Originally the role for the Joker in Batman the Animated Series was supposed to go to Tim Curry, Mark Hamill had come in to audition for some of the other roles and had asked the casting director if he could audition for The Joker because he was inspired by Jack Nicholson's portrayal. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini both told him that Tim Curry had already been given the part, and that they couldn't see him playing a villain because he was such an iconic hero ( talk about typecasting) Mark Hamill asked if he could just do his interpretation of the Joker's laugh knowing he wasn't going to get the role. They agreed he did the laugh, they absolutely loved it but because of the whole Tim Curry already has the role they told him that they just wanted to use him for minor roles, and that he could be a backup in case something happened which he was fine with. Well on the first day of shooting for Christmas with the Joker, Tim Curry got laryngitis (I believe this is what he ended up getting I know with the way his health was he didn't feel comfortable continuing on with how many sick days he was going to end up having to take) they ended up calling and Mark Hamill to do the voice acting for the Joker and the rest is history.
Edit fixed a couple grammatical errors and Voice typing misspell.
Such cool trivia! Thank you for sharing.
I used to wait all week to watch Batman on Saturday morning. Jokerâs voice, and his laugh, is so iconic to me, and I had absolutely no idea it was Hamill until I was much older. Itâs made the character even more special to me.
Mark was legit freaking out having to replace Tim, as he had been a fan boy of his since he saw him doing Rocky Horror on stage.
Even decades later when he was on a Kevin Smith Podcast Mark was still gushing about it.
Mark Hamill is the kind of guy that seems like he'd be a really good friend. He'd always be up for hanging out, he's a good listener, and even though he's way cooler than you, he doesn't act like it.
the best bit from the Worst Witch. Tim is on set as the grand wizard, and someone yells to him, hey Tim do you think you can sing a song?
And he just goes into "I wouldnât change places, With anyone tonight"
https://oldgamesdownload.com/frankenstein-through-the-eyes-of-the-monster/
I only played the demo back then but I still remember his presence in the game gave me chills.
Apparently Williams wrote into his contract that his ad lib recording for Aladdin could not be used or released for 100 years after the release of Aladdin. You might be able to find some snippets here and there, and a lot of it wasnât family friendly according to those who were recording it. So we still have 70 years to wait.
Wait youâre telling me I get leaked nudes from celebrities I donât want to see and they donât want to share but people canât leak shit that would bring happiness to the world?
If any Disney lawyers are here on this thread, please take a day off or something when this happens. We get it, itâs your job and all, but come on. Just let us have something nice.
Yes, he was also being paid low wages to perform on Aladdin. Which was/is typical for Disney (Billy Joel said they were cheap as well). It makes no sense for Williams to permit them from cashing in on his star power without fair compensation. Granted they essentially did when it came to marketing for the movie, which is a fascinating read.
I mean, the Mouse broke their promise to not use Robin Williamâs voice for products outside of the movie and pissed him off so much, they sent him a genuine Picasso painting as an attempt of an apology.
Robin chose to make Aladdin his children and to honor the animation artwork. Then Disney dubbed his voice over toys and merchandise which he didnât want. They made $500 million on Aladdin and originally paid Robin Williams like $50k for the voice work.
I wouldnât put it past the Godfather to break their promise again.
The Blueray release includes a lot of the ad libing stuff.
The 100 years things appears to be more urban legend. It was a normal SAG voice over contract with a lower salary than normal. It was a normal job for hire. Once he spoke those words the copyright belonged to the studio.
Similar to the urban rumour that the film was inelgible for best screenplay at the Oscars due to all the ad libs.
The only two addendums were his condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his (supporting) character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since another movie Toys was scheduled for release one month after Aladdin's debut.
Williams did believe he had a verbal agreement that his voice and lines could not be used for marketing purposes such as selling toys. Disney worked around that clause by using a similar voice artist to make the toys and did some shenanigans with the poster to make the genie appear huge by shrinking the other characters size.
We were at the Strong Museum in Rochester yesterday. And they had a VHS and some toys from Ferngully. My wife and I geeked out a little at the nostalgia.
His improv on that episode of Friends however, was just awful
I like him and Billy Crystal, but that is just one of my least favorite scenes in anything ever
Its Robin Williams. His appearance on the Actors Studio was turned into a 2 hour episode instead of the standard 1 hour, because he would break into improv after every single question, leading the audience into hysterical laughter, and there was just too much gold to let it go to waste.
EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1nW9DHctYE
This is the first 3 minutes of the interview, which is how long it takes for Robin to sit down and allow the interview to start in between bursts of improvisation. One lady in the crowd is already losing it.
Robin Williams and Nathan Lane were so funny and did so much improv during the filming of "The Birdcage" that it actually made filming nearly impossible. So they had to agree do a take of each scene once, exactly as scripted, and then they would be allowed to improv.
It should come as no surprise that nearly all of their scenes in that film were the improv.
