Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star Kevin Hart recently revealed that he would also like to remake another classic Robin Williams movie: Mrs. Doubtfire. Whether one is a fan of Hart’s particular brand of comedy or not, it’s impossible to deny that he’s one of the biggest comedy stars out there today, and brings with him a loyal fanbase that tends to check out each of his new films. With that in mind, Hart might just be as good a choice as any to try and tackle resurrecting Mrs. Doubtfire.
Released in November 1993, Mrs. Doubtfire starred Robin Williams as Daniel Hillard, a San Francisco actor and divorced dad who goes to extreme lengths to be in his children’s lives after a judge awards sole custody to their mother Miranda (Sally Field). Said lengths include creating a female character to play called Mrs. Doubtfire, a kindly old Scottish nanny. He pulls this off via the help of his makeup artist friend, who supplies him with the necessary prosthetic mask – and “fat suit” – he’ll need to sell the character. Unfortunately, the charade can’t continue forever, and before long Daniel is having lots of problems balancing his two personas.
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On the surface, the premise is pretty ridiculous – and arguably quite creepy – but Williams’ manic comic energy and endless onscreen likeability enabled him to make Mrs. Doubtfire a favorite among his fans. The film was also a huge box office hit, hauling in $441 million worldwide on a budget of only $25 million. Trying to live up to the original Mrs. Doubtfire would certainly be a tough task for Hart, who made his desire to remake the film known during a recent interview with Cinema Blend. Here’s his full quote.
“I’ll stay on the Robin Williams train and say that if I could jump into Mrs. Doubtfire. That was a very amazing performance on both ends for him. I think that’s one I’d love to get to play in.”
Interestingly enough, a few months prior to Robin Williams’ tragic death in 2014, it was reported that the legendary actor and comedian was attached to make a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire, with original director Chris Columbus (Home Alone) also on-board to return. Any such plans for the sequel were obviously scrapped once Williams died, as it’s likely that FOX was well aware that a return of Mrs. Doubtfire wasn’t necessarily what people wanted, it was a return of Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire.
That said, if Hart really does end up pursuing the idea of starring in a Mrs. Doubtfire remake, he should be prepared to receive lots of backlash from hardcore fans of Williams, who would likely see the Mrs. Doubtfire character continuing without him as an affront to the legacy of the iconic actor. For now though, it doesn’t seem like such a project is imminent.
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