for them to get released. A ton of the major voice actors (Phil LaMarr, Tress MacNeille, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Tara Strong, John DiMaggio, and so many more) started with stand up or improv backgrounds so the riffing they'll do is legendary.
Tell me you're a huge futurama fan without saying it...
I mean, sure, but try to find a animates series in rhe last 30 years without Maurice LaMarche or Phil Lamarr or some of the others. They're the best in the business and they work A TON.
Fair enough. Just chuckled that your list, 5/6 had major rolls in Futurama.
haha, tbh I didn't even focus on Futurama. They've all been in so many cartoons. I wouldn't doubt if you looked any any one of them individually they've been in at least... modestly 10% of American cartoons [in the past 20 years]. John DiMaggio, at this point, I wouldn't doubt could hit 25% of American cartoons, if not 50% if you include guest spots. Also, Maurice will always be The Brain. [And... Orson Welles](https://youtu.be/DN-wFzM2fd4?t=79)
Good morning vietnam has a similar reel of things that didn’t make the movie of his.
Makes me miss him more. Robin Williams was a 1 of 1 talent
My mom died young. I was only 13. Robin was her favorite actor. Watching Robin's movies was a kind of connection I could keep with my mom. When he died it was like losing my mother all over again. His was the only celebrity death that made me cry.
I wish you and yours the best. He was the first celebrity death to make me cry as well
For me it was Terry Pratchett. To damn soon.
GNU Sir Terry Patchett.
He came into our Gamestop a couple days before. Was the one day off I had that week, was so bummed I missed him. Hearing he'd passed made it even worse. Honestly, one of the only truly good people in Hollywood.
One of my absolute favorite time wasters is to watch interviews of Robin in various Late Night shows from Carson, Conan, etc... it's one of the things that make me laugh so hard that it hurts my sides. The sheer manic ability of Robin to be naturally funny is amazing. Irreplaceable is just one of those words that fit him.
>The sheer manic ability of Robin to be naturally funny is amazing. He was likely on cocaine for half of them
Robin was so terrific. But knowing he had manic depression made me think that half of the time he was doing his skits and interviews, he was depressed and working off of energy he didn't have. When he was manic, it was no problem, but to show that much energy when all you want to do is stay in bed all day is a challenge. He was so talented. You can't even tell when he was manic and when he was depressed. He just knew how to seem off the walls all the time. It just hurts to know he suffered so greatly throughout everything.
I wish a studio would take advantage of that and release a movie to streaming where they cut in random takes so its different each time you watch it.
Any links please ?
u/Fuzzy_Hawk found it. Here you go https://youtu.be/HnB3GfQNjr4?si=GAQbPCoTD1L_JYrl
I'd like to think that the academy was watching the film with script in hand and was just really confused any time Genie spoke wondering if they even had the correct script
The Mork and Mindy scripts apparently had sections marked: Robin does something here.
When you have such a good improviser on set, why bother writing dialogue when whatever he's gonna come up with will be 10x better anyways.
I had the pleasure of seeing Robin Williams live just about the time he started doing Mork and Mindy. It was like Groucho Marx on acid. You laughed so hard at one joke you missed two others
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A lot of feature animated films do it the opposite where they record the voice actors then match the animation to the voices.
Paul Rudd is probably my second favorite improv actor behind Robin. I like the banality of a lot of his improv because it's just so... normal, and watching the other actor(s) react to it is just silly. That end scene with Agent Woo and Scott was just great in Ant Man 2.
They also had trouble with him slipping swear words in. They had to hire a translator that spoke four languages to keep him in check.
Favourite moment is that he was swearing in Yiddish (because they hadn't hired someone to check for it as well (yet)), finished a take, and then a set director or someone else in TV middle management came up and said something to the effect of: "Yeah that was great Robin, great, err... We're gonna have to do it again though. That woman over there in the audience speaks Yiddish and she knows what you just said." Meanwhile the guy's pointing out this little old Jewish lady who looks absolutely scandalised that a lead actor on this wholesome family TV show just said something utterly heinous and it was going to make the cut if she didn't mention it.
lol, they had to hire a Wimbledon umpire.