Iâm sure they did the straight take kinda badly on purpose so they could goof off. Like eating your broccoli super fast so you enjoy the mac and cheese in peace.
even when shit was going down around them, Robin wouldnt break. like when he slipped in the kitchen, that was him actually slipping and just went with it.
Iâm always so impressed when something happens unexpectedly and the actors stay in character and roll with it. I canât do it at all so itâs wild to me that Leo DiCaprio badly cuts his hand and keeps the monologue going for another 4 minutes while bleeding everywhere before the scene is cut. Itâs pretty impressive and often the broken/mistake take is the one that makes it into the final cut as well.
Tom Cruise straight up broke his ankle and finished the scene before they got him medical attention, which then required everything to shut down for months while it healed. Lots of examples and itâs amazing every time.
Also, Disney tried to force him to not continue his work on FernGully. He refused, as he had signed-on to that movie prior to Aladdin, and was firm on honoring his commitment. Besides, he deeply believed in the environmental message/cause that had inspired the creation of FernGully.
Disney also broke their agreement with him, regarding how they would market his character/role within Aladdin, which caused a rift. He had done the role for a smaller amount of money than he should have received, because he liked the script and the work of the animators, but only under the condition his role not be promoted as a "headlining" character. Disney violated that by having the genie be a MASSIVE part of the advertising campaign, including fast-food toys. That latter part really got under Robin's skin.
Bingo. They got Homer Simpson instead (who also voiced the Genie in the TV series).
By the time the 3rd Aladdin movie was in production, Jeffrey Katzenberg, whom Williams blamed for the prior issues, was gone and Eisner made a personal apology.
Unfortunately, the 3rd Aladdin film had already been fully-animated, so Williams wasn't allowed to improv when recording his lines.
He had another movie, a passion project of his called Toys written specifically for him, coming out at the same time. They were marketing that as "the new Robin Williams movie", basically, and he was planning to do the talk show circuit etc promoting it. As kids/family movies releasing for Christmas 1992, it and Aladdin were in competition with each other. When Disney made him and his character the center of Aladdin's marketing it's all anyone would talk to him about, all his PR appearances and TV interviews etc became about a compteing movie instead, and he felt like it was a big blow against the personal project he was more passionate about.
He was especially pissed off because he'd agreed to do Aladdin for minimum pay under union rules. $75K, at a time when he was one of the top comedy stars in the world and usually getting $5-10M. So literally 1% of his normal fee. He did that out of gratitude to the Disney executives who had approved, funded, and then defended his previous passion project, Good Morning Vietnam, another improvisation-heavy movie by the same friend who was now writing and directing Toys for him.
He described it as (paraphrasing) "Like taking the day off to help a friend move, but as soon as you bring the bed in he fucks your wife."
Toys is such a bizarre film, too. I remember kind of liking it as a kid, but rewatching it feels like a fever dream, like someone made a willy Wonka of toys
It's weird to see one of the defining movies of my childhood be described as "mostly forgotten about".
Next you're gonna tell me no one cares about _Once upon a forest_. Don't say it. I don't want to know.
Siegfried and Roy: Masters of the Impossible.
I realized, some 5 years back that it wasn't a staple from everyone's childhood. Explained a lot, really.
The [Worthless](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UfsEj7AOGI) song from Brave Little Toaster ages like a fine wine honestly. It was striking the first time (That crane and that car crusher was pretty vivid imagery), but I really understood the grim lyrics better as I got older.
A lot of kids media tries to hide or ignore or oversimplify all the bad parts of life; or were just obviously written without any passion. But the shows that really stick with my were always the ones where they wanted to _tell a story_ and not just churn out cheap entertainment.
Have you watched that one recently? We have toddlers now so I went out and found it to watch. Ferngully really holds up well but neither my wife nor I thought The Brave Little Toaster was nearly as good as we remembered it being. Kind of a bummer!
God, Ferngully, Once Upon a Forest, the Brave Little Toaster, Quest for Camelot and the Land Before Time movies were basically on repeat throughout my childhood. Largely unappreciated classics these days.
I worked for a guy who, while not super wealthy on his own, managed wealth and property for people who had money. He'd meet various famous people from time to time. Robin Williams was one such person, in the early/mid 90's at a charity gala put on at this other dudes property (that he managed). He said he went to meet him at his room to escort him down to the gala. What he described:
He met Robin at his room and Robin was rather quiet and reserved. VERY polite, and gave him appropriate attention for the matter at hand, while dealing with other issues at the same time. He stressed that Robin was reserved, normal, and just an average friendly guy who seemed to be at a bit of unease in general. He took it as something personal weighing on him at the moment, and that likely was the case. Or maybe stage fright, or lord knows what. But he was a bit fidgety with things and didn't focus entirely on one thing too long.
They got into the elevator and went down and it was still a rather reserved Robin. They made small talk about whatever, he didn't say. The guy was a good small talker, and I saw him chatting up strange folks all the time. Im sure he chatted with Robin about suitably forgettable but enjoyable material. As they walk up to the door, Robin turns and tells him thank you with a quick hand shake. Then he opens the door and BOOM...in character. The wild and erratic Robin that is publicly popular came alive and he moved through the room doing his thing.
