Mrs Doubtfire director Chris Columbus said he is in talks to make a documentary about the late Robin Williams, using the “972 boxes of footage” leftover from the original film shoot.
Academy Award winner Robin Williams starred in the 1993 family classic as a divorced dad and actor who inhabits the character of housekeeper Euphegenia Doubtfire in a desperate effort to spend time with his children after he loses custody.
In an interview celebrating the film’s 30th anniversary, the Mrs Doubtifre and Home Alone director said there is “two million feet” of footage of Williams that could be used for a documentary, exploring the late actor and comedian’s creative process.
“We are talking about it and trying to get it done,” Columbus told Business Insider.
“There are roughly 972 boxes of footage from Doubtfire — footage we used in the movie, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage — in a warehouse somewhere and we would like to hire an editor to go in and look at all of that footage.
“We want to show Robin’s process. There is something special and magical about how he went about his work and I think it would be fun to delve into it.
“I mean, there’s two million feet of film in that warehouse so there could be something we can do with all of that,” said Columbus, who also directed Williams in the 1999 sci-fi film, Bicentennial Man.
He said how Williams, well-known for his improvisation skills, would give “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,” he said.
“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.
“For Pierce Brosnan and Sally Field, it was quite difficult for them not to break character.”
Columbus also spoke about the last time he saw Williams, when the pair met to discuss a script for a Mrs Doubtfire sequel.
“I went to his house and we sat down and talked about it and the script was really strong,” he said.
“Robin’s only comment was, ‘Boss, do I have to be in the suit as much this time?’
“It was physically demanding. For Robin, I think it was like running a marathon every day he was in the Doubtfire costume. He was older, obviously.
“So we talked about it and I think he was hoping in the rewrite we would cut back on the Doubtfire character.
“But then Robin passed away so there will never be a sequel to Mrs Doubtfire.”
