How Christopher Walken Snagged Robin Williams’ Darkest Roles
Robin Williams longed to take on sinister, complex characters, but casting directors often passed him over for others like Christopher Walken. Years later, Williams finally got his shot and wowed audiences.
Robin Williams, known for his one-of-a-kind energy and quick wit, was a familiar face in scripts tailored just for him. If a film needed a laugh, he was the go-to bloke. But when it came to more serious work, Williams could easily switch gears, leaving the jokes behind. Directors like George Roy Hill on The World According to Garp kept him on a tight leash, not letting him stray from the script. Later, working with Christopher Nolan on Insomnia, Williams didn’t feel the need to improvise at all. That film was part of what he called his ‘Triptych of Evil’, a trio of darker roles he’d been chasing for ages. Before the 2000s, though, he’d barely had a chance to show that side, apart from a small, uncredited part in The Secret Agent back in 1996. He’d been waiting for years to play something truly twisted.
Chasing the Dark Side
In the early ’90s, Williams balanced crowd-pleasers like Hook, Aladdin, Toys, and Mrs Doubtfire with more serious turns in The Fisher King and Awakenings. Still, he was getting a bit over playing the same old cheeky, wisecracking leads. Whenever he tried to land a role that was a bit more off-kilter, someone else always seemed to pip him at the post.
“I want to play something nasty,”
he told The Independent in 1994.
“But no one thinks of me when they want a psychotic guy; Chris Walken gets all those scripts.”
To be fair, Walken had a knack for playing unhinged characters, but even he got a bit sick of being typecast. Williams, on the other hand, was desperate for a shot at those roles, but his success as the loveable larrikin made casting directors nervous.
“If worst comes to worst, I’ll go back on the road and be a stand-up comic, that’s got me through the bad periods before,”
he added.
“Part therapy, but also, you know, cash. To wait for a role that isn’t necessarily the sweet, likeable guy, that’s a hard call sometimes. They’ll always offer lots of money for certain things, but you can get creamed that way.”
Waiting for the Right Role
Williams was so keen to take on something with a bit more bite that he even thought about stepping away from the industry for a while. In the end, he stuck around, but it took another five years before he finally got the chance he’d been hanging out for. When the right script landed, he absolutely nailed it, proving he’d been ready for a long time. It just took the industry a while to catch up and see what he could really do outside the usual comedy routine.