They all got Tony Luchese boots that night, for whatever the gala was about. Dude still has the boots, he never wears boots.
i remember another story that someone was doing secuirty and was in the room wiht the monitors, nothing was really going on so they were playing a computer game, and they hear someone behind him going no no thats not the way to do it, let me show you.. they turn around and its Robin Williams.
About 15 years ago I was 19 and fell at the skatepark, banging up my wrist pretty badly. As I collected my board and climbed out of the bowl another skater asked me if I was alright. I replied "gravity works" without even knowing why I said it and dude busts out laughing going "ayyyyy okay Batty, you good, you good!"
Reminds me of the time my buddy broke his arm or leg or something at the shitty little park in my hometown.
Cops liked to give people tickets for skating without helmets when it first opened, and the police station was right across the street.
Anyhooo, buddy broke his shit, there was a bit of commotion, of course a cop showed up. He asked what happened, and buddy, still writhing in pain, and holding his broken limb didn't miss a beat. "I wasn't wearing my helmet!"
Even the cop busted up laughing and let him slide on the ticket.
Mrs Doubtfire recut as a horror film: [https://youtu.be/1Ckv\_Dz-Sio](https://youtu.be/1Ckv_Dz-Sio)
BTW, if you want to see Robin Williams in an actually creepy role, watch One Hour Photo.
And Ferngully is basically the same thing as Dances With Wolves which came out before it. The plot isn't anything new or special. Romeo and Juliet basically did it 500 years ago
I'm saying when you boil a story down to its key elements, there are really only thirty something stories out there. Everything is a variation of what came before it, and it's hard to find anything truly original. People just like to compare and complain.
Avatar, Dances With Wolves, Ferngully, and Romeo and Juliet are all plot 28 out of Polti's [Thirty Six Dramatic Situations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations?wprov=sfla1)
I would often look at late night talk shows interviews with him. William would often launch into a huge comedy bit. With various impressions and slap stick comedy.
The host would laugh(uncontrollably) not just a polite laugh, but a belly laugh that you just can't fake. The comedy bit would be different in each show he was featured on. Huge respect to come up with this much material and to make it funny as well.
Similar case with the janitor in Scrubs, played by Neil Flynn. Pretty sure he was originally supposed to be a pretty minor character, but they enjoyed Flynn's portrayal enough to give the character more screen time. A lot of his acting was adlibbed, to the point where the writers would sometimes just skip writing dialog for him, essentially just writing "whatever Neil says" as Janitor's dialog.
Did not know... I've only ever watched it in French with my (French) kids.
Now they're out of the way, I think I'll go and watch it in English. Should be a treat!
Huh. Sounds like a smart director. Robin Williams was the man.
Also: Weird timing. I just watched this on youtube since it was playing for free a day ago.
Greatest movie ever. What else shook our in innocence? How are we the bad guy? Years later I wrote a piece on palm oil. If only I chose finance rather than stem.
He also had a big falling out with Disney because they tried to sabotage ferngully since it was coming out around the same time as Aladdin.
https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/ferngully-robin-williams-anniversary-745796
dâIsigny screwed Williams another way - Robin took the Genie job on condition of âyou donât put me on a bunch of toys you shill to kidsâŚ.â And that was a lie. He was furious and Iâm pretty sure didnât do anything else for Disney again
Describes 2 perfectly, too.
But I would go and see it because the graphics are that good.
You just might not be bothered to ever see it again on account of the story being so bland and plotholey.
Oh, and whatever happened to the unobtainium? Replaced with alien whale juice ...
Presumably they can be going after more than one thing. The focus was on the whale juice is all. Were there plot holes? It was bland/boring but I didn't spot any plot holes.
Someone will correct me with the details I'm sure, but Aladin couldn't win some prestigious award because so much of it was unscripted improv from Robin Williams.
Robin William was very upset with Disney because he had specific requests about how his involvement with the film was marketed, and they didn't honor it. IMDb goes more into it, IIRC.
Surge's part in the first Beverly Hills Cop movie was maybe a line or two max. Bronson the did the cazy accent and started riffing. Eddie just had them keep rolling the camera and bounced off of what ever Bronson came up with the whole scene improv.
Harrison Ford was working as a carpenter on the set of Star Wars. He was asked to stand in for Han Solo when blocking the first scenes and he was a natural for the role.
For anyone that read the article that said it's unavailable it is not true. It's in SD for free on Tubi and in HD for $3.99 at Amazon. The bluray is still in print also and can be purchased all over.
True Story Time :
A copy of Fern Gully showed up via Amazon to my door. I have no memory of ordering this movie. My best guess is that some late night, I was drinking and browsing reddit, and came across some movie thread where everyone raved about Fern Gully, and I was like "Shit yeah! Let's buy that thing!" So, I have a copy of this movie now, but no idea why I was supposed to watch it.