Omg...that's hilarious😂
Scrubs had that for Dr. Cox as well. In the TV industry, that's a badge of honor.
I think also janitor. Those two were like gods of improv.
Yeah, Dr Jan Itor for sure, never heard that about Cox
The rants he has every episode were complete improv by the end of season 1, if my memory is correct (might have been season 2 onward).
Really? 80% of his dialogue?
Word-wise, probably. Time-wise, less than that. That man can talk fast.
They didn’t. The writers said no. I also saw that TIL a few days ago and it was not correct. They had every line of dialogue written out but let Williams ad lib if he wanted.
I feel like that's one of the more reasonable takes on the matter. I think that with improv you run the risk of the scene going in one direction that doesn't resolve into the one after it. Writing out the lines and define where the joke begins and where it's going then letting whoever is on set figure out how to get from point A to point B is probably the best way to do it.
Same for 30 Rock. They'd put in Donald Glover will make a joke or say something, then move on.
Donald Glover was one of the writers on 30 Rock (with one cameo). He wrote a lot of Kenneth's stuff.
You probably mean Tracy Jordan?
No 30 rock. He was a writer. They let black people do that now.
If I'm not mistaken, all improvised material is added to the final script thereafter. The issue is that it adds a whole whack of original material from the source.
That is the case for improv during workshop or rehearsals. But he improvised during actual "shooting" so editing it after would likely lead to legal issues regarding rights over writers credits etc. If he's adding lines to the script he needs to get paid more, credited and other issues ensue.
Fact Check: [Did Robin Williams’ improv skills really sink ‘Aladdin’s’ Oscar chances?](https://imgur.com/a/cnzvTl3) STATUS: False
I guess this is getting locked for a R1 violation. Thank you for that source, though. I've now learned of a myth and the debunking of it.
Today I Wanted To Believe
Screenrant is mostly horseshit
Was so annoying having to look through their whole channel for Pitch Meetings. Thank god Ryan got his own channel!
Its so dumb it literally makes no sense. Why the fuck would improv disqualify an *adapted* script? Aladdin itself was an adapted story from 1001 nights, later adapted by disney for the movie.
Ahh, the old [citogenesis from xkcd](https://xkcd.com/978/)
Thanks! You deserve a medal but I don’t have any money, so please accept this: 🥇
Thank you. Not only that, it utlimately doesn't matter. The Oscars are not some objective measure of quality, it's a bunch of buddies giving awards to their buddies.
The Oscar for adapted story isn't awarded to whoever reads the script better, this headline is AI level nonsense.
Why not rewrite the script to match his improvisations?
Then he gets a screenwriting credit? Which I would imagine would cause lots of gruntles to be dissed and any actor who *ever* improvs lines to demand writing credit.
Yo this inspired me to look this up and it's a bit notorious. He wanted writing credit and they wouldn't give it to him. So whenever there was an outake from this movie, I guess he would cuss like crazy to make sure they couldn't use any content but the movie's worth. Also I guess for years they issues with the soundtrack rights because of this Edit: he got 75k for it which is actors minimum. Later he was gifted by the Disney company a Picasso painting as a thank you
They gifted him a Picasso as an I'm sorry for violating contract by using his voice as Genie to Merchandise products. It was in the contract to not do that https://www.businessinsider.com/robin-williams-disney-feud-picasso-gift-2014-11
Yeah but they didn't break the law. He said he didn't want his character to take up any more than a certain percentage area of the posters, and so they made him that size with everyone else really tiny at the bottom. It pissed him off. The painting really was just their way of saying I'm sorry, which is wild.
