Robin Williams

Spotlight by: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

The Robin Williams that most of us know is someone who will go anywhere and do anything for a joke. He's loud, he's in your face, and he can make you laugh until your sides hurt. One doesn't normally associate him with the role of spiritual leader. But in his new film License to Wed he plays Reverend Frank, the family advisor who tries to give a newly engaged couple some different perspectives on marriage by enrolling them in his fool-proof marriage preparation course. Of course, since it is Robin Williams playing a Reverend, outrageousness and hilarity ensues.

'You have to hold back a little bit, you have to funny but you also have to realize there are bounds,' he says of playing a clergyman. 'I've seen priests and reverends be very blue on occasions; they can talk as blue as anybody if it serves a purpose but at a certain point he has a certain level of decorum. Even though he can say things like 'Let's get the flock out of here' or 'What do you do besides her'''

Reverend Frank's marriage course in the film is taken to an extreme, but Williams understands the importance and the benefits a real-life course can offer. 'The preparation is the idea of certain skills, certain abilities, certain tools in your toolbox,' he says. 'The ability to communicate, the ability to fight, the ability to talk honestly, the ability to deal with in-laws which can be a gift, the idea of dealing with just the simplest things.'

Williams, a family man himself, has had to learn a lot when it comes to being a parent and a father. 'Years ago I was reading a story to my daughter and she went, 'Don't do the voices,'' he recalls. 'It was almost like the director just saying stick with the script and read the story, just try and keep the plot points alive. 'I just want to know what Eloise is doing, I don't really need to know about all the people in the hotel.''

Williams is a funny man in real-life and in most of his films, but there are some issues that he takes very seriously. One may be surprised to learn that Williams is well-informed when it comes to politics and current events. He is outspoken and knowledgeable on many topics which he feels are important.

'If Leno can play a clip of [George] W. [Bush] speaking and it's really hysterical, but at the same time you're going that's pathetic'the Mo Howard school of oration,' he says. 'You realize okay, that's not good. And yet you have people going to rehab for homosexuality. I went, 'I didn't see that wing at Betty Ford.''

He also talks about the absurdity of the Paris Hilton media frenzy. He feels it's the job a comedian to bring certain issues into the public consciousness. 'The fact that Paris Hilton is on the cover of the New York Times in the middle of the Gonzalez trial, in the middle of all these other things'not that it wasn't newsworthy in its own way'but it's like all of these things go to point out that there is a desperate need for that light,' he says.

He adds of Hilton, 'Someone did a thing where they talked to a lot of people on the street saying to you think she deserves it' [People would say], 'She deserves to be in jail!' Is the world a safer place' Yeah, probably Beverly Hills after three o'clock because she's not playing bumper car in her Bentley.'

His License to Wed co-star Mandy Moore on the other hand, is the total opposite and Williams admires her ability to keep a grounded private life. 'There's all of these'look at all these crazy girls! And yet she's over here just doing it,' he says. 'Looking hot, having boyfriends and meanwhile, who's she with today' I dunno, none of your business. She ain't drunk. Does she drink' I dunno. She has fun, I imagine she's wild, but I don't know that and that's kind of cool'There's a lot of people who are great, sexy, and incredible who don't feel the need to go down in flames.'

In addition to his comedic roles, Williams has proved his dramatic chops as well winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Good Will Hunting. He says he would love to do more dramatic roles, but the honest fact is that comedies pay more.

'In the drama you get to do things like One Hour Photo to be someone slightly creepy, more than slightly,' he says. 'Or something like Good Will Hunting where you're playing a guy who's damaged but still trying to work with others. So, there's a lot to do.'

More dramatic roles may be on the way from Williams, but one thing that won't be happening' Nobody will be censoring him anytime soon.

'They try,' he says. 'But look how well it works!'