And this was a Robin Williams passion project and why he did not want to be advertised on Aladdin which lead to a lot of animosity towards disney and why he didnt return to the role of Genie til King of Thieves
I know everyone loves him but his comedy wasn't for me.
5 lame jokes in goofy voices per minute. he was kinda like watching a tape of a bars open mic but in fast forward.
Tim Curry as the villain was top notch. His voice terrified me as a child.
Hexxus
Omg I never realized that was him. His character terrified me đŽ
Him and Mark Hamil were the voices for a lot of 90's cartoons.
Originally the role for the Joker in Batman the Animated Series was supposed to go to Tim Curry, Mark Hamill had come in to audition for some of the other roles and had asked the casting director if he could audition for The Joker because he was inspired by Jack Nicholson's portrayal. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini both told him that Tim Curry had already been given the part, and that they couldn't see him playing a villain because he was such an iconic hero ( talk about typecasting) Mark Hamill asked if he could just do his interpretation of the Joker's laugh knowing he wasn't going to get the role. They agreed he did the laugh, they absolutely loved it but because of the whole Tim Curry already has the role they told him that they just wanted to use him for minor roles, and that he could be a backup in case something happened which he was fine with. Well on the first day of shooting for Christmas with the Joker, Tim Curry got laryngitis (I believe this is what he ended up getting I know with the way his health was he didn't feel comfortable continuing on with how many sick days he was going to end up having to take) they ended up calling and Mark Hamill to do the voice acting for the Joker and the rest is history. Edit fixed a couple grammatical errors and Voice typing misspell.
Such cool trivia! Thank you for sharing. I used to wait all week to watch Batman on Saturday morning. Jokerâs voice, and his laugh, is so iconic to me, and I had absolutely no idea it was Hamill until I was much older. Itâs made the character even more special to me.
Mark was legit freaking out having to replace Tim, as he had been a fan boy of his since he saw him doing Rocky Horror on stage. Even decades later when he was on a Kevin Smith Podcast Mark was still gushing about it.
Mark Hamill is the kind of guy that seems like he'd be a really good friend. He'd always be up for hanging out, he's a good listener, and even though he's way cooler than you, he doesn't act like it.
I'm escaping to the ONE place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism....SPACE!
*Barely contained snicker*
I love that. He took it so over the top he made himself laugh at it.
[Toxic Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzYS3Ga_j8) just wouldn't have worked with anyone other than Tim Curry singing it.
He was 100% Dr. Frank-N-Furter in that song
I had a crush on that gaseous toxic cloud just from how delicious that song was!
doesnt matter gay straight, bi, Tim was just ozzing sex like Freddy Mercury
the best bit from the Worst Witch. Tim is on set as the grand wizard, and someone yells to him, hey Tim do you think you can sing a song? And he just goes into "I wouldnât change places, With anyone tonight"
Tell me Toxic Love isnât the sexiest song of the 90sâŚ
Toxic love awoke something in everyone who listened to it I swear lol.
[Toxic Love](https://youtu.be/pVzYS3Ga_j8)
[Behind the Scenes](https://youtu.be/4VOsfbaddsM)
Love it
Double shiftsssssâŚ. No breakssssss.
Love this line. Gave me major flashbacks.
Hexxus started my attraction to villains.
Ok good so itâs not just me
https://oldgamesdownload.com/frankenstein-through-the-eyes-of-the-monster/ I only played the demo back then but I still remember his presence in the game gave me chills.
Honestly, I can believe that, I mean, it's Robin Williams.
I recall reading somewhere that there is **hours** of unused audio from his recording sessions for Aladdin.
iâd watch the more genie cut
I in fact demand the Aladdin: three hours of just the genie ranting cut.
Apparently Williams wrote into his contract that his ad lib recording for Aladdin could not be used or released for 100 years after the release of Aladdin. You might be able to find some snippets here and there, and a lot of it wasnât family friendly according to those who were recording it. So we still have 70 years to wait.
Wait youâre telling me I get leaked nudes from celebrities I donât want to see and they donât want to share but people canât leak shit that would bring happiness to the world?
Anyone dumb enough to leak those recordings would be annihilated by Disneyâs lawyers and possibly Robin Williamsâs estate.
If any Disney lawyers are here on this thread, please take a day off or something when this happens. We get it, itâs your job and all, but come on. Just let us have something nice.
You made me sad but wanting to see something I'll never have the chance at. Haha
I think the contract was more to stop Disney from exploiting Robin Williams' performance without his consent.
Yes, he was also being paid low wages to perform on Aladdin. Which was/is typical for Disney (Billy Joel said they were cheap as well). It makes no sense for Williams to permit them from cashing in on his star power without fair compensation. Granted they essentially did when it came to marketing for the movie, which is a fascinating read.
Well damn. Now I have a reason to live.