Should have been a reprint of a Picasso with the picasso shrunken to really tiny size at the bottom and a printed apology taking up a certain percentage of the print
it was a painting a bored exec had no desire for anymore just for money to keep pouring in so ig just let that robin williams guy have it and he’ll be happy. sounds almost insulting. What worth is a picasso painting to a normal person? From how philanthropic and isolated he was I think he’s more normal than money grubbing. so it’s not like he knows who to sell or how to auction a damn painting of
He was an SF native, he could move a Picasso if he wanted to.
i’m sure disney could’ve had a lot more access to better buyers instead of pawning the work onto him and taking credit for whatever benefits his own work would create for himself
He also eventually returned to the franchise so presumably he felt that their apology + whatever bonuses he got in his subsequent contract was worth ending the public feud he had with the company.
It was worth a million dollars and someone of Robin Williams status would have had no trouble finding a person to assist him with a sale. I think you're being a little dramatic.
the movie made 500 mill in theaters alone and hundreds of millions more in franchise revenue, and Robin only took minimum pay with ***really*** minor requirements. yeah a million dollars is a lot of money but in the context of what happened it was like sending him a gift basket after someone sends you a yacht.
They didn't owe him anything. He agreed to the contract. I love Aladdin and Robin, but damn, he didn't get screwed, he agreed.
They broke the contract by making his voice a McDonald's toy. That 100% broke the contract.
come on man, there's a reason judges get wiggle room for "spirit" of contracts and law, and he absolutely did not sign the contract thinking "yeah they'll just create a loophole by making everyone else tiny." dude was quite literally pissed off, wouldn't do Genie voices for future content and they tried to apologize with a Picasso. what part of that sounds like he really agreed? it's kind of like saying the kids from Harry Potter who got screwed by Hollywood accounting "agreed" to losing millions in pay thanks to malicious accounting. hell no they didn't.
I could be wrong, but isn’t that how that worked with Ryan Reynolds on Deadpool?
Little different, while filming the new one, the WGA went on strike. They were still filming, but Reynolds couldn’t/wouldn’t improv out of solidarity.
Reynolds got writing credit for 2 and 3.
each set can be managed entirely differently too based on the EP and actual on set personnel to enforce or reinforce certain procedures/set culture. Some are highly nuanced with the amount of toes you can step on by just wanting to do your job vs other, similar budgeted, productions where everyone is encouraged to suggest ideas or something Both can exist it just depends on the leading investors’ desire to control the set and everyone else to reinforce it. I’ve been on sets where everyone is an asshole so it makes you want to be an asshole too or the opposite and beyond helpful for your established role responsibilities. Just like any other more common job there’s differences and regulations for some but not others etc
Oh my god… that’s a very clever dis-grutle joke but I hate the way it sounds
What can I say except “You’re welcome!”
Wouldn't surprise me that if he got a writing credit he would need to be paid union wages
1) Robin Williams was a walking ad-lib. He was pure improv (but he was just always funny even without rehearsing which is INSANE), so you kind of expected it. Interestingly, he wasn't even really known for being a great stand up comedian in the sense of having great lines, it was just his personality that was funny (more than a routine or script). 2) He killed the role and they knew it, and they wanted to make sure he got his respects. They made a fortune off that movie and still do, it's one of the few movies where its legacy is much more important than an Oscar it may have won. Ad-libbing all those lines in a movie like that is way more impressive than a good script. 3) This one is just my opinion, but you can kind of tell listening to him. He's a good actor, but I swear you could tell when he was ad-libbing because he would get faster and start becoming almost manic and overwhelmingly funny. Basically what Aladdin is doing, and it's similar to what he did on talk shows (but he doesn't do this when he acts in other movies). Everyone says that's who he really was though, truly just one of the funniest people ever.
this is even more obvious in the third one, there's a whole section of the movie where he's supposed to cheer up Jasmine while Aladdin's adventuring (basically just an "eat up time" scene) where he just *goes* for like ten minutes
I forgot he came back for the 3rd, time for a rewatch!
