“Something To Behold”: How Robin Williams’ Improv Completely Changed Mrs. Doubtfire Filming

Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus explains how Robin Williams’ acting style completely changed the shooting process for the film. Released in 1993, Mrs. Doubtfire is a classic comedy about a father who, after divorcing his wife, disguises himself as a housekeeper in order to spend more time with his children. Featuring Williams as the eponymous housekeeper, the film is considered to be one of the late comedic actor’s most iconic roles.

Speaking with Business Insider, Columbus reveals that Williams’ on-set improvisation completely changed how Mrs. Doubtfire was shot. According to the director, Williams told him early on that he would like “three or four scripted takes, and then let’s play,” referring to his desire to improvise. The improv during the filming process would require four cameras, “almost 2 million feet of film,” and a harried script supervisor who had to frantically scrawl as Williams added and changed lines throughout the film. Check out the full quote from Columbus below:

Early on in the process, he went to me, ‘Hey boss, the way I like to work, if you’re up for it, is I’ll give you three or four scripted takes, and then let’s play.’ By saying that, what he meant was he wanted to improvise. And that’s exactly how we shot every scene. We would have exactly what was scripted, and then Robin would go off and it was something to behold.

The poor script supervisor. Remember, this is the early 1990s, she wasn’t typing what he was saying. She was handwriting it and Robin would change every take. So Robin would go to a place where he couldn’t remember much of what he said. We would go to the script supervisor and ask her and sometimes she didn’t even get it all. Often, he would literally give us a completely different take than what we did doing the written takes.

It got to the point that I had to shoot the entire movie with four cameras to keep up with him. None of us knew what he was going to say when he got going and so I wanted a camera on the other actors to get their reactions…[the studio was] loving what they were seeing. Did they watch everything? I don’t think so. We shot almost 2 million feet of film on that picture.

Robin William Was Iconic in Mrs. Doubtfire (So Can’t Be Replaced for Mrs. Doubtfire 2)

Columbus’ words are a good reminder of just how legendary William was in Mrs. Doubtfire. The late actor had copious shining moments in his film career–as the beloved teacher in Dead Poets Society, as the voice of the Genie in Aladdin, as Captain Hook in Hook, and more–and Mrs. Doubtfire is no exception. In the film, Williams played the titular character with a mix of humor and heart, adding a warm flare to the over-the-top role. Columbus clearly shares this reverence for Williams, as he calls his improvisation “something to behold.”

Because of Mrs. Doubtfire’s beloved status, there have been whisperings of making a Mrs. Doubtfire 2 as the film reaches its 30-year anniversary. A Mrs. Doubtfire follow-up script has even been written. Williams and Columbus once sat down together with said script years ago, and William reportedly would agree to the film so long as he didn’t “have to be in the suit as much this time.”

Columbus said recently, however, that he thinks Mrs. Doubtfire 2 should never happen due to Willaims’ passing. While Disney owns the rights to the film, Columbus’ story of Williams shows just how right he is in this perspective. From line interpretation to vast interpretation, Williams made Mrs. Doubtfire who she was as a character. For that reason, Williams can never be replaced in Mrs. Doubtfire.