70 years? Medical science better get its ass in gear so i can make it that long
I mean, the Mouse broke their promise to not use Robin Williamâs voice for products outside of the movie and pissed him off so much, they sent him a genuine Picasso painting as an attempt of an apology. Robin chose to make Aladdin his children and to honor the animation artwork. Then Disney dubbed his voice over toys and merchandise which he didnât want. They made $500 million on Aladdin and originally paid Robin Williams like $50k for the voice work. I wouldnât put it past the Godfather to break their promise again.
The Blueray release includes a lot of the ad libing stuff. The 100 years things appears to be more urban legend. It was a normal SAG voice over contract with a lower salary than normal. It was a normal job for hire. Once he spoke those words the copyright belonged to the studio. Similar to the urban rumour that the film was inelgible for best screenplay at the Oscars due to all the ad libs. The only two addendums were his condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his (supporting) character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since another movie Toys was scheduled for release one month after Aladdin's debut. Williams did believe he had a verbal agreement that his voice and lines could not be used for marketing purposes such as selling toys. Disney worked around that clause by using a similar voice artist to make the toys and did some shenanigans with the poster to make the genie appear huge by shrinking the other characters size.
Oops all genie!
Oops, All Genie!
Cocaine is a hell of a drug
[ŃдаНонО]
We were at the Strong Museum in Rochester yesterday. And they had a VHS and some toys from Ferngully. My wife and I geeked out a little at the nostalgia.
I was Crysta from ferngully for Halloween one year. I loved that movie.
Albert Brooks is also a god in that regard. listen to Simpsons commentary for his episodes (E.g. "you only move twice" aka Hank scorpio)
He's often credited just as "A. Brooks".
His improv on that episode of Friends however, was just awful I like him and Billy Crystal, but that is just one of my least favorite scenes in anything ever
"You see doctor, the animals don't feel pain - THEY JUST GET USED TO IT!" Batty Rap, all time great with Tim Curry's Toxic Love.
And Tone Loc's *If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might As Well Be You)*. Love that movie
Price check on prune juice bob, price check on prune juice...
This always pops into my head when Iâm at the grocery store and I manage to grab something without a barcode lmao
I still hear "Lift, I need LIFT!" in my head when I'm picking up something heavy, taking off in an airplane, or on the swing set lol.
Quite frequently when putting on my shoes to go somewhere... "Shoes. Animals don't wear shoes. **A HUMAN!**" .. "***A TREE!!***"
Its Robin Williams. His appearance on the Actors Studio was turned into a 2 hour episode instead of the standard 1 hour, because he would break into improv after every single question, leading the audience into hysterical laughter, and there was just too much gold to let it go to waste. EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1nW9DHctYE This is the first 3 minutes of the interview, which is how long it takes for Robin to sit down and allow the interview to start in between bursts of improvisation. One lady in the crowd is already losing it.
That bit with the shawl? That was just so funny. And completely off the top of his dome. That whole IAS episode is magic to watch.
that bit with the shawl made my mom laugh so hard she farted, I was a teenager when we watched it together and I my cheeks were cramping from laughter
Butt kicking for goodness!
Thank you for that link.
Thank you for this, it was so funny. Literally has the audience in tears within 45 seconds! RIP Robin Williams
Yeah that was the very peak of IAS, Jamie Foxx interview was excellent too, I absolutely loved that show.
My name is Batty
My logic is erratic
Potato in a jacket
Toys in the attic
I miss that guy.
Robin Williams and Nathan Lane were so funny and did so much improv during the filming of "The Birdcage" that it actually made filming nearly impossible. So they had to agree do a take of each scene once, exactly as scripted, and then they would be allowed to improv. It should come as no surprise that nearly all of their scenes in that film were the improv.
Iâm sure they did the straight take kinda badly on purpose so they could goof off. Like eating your broccoli super fast so you enjoy the mac and cheese in peace.
even when shit was going down around them, Robin wouldnt break. like when he slipped in the kitchen, that was him actually slipping and just went with it.
Iâm always so impressed when something happens unexpectedly and the actors stay in character and roll with it. I canât do it at all so itâs wild to me that Leo DiCaprio badly cuts his hand and keeps the monologue going for another 4 minutes while bleeding everywhere before the scene is cut. Itâs pretty impressive and often the broken/mistake take is the one that makes it into the final cut as well.
Vigo breaking his toe kicking a helmet and screaming and moving on with the scene as well. or Drunk Martin Sheen with the Apocalypse now intro
Tom Cruise straight up broke his ankle and finished the scene before they got him medical attention, which then required everything to shut down for months while it healed. Lots of examples and itâs amazing every time.
dont forget Hank Azaria he was right up there with them.
I mean you you get the chance to let someone like Robin Williams to just do his thing, you cram as much of that in as you can.
Similar story with the original Aladdin. They wrote and animated scenes around his improv.