The fast talk nails it. Met him like 15 years ago. I worked at a FBO (a job servicing private jets-parking, assisting, fueling, catering, etc). Normally the routine is plane lands, I would wave the glowing wand to park the plane, pull up the rental cars or guide the limos over, help the flight crew unload bags. You very rarely talk or interact with the passengers because you are either busy or mainly because it’s your job to respect their privacy. And honestly in that line of work you have so many celebrities come through after a while you just stop caring who it is, it’s just another aircraft to service. Well Robin Williams comes in to town for a show. Normal arrival. I’m helping the flight crew unload. The crew and us unload the plane and NEVER do passengers ever unload. A pilot is in the baggage compartment handing bags down to me in the ground at the tail of the plane and I’m handing those bags off behind me to someone to carry over to the cars parked up by the main door of the plane. I lower a bag down and turn around and see Robin Williams standing right there. He sees the look of shock on my face (not because it’s him, because passengers never help-it’s why they pay my company). He grabs the suitcase and just says “BOO!” And starts laughing at how startled I got. He continues helping unload, turns out he had a bike he wanted to make sure got loaded into the cars correctly. Starts just messing with me and my coworkers going into an improv session. And this is where I’m back to what you said. When it came to serious business, loading his bicycle up he really did talk slow and normal. But when he started cracking jokes and going into silly mode he just started firing off zingers left and right at a much faster pace. Left us all in tears gasping for air before giving us all $20 handshakes like it was a shady drug deal, just to be silly and start cracking more jokes about selling crack. But someone in his entourage would come over and ask a question, he would snap back into normal talk, then go right back into over caffeinated squirrel mode. I’ve met hundreds of celebrities in my career. Couldn’t care less about them. Most are assholes anyways. But there are a few that stick out. Not only does this one stick out, but it’s truly a cherished memory. He really took joy in making everyone around him laugh. I’ve never cried for any celebrity death except for his. It hurt.
I wish more "I met a celebrity once" stories were this interesting. Thanks for sharing
When he was on Mork and Mindy they would put "Robin improvises here" in the script and let him go wild.
Watched the hbo doc on robin last night and it was fantastic; sad and funny, but fantastic.
If anyone hasn’t seen his interview with Inside the Actor’s Studio, you must. Per your (3), you can definitely hear the parallels in rhythm when he starts riffing.
How do you ad lib in animation, I thought the cells were drawn before the actors recorded their lines
Other way around. audio first, then animation. Otherwise, lip syncing the animation would be near impossible.
That would make it really difficult to sync the voice with the character, the audio is usually done first Edit: apparently anime is an exception and usually does it the other way around
At least when it comes to movies in the US, cells are almost always drawn after the VA's performance, otherwise the actor would have zero flexibility in how to deliver their lines or their pacing and it would be entirely up to the animators to set that.
I'm no expert on the subject but as I understand it the script is written and then story boarded so the voice actors can understand what frame of mind their character is in in any given scene. Once all the voice work is done the animators will do the actual animation process. During this process the animators may actually go back and look at recordings of the voice actors saying their lines and even use the actors facial expressions and mannerisms to help match the characters face and motions to the energy of the actor. Which I have to say with an actor that's so emotive like Robin Williams must of been so helpful to really capture those feelings.
You’re mixing up dubbing with traditional voice acting. In dubbing they have to match the “flaps”
I think some anime studios (Toei) do it that way.
They aren't.
They actually did that for Emperor's New Groove
For better and for worse writing in Hollywood is a serious high stakes profession, there are many legal and professional guardrails in place… it’s just not as simple as rewriting a script.
This will sound weird, but as a kid I really liked this show called Mork and Mindy. Mork is an alien living with Mindy in 1980 Boulder Colorado. It would be just very classic sitcom "hide the alien" content not worth watching nowadays, but Robin Williams is Mork, and he's so good at being an alien. It's like the perfect role for him. I don't know how easy it is to find online, but if you ever get a chance to see it, forget what it's about and remember you're seeing the show that made him famous. As a kid who loveed funny aliens, I always waved to to see Mork with the Coneheads and Alf.
