The actor Robin Williams said had “the most natural grit of anybody I’ve ever seen”
It’s become a rite of passage for any renowned comedic actor to eventually try their hands at delivering a powerhouse dramatic performance, and while many of them have thrived in doing so, few have done it to quite the same standard as the inimitable Robin Williams.
His signature improv-heavy, freewheeling, and stream-of-consciousness style ensured he was already one of the biggest names in stand-up before he even tried his hand at conquering the silver screen, which he managed with the greatest of ease after making the transition from sitcom actor to superstar well before the end of the 1980s.
Toeing the line between indulging his unrestrainable charisma and stretching his muscles as a performer, Williams holds the rare distinction of being both a comedic legend and a dramatic powerhouse, with his trophy cabinet bursting at the seams with an Academy Award, six Golden Globes, two Primetime Emmys, five Grammys, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Performances in the likes of Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poet’s Society, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia, and One Hour Photo were all out of the top drawer, although “gritty” wouldn’t be the term to describe any of them. Williams was excellent at the serious stuff, but he couldn’t hold a grizzled candle to a one-time co-star who used to be a fire eater in the circus.
On opposite sides of the hero/villain divide in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, Bob Hoskins left Williams dumbstruck by the revelation of his previous life, with the Aladdin star celebrating him as having “the most natural grit of anybody I’ve ever seen” before sharing an anecdote so bizarre it’s downright delightful.
“He had this idea,” Williams offered to Playboy of a suggestion made by his co-star. “He said, ‘You know what would be great? You ever spit fire?’. I went, ‘Pardon me?’. ‘Spit fire’. ‘No, I haven’t’. ‘Let me show you how’, he said, and he took me outside. He used to do it in a circus. And he lit this thing, like a piece of cotton, and took some kerosene and said, ‘Don’t you fucking do this with gasoline or you’ll kill yourself’, and then blew with his cheeks, and it was like a blowtorch! I tried it, and it didn’t do much.”
It would have been quite the sight to see Hoskins showing Williams how to make fireballs with his face, but sadly, their impromptu rehearsals didn’t come to pass when the fire marshal on the set of Hook shut down their suggestion. “