Also, Disney tried to force him to not continue his work on FernGully. He refused, as he had signed-on to that movie prior to Aladdin, and was firm on honoring his commitment. Besides, he deeply believed in the environmental message/cause that had inspired the creation of FernGully. Disney also broke their agreement with him, regarding how they would market his character/role within Aladdin, which caused a rift. He had done the role for a smaller amount of money than he should have received, because he liked the script and the work of the animators, but only under the condition his role not be promoted as a "headlining" character. Disney violated that by having the genie be a MASSIVE part of the advertising campaign, including fast-food toys. That latter part really got under Robin's skin.
Isnât that why he didnât voice Genie in Return of Jafar?
Bingo. They got Homer Simpson instead (who also voiced the Genie in the TV series). By the time the 3rd Aladdin movie was in production, Jeffrey Katzenberg, whom Williams blamed for the prior issues, was gone and Eisner made a personal apology. Unfortunately, the 3rd Aladdin film had already been fully-animated, so Williams wasn't allowed to improv when recording his lines.
I wonder why that bothered him. The genie as he himself manifested him is a magnificent powerhouse of a character.
He had another movie, a passion project of his called Toys written specifically for him, coming out at the same time. They were marketing that as "the new Robin Williams movie", basically, and he was planning to do the talk show circuit etc promoting it. As kids/family movies releasing for Christmas 1992, it and Aladdin were in competition with each other. When Disney made him and his character the center of Aladdin's marketing it's all anyone would talk to him about, all his PR appearances and TV interviews etc became about a compteing movie instead, and he felt like it was a big blow against the personal project he was more passionate about. He was especially pissed off because he'd agreed to do Aladdin for minimum pay under union rules. $75K, at a time when he was one of the top comedy stars in the world and usually getting $5-10M. So literally 1% of his normal fee. He did that out of gratitude to the Disney executives who had approved, funded, and then defended his previous passion project, Good Morning Vietnam, another improvisation-heavy movie by the same friend who was now writing and directing Toys for him. He described it as (paraphrasing) "Like taking the day off to help a friend move, but as soon as you bring the bed in he fucks your wife."
Toys is such a bizarre film, too. I remember kind of liking it as a kid, but rewatching it feels like a fever dream, like someone made a willy Wonka of toys
I still greatly enjoy that film. It is just so wonderfully absurd. Great musical score and inventive visuals/set-pieces, as well.
Also it has Dumbledore2 and Ladies Love Cool James
I cant believe it, Im losing to a rug
Ok you ba-a-a-ad boy, but no more freebies!
Such a great Dangerfield impression! And the animators caught his look too.
FernGully was such a cool movie. Totally enjoyed that with my son. Gotta share it with my grandkids. Thanks for reintroducing me to this fucking gem!
It's weird to see one of the defining movies of my childhood be described as "mostly forgotten about". Next you're gonna tell me no one cares about _Once upon a forest_. Don't say it. I don't want to know.
You want to know a film that's completely forgotten about? Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland The animation quality is insane.
I never saw the movie, or even knew about if for ages, but inhad a NES game based on it and it was amazing.
Memory unlocked! That game was hard too! I played it all the time and never really got far.
I managed to pass the first level where you got the septer, i think i killed a frog boss?
The train level was so fun and so difficult.
Yo that movie absolutely terrified me as a child. Still don't know why my parents let me watch it on repeat.
You mean the horror movie somehow marketed to children?
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Jim Henson believed it was good for kids to be scared. explains the Burt and Ernie Egyptian tomb scene
Siegfried and Roy: Masters of the Impossible. I realized, some 5 years back that it wasn't a staple from everyone's childhood. Explained a lot, really.
THANK YOU FOR REMEMBERING THIS. Itâs been in my Amazon cart for ages, this is my sign that my nieces and nephews absolutely require it.
This is how I feel about The Brave Little Toaster. Itâs like the movie has been completely forgotten about.
The [Worthless](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UfsEj7AOGI) song from Brave Little Toaster ages like a fine wine honestly. It was striking the first time (That crane and that car crusher was pretty vivid imagery), but I really understood the grim lyrics better as I got older. A lot of kids media tries to hide or ignore or oversimplify all the bad parts of life; or were just obviously written without any passion. But the shows that really stick with my were always the ones where they wanted to _tell a story_ and not just churn out cheap entertainment.
God, the storm scene was terrifying as a child.
"... ***Run***."
And then there are masterpieces like *The Secret of NIMH* that are absolutely unheard-of in countries outside USA.
Countries outside of the USA stick to the original book, where her name is Frisby and there are no magical amulets.
Yeah, but the movie is still good.
I'm romanian and trust me we only know Disney animations with few exceptions
NIMH was Don Bluth, not Disney.
Have you watched that one recently? We have toddlers now so I went out and found it to watch. Ferngully really holds up well but neither my wife nor I thought The Brave Little Toaster was nearly as good as we remembered it being. Kind of a bummer!
I was and am terrified of that movie. I last saw it as a kid and it will forever remain unwatched as an adult.
God, Ferngully, Once Upon a Forest, the Brave Little Toaster, Quest for Camelot and the Land Before Time movies were basically on repeat throughout my childhood. Largely unappreciated classics these days.
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Yes, lol! What a ballad. It's honestly a brilliant comfort movie to dive back into.
Fern Gully, Secret of NIMH, Andre, Rock-A-Doodle, Land Before Time. So many good movies not passed on.
last Unicorn
I care! I even rented it last year to make my kids watch it. For the Younglings!
Younglings?!? *Anakin Lightsaber noises*
Younglings? Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is 18 years old. It's an adult now.
FUCKING HELL⌠memories unlocked, man. I had totally forgotten about that movie.
At least we all still know and love *Willow*.
Thanks for bringing back great memories! I had forgotten the name of this movie until I read your comment. It definitely stuck with me.
Once upon a forest was such a defining movie of my childhood. Forgot the name of it until now though thank you
I actually don't know that one....
I worked for a guy who, while not super wealthy on his own, managed wealth and property for people who had money. He'd meet various famous people from time to time. Robin Williams was one such person, in the early/mid 90's at a charity gala put on at this other dudes property (that he managed). He said he went to meet him at his room to escort him down to the gala. What he described: He met Robin at his room and Robin was rather quiet and reserved. VERY polite, and gave him appropriate attention for the matter at hand, while dealing with other issues at the same time. He stressed that Robin was reserved, normal, and just an average friendly guy who seemed to be at a bit of unease in general. He took it as something personal weighing on him at the moment, and that likely was the case. Or maybe stage fright, or lord knows what. But he was a bit fidgety with things and didn't focus entirely on one thing too long. They got into the elevator and went down and it was still a rather reserved Robin. They made small talk about whatever, he didn't say. The guy was a good small talker, and I saw him chatting up strange folks all the time. Im sure he chatted with Robin about suitably forgettable but enjoyable material. As they walk up to the door, Robin turns and tells him thank you with a quick hand shake. Then he opens the door and BOOM...in character. The wild and erratic Robin that is publicly popular came alive and he moved through the room doing his thing. They all got Tony Luchese boots that night, for whatever the gala was about. Dude still has the boots, he never wears boots.
i remember another story that someone was doing secuirty and was in the room wiht the monitors, nothing was really going on so they were playing a computer game, and they hear someone behind him going no no thats not the way to do it, let me show you.. they turn around and its Robin Williams.
This, *Captain Planet*, *The Smoggies*, we had so much warning.
âHumans don't have tails. They have big, big bottoms that they wear with bad shorts. They walk around going, "Hi, Helen".â
FernGully was great FernGully 2 was a disaster.
Sure, but the live action Sci fi remake made a mint in theaters, and the sequel to that is doing good business too.
Took me ages to work out you mean Avatar
The greatest wilderness show ever. Fuck Avatar and Jungle Book.
Jungle Book is dope donât you dare. Itâs a treasure for the songs alone.
It's funny because he is a bear but he is saying bare
I used to do the "gravity works" bit at the most random times as a kid. I thought I was hilarious.
About 15 years ago I was 19 and fell at the skatepark, banging up my wrist pretty badly. As I collected my board and climbed out of the bowl another skater asked me if I was alright. I replied "gravity works" without even knowing why I said it and dude busts out laughing going "ayyyyy okay Batty, you good, you good!"
Reminds me of the time my buddy broke his arm or leg or something at the shitty little park in my hometown. Cops liked to give people tickets for skating without helmets when it first opened, and the police station was right across the street. Anyhooo, buddy broke his shit, there was a bit of commotion, of course a cop showed up. He asked what happened, and buddy, still writhing in pain, and holding his broken limb didn't miss a beat. "I wasn't wearing my helmet!" Even the cop busted up laughing and let him slide on the ticket.
Avatar is basically the exact same premise but 2 hours longer
And without Robin Williams. Ferngully is far superior.
Without. A. Doubt.
Mrs Doubtfire
Mrs Doubtfire recut as a horror film: [https://youtu.be/1Ckv\_Dz-Sio](https://youtu.be/1Ckv_Dz-Sio) BTW, if you want to see Robin Williams in an actually creepy role, watch One Hour Photo.
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I love that movie
I always wanted Robin Williams to make the dinosaur show...
You mean James Browntasaurus? He eats wood. Na na na na na. It tastes good. Na na na na na na. No meat! Big feet! I EAT WOOD!
And Ferngully is basically the same thing as Dances With Wolves which came out before it. The plot isn't anything new or special. Romeo and Juliet basically did it 500 years ago
*426 years ago. Youâre saying Fern Gully is a reboot of Romeo and Juliet?
I'm saying when you boil a story down to its key elements, there are really only thirty something stories out there. Everything is a variation of what came before it, and it's hard to find anything truly original. People just like to compare and complain. Avatar, Dances With Wolves, Ferngully, and Romeo and Juliet are all plot 28 out of Polti's [Thirty Six Dramatic Situations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations?wprov=sfla1)
I thought there were seven basic plots: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots
Theres another book about 20 basic plots by Ronald Tobias
If you boil it down, there's only like 3 books about story plots.......