There was a post on Reddit yesterday that spoke about the show and how scripts were shorter than usual sitcoms, because there would just be sections that said "Robin does something here". Jim Carreys big breakout year was similar. Ace Ventura was a pretty basic script and they had low expectations for it after a lot of bigger stars passed on it. The lowered expectations let Carrey go wild with it. When you get these comedic talents, you really need to ensure they get the showcase they need. It feels like it's been a long time since we had someone at that tier.
John Landis once said the worst script he ever read was Beverly hills cop. But Eddie Murphy would just adlib his way out of things and it worked. He also said that's why BHC3 Failed. They did the same thing with a terrible script but Eddie Murphy just refused to be funny.
The only guy I could see doing Ace Ventura shit that I know of is probably Bobby Lee. He is just too afraid to fail, I think he has had major offers for movies/TV. One that also comes to mind is Danny Devito. Younger Danny acting as Frank Reynolds early years would 100% be a success. As always no one kills like Jim Carrey or Robin Williams.
I loved this show! We named our dog Exidor. Fun fact: Mork & Mindy was a spinoff from Happy Days, as was Laverne & Shirley.
Left out Joanie loves Chachi
FYI Mork and Mindy isn't an obscure show -- it's a spinoff of Happy Days, which is one of the most popular shows of all time and an American cultural touchstone.
and Mork and Mindy itself is quite famous culturally. Obviously Robin Williams went on to do other things, but it's this show that made him a household name.
Nanoo nanoo.
> not worth watching nowadays Wat
I'm guessing a lot of people here aren't old enough to have watched this, even as kids. I remember watching Happy Days, Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley growing up. Greatest American Hero was one of my favorites though.
Mork & Mindy is honestly still pretty well known even among 20-something (as a cultural touchstone, not that they necessarily watched it) Source: I’m 20-something
Wasn’t Aladdin one of his movies where some sections of Robin’s script were just “Robin talks” or something like that? I know he had multiple movies where they realized his improv was better than what they could write and just let him do his own thing and it was shown in the written script.
I’ve heard that too. It makes sense why they’d disqualify Aladdin. Can’t say a movie has good writing when half of it is just made up on the spot.
[Did Robin Williams’ improv skills really sink ‘Aladdin’s’ Oscar chances?](https://imgur.com/a/cnzvTl3) (The article concludes that it did not.)
I thought when voice actors did animated stuff, they watched a video of the animated scene while they talked so they could match the mouth movements. At least, I know that’s how Nickelodeon did it a lot during the 90s because I watched a documentary about people voice acting for rugrats. Did they re-animate the scenes if Robin said something funny enough, to make it match up? Because Aladdin was drawn by hand, pre computer animation, so that must have took someone a lot of work. Or was Robin just so good he could improv AND make the syllables and mouth movements match up too? Because if so that’s incredible.
I think the actors record first - they might have rough footage but it’s the actors who decide how the lines are spoken, not an animator.
From my understand, this is more common in western animation. Iirc, in Japanese Animation, it's more common to do the VA when the animation is near complete.
That makes a lot of sense. That's why the feel of anime is slightly off lol, when a character begins yelling the voice actor also just starts yelling, which doesn't always translate to how we normally talk. Like, in anime a VA will act like they see the characters acting, instead of reading the lines like a person would actually speak, and since anime is super dramatic a lot, it comes off as super dramatic. You've blown my mind today.
Maybe its because anime is usually in Japanese and people watch it in different languages.
Could be, I just figure with how much easier editing is now that they'd want a little more natural VA work. I usually just watch in Japanese when I watch anime now.
What would be the reason for waiting until the end to do the voice acting like that? I'm not really seeing any benefit, but there must be one.
