Robin Williams Interviewed on The Treatment

Robin Williams Interviewed on The Treatment 

Robin Williams was interviewed by Elvis Mitchel on the Treatment on Wednesday August 21, 2012. He was born on July 21, 1951 and is an American actor and comedian. He was discovered and became famous for his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork & Mindy. Later, he built his stand-up comedy career and had many tours in 1970s. Since 1980, Williams has performed in many feature films. Some of the films that he starred include Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses? (1977), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989), The Fisher King (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Good will hunting (1997), Patch Adams (1998), One Hour Photo (2002). In his theater career, Williams has headed his own one-man show, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, which played at The Broadway Theatre in July 2002. He made his Broadway acting debut in Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 31, 2011. He previously appeared opposite Steve Martin at Lincoln Center in an Off-Broadway production of Waiting for Godot. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards. 

The interview is about Williams’ sharing about his experience in acting. Mostly, he focused on the preparation for his character in the film, how he cooperates when acting and some details about how he understands his upcoming character and puts himself in the film. He took One Hour Photo as a typical example. Throughout the interview, he naturally added a lot of humor to his conversation with Elvis Mitchell. This gave me a great impression that comedy is somehow his innate talent, which is not only shown in films but also in his daily life. He easily makes his humor work for him and thus, makes people feel easy around him.

When Williams was asked about his first movie role and how he prepared for it, he said, “We did a lot of gymnastics, a great combination of gymnastics and tap dance . . . and a little bit of boxing training.” His saying reminded me of the film The karate kid (2010). In order to perfect his role, Jaden Smith was strictly trained by Jackie Chan for 3 months prior to shooting the film. This is the same as actors/actresses in other films. If the actor/actress is well trained to be his character, he can really appear to be the character of the film. This way, he can add verisimilitude to the film.  

Williams gives prominence to rehearsal before the film. Talking about this, he said, “When you get to rehearse, it really helps. You’re much more comfortable . . . you have a really great idea where you are and you ‘re not having to kinda figure it out.” His saying affirms that he prefers good preparation. Overall, practice makes perfect. It helps the actor easily assess his character and understand it better. Hence, he can do his role successfully without unnecessarily spend more time. Williams is very serious about rehearsal and this contributes to making his role successful. 

Williams is the inspiration for many people. Concerning about this, he mentioned that “People kept writing me letter how I changed their life and they found their passion again . . . and finding that that she loves, maybe that comes from me years ago finding this thing that I love acting and comedy.” In nowadays life, money becomes one of the most important matters. People prefer playing safe. Therefore, they find jobs which can secure their source of income rather than chasing their dreams. A lot of people desire working in art or film industry but fail to do that because they do not want any adventures or risk in their lives. Pursuing art is considered very risky. But as it was said by Williams, people claimed to be inspired by him and “found their passion again.” Besides hard work and passion, art also requires talent. However, even if the inspired people do not become successful or rich doing art, at least they can enjoy what they do. This proves how a successful, important and influential actor can really change people’s lives.  

Robin Williams is not only a comic talent but also an effective dramatic actor. His experience and acting technique shared in the interview is valuable because he became famous with them. He is a mirror for the new and less experienced actors/actresses to follow because of his achievement in his television career, movie role, stand-up career and theater career. His career can be highly regarded as a significant contribution of sorts. He is the actor who always does his best to fulfill his role in the film. He has been in over seventy films and he has made effort to play his character extremely well. Considering films he has been in, it can be said that with his acting significantly contributes to the success of the films. This all comes from his devotion to art. The film world needs actors/ actresses like him so that the content of each film is excellently expressed by their acting. Above all, other actors/ actresses can learn from his acting technique.