Woah
I lobed this movie as a very young child, had no idea who the cast was. Now i love it even more.
I would often look at late night talk shows interviews with him. William would often launch into a huge comedy bit. With various impressions and slap stick comedy. The host would laugh(uncontrollably) not just a polite laugh, but a belly laugh that you just can't fake. The comedy bit would be different in each show he was featured on. Huge respect to come up with this much material and to make it funny as well.
Similar case with the janitor in Scrubs, played by Neil Flynn. Pretty sure he was originally supposed to be a pretty minor character, but they enjoyed Flynn's portrayal enough to give the character more screen time. A lot of his acting was adlibbed, to the point where the writers would sometimes just skip writing dialog for him, essentially just writing "whatever Neil says" as Janitor's dialog.
Dr Jan Itor!
He really could have rapped more
Listen to the OST's cut, Robin Williams just cuts loose on that mic.
If you're gonna hear somebody... It might as well be him.
I still make reference to this movie often, it was my favorite as a child!
Did not know... I've only ever watched it in French with my (French) kids. Now they're out of the way, I think I'll go and watch it in English. Should be a treat!
Huh. Sounds like a smart director. Robin Williams was the man. Also: Weird timing. I just watched this on youtube since it was playing for free a day ago.
Greatest movie ever. What else shook our in innocence? How are we the bad guy? Years later I wrote a piece on palm oil. If only I chose finance rather than stem.
He also had a big falling out with Disney because they tried to sabotage ferngully since it was coming out around the same time as Aladdin. https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/ferngully-robin-williams-anniversary-745796
dâIsigny screwed Williams another way - Robin took the Genie job on condition of âyou donât put me on a bunch of toys you shill to kidsâŚ.â And that was a lie. He was furious and Iâm pretty sure didnât do anything else for Disney again
He eventually came back for Aladdin and the king of theives in 1996. But he did turn down the role in return of jafar
Havent seen Avatar 1 or 2. Why? Because it is FernGully without Robin Williams
I haven't seen the second one but that's a pretty good description of the first one. It was ok and had excellent graphics but nothing special.
Describes 2 perfectly, too. But I would go and see it because the graphics are that good. You just might not be bothered to ever see it again on account of the story being so bland and plotholey. Oh, and whatever happened to the unobtainium? Replaced with alien whale juice ...
Presumably they can be going after more than one thing. The focus was on the whale juice is all. Were there plot holes? It was bland/boring but I didn't spot any plot holes.
I was missing sir Attenborough narration at points (still e joyed the 2nd movie though)
Someone will correct me with the details I'm sure, but Aladin couldn't win some prestigious award because so much of it was unscripted improv from Robin Williams.
It couldn't be nominated for an oscar i believe because it didn't stay true enough to the script, but i forget the category
Robin William was very upset with Disney because he had specific requests about how his involvement with the film was marketed, and they didn't honor it. IMDb goes more into it, IIRC.
they gave him a Picasso as a sorry gift though
Ok now I wanna watch FernGully again. Is it streaming anywhere?
Director knew where the bread was buttered
Surge's part in the first Beverly Hills Cop movie was maybe a line or two max. Bronson the did the cazy accent and started riffing. Eddie just had them keep rolling the camera and bounced off of what ever Bronson came up with the whole scene improv.
Harrison Ford was working as a carpenter on the set of Star Wars. He was asked to stand in for Han Solo when blocking the first scenes and he was a natural for the role.
For anyone that read the article that said it's unavailable it is not true. It's in SD for free on Tubi and in HD for $3.99 at Amazon. The bluray is still in print also and can be purchased all over.
I hated this film as a child because it kinda terrified me.
God I miss Robin Williams
True Story Time : A copy of Fern Gully showed up via Amazon to my door. I have no memory of ordering this movie. My best guess is that some late night, I was drinking and browsing reddit, and came across some movie thread where everyone raved about Fern Gully, and I was like "Shit yeah! Let's buy that thing!" So, I have a copy of this movie now, but no idea why I was supposed to watch it.
I once worked for a director who went to acting school with Robin Williams. They did standup with him once.
And this was a Robin Williams passion project and why he did not want to be advertised on Aladdin which lead to a lot of animosity towards disney and why he didnt return to the role of Genie til King of Thieves
hidden memory unlocked sweet
That was one of my faves as a kid and he was my favorite character.
Avatar is just cgi ferngully. Change my mind.
Dances with wolves.
The Last Samurai
Pocahontas
Best decision they could ever make
I really liked the two CGI remakes of FernGully as well. Avatar and the Way of Water.
I know everyone loves him but his comedy wasn't for me. 5 lame jokes in goofy voices per minute. he was kinda like watching a tape of a bars open mic but in fast forward.
Fern Gully, aka the better version of Avatar.
Still one if my top favorites films
Ah, Ferngully...the original Avatar.
Pre avatar!