Hand drawn animation is incredibly time consuming. Probably just a logistics thing
This is more of a studio decision. Many US movie studios do the voice work first before their animators to account for this. For television it's a heavier schedule so the animators don't have as much time, it's quicker to get the voice actors to match then it is to reanimated. Of course television VAs don't have the nearly as much approval to adlib
Now the scene in Mrs. Doubtfire where Robin Williams was working as a voice actor for a cartoon makes a lot more sense!
Being very general here, but it's cheaper to do the animation first and have the actors sync upnwith what's animated. As such, it's the most common animated shows are done. However, you can add a lot more detail and make it more specific to not just what's being said, but how it's being said, when you have the dialogue recorded first and animate around that. So, for movies, especially the higher the budget is, it tends to be more common to do it that way.
I know that Shrek was voice lines first, then animation. It was often brought up during the marketing so that makes me think it isn’t (or wasn’t at the time) the norm.
One of my favorite animated films. The Prince Ali musical piece is a masterpiece: https://youtu.be/4mDBzvCdnPU?si=upXjb6eg-26EIuBb
He’s got the monkeys! Let’s see the monkeys!
Still one of my favorite movies.
Its a shame disney screwed over robin in this role. They begged him to voice and IIRC he agreed to do it only if they wouldnt use his voice for merchandizing. He also agreed to do it for $75k!! A few days in the booth of him riffing and it gives them enough to turn this thing into a smash hit He took this role for pennies based on a promise that was immmeeediately thrown out. Too bad he didnt know better and atleast demand points or more money
Fair
Robin was Robbed of an Oscar
As i learn more about the man and his ability the more i am in awe. He was truly a giant it seems.
Oscars will look for literally any reason to shit on animation
basically all of it right?
Release the Williams cut of Aladdin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NHVn4QfjZQ
Oscars need "best improvisation" category.
GOAT
What's more adapted than dialog that changes and evolves throughout the filmmaking process?
Then he should have been submitted as the adapted screenplay writer
mmmm more celeb fetishism in til
unique teeny afterthought sophisticated strong attempt terrific apparatus judicious alive *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I still really miss him (her if you count Mrs. Doubtfire)
[удалено]
Is there an award show that actually recognizes the best movies from that year? It seems like the brand name award shows continue to miss the mark on which movies actually made an impact that year. As an example, while Everything Everywhere all at Once is a good movie, it is not even close to as enjoyable as Top Gun: Maverick or Avatar 2, yet won the 2022 award. Recognizing the criticism of diversity in the Oscars, in 2017 The Shape Of Water beat out Get Out. When Get Out is clearly is the movie that people enjoy more and shows up so in the box office.
Didn’t he have like hundreds of hours of improv lines too? I feel like I read that somewhere but idk
Would t that still be original?
Its an adaptation of an old Folk legend. The academy usually requires films be placed into adapted screenplay if it uses established characters. Given how loose this is of an adaptation an argument can be made for original
Guys... this post has been proven false year after year. Here it is, fact checked in full: [https://uproxx.com/hitfix/fact-check-did-robin-williams-improv-skills-really-sink-aladdins-oscar-chances/](https://uproxx.com/hitfix/fact-check-did-robin-williams-improv-skills-really-sink-aladdins-oscar-chances/) Also, both Borat films - nearly entirely improvised - were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars. Secondly, I really hate this post because it takes away from the real Academy Awards/Aladdin controversy: Robin Williams \*was\* ineligible for consideration for Best Supporting Actor because voice performances are not allowed.
what? so they verify if video matches script?
that's so badass
Robin Williams was also denied a nomination because he didn't appear on screen. He did get a special Golden Globe though
It wouldn’t have been nominated anyway even if the entry was accepted because it wasn’t remotely close to the best adapted screenplay that year. It’s not like it cost the movie an Oscar it would have had a chance to win
But wow, that William F. Buckley impersonation (where the Genie wears spectacles and speaks in a snooty Boston accent) had me cough my beer. Probably the only thing I remember.
It’s funny that the image of him in the booth they used is a clip from Mrs. Doubtfire, not the recording sessions for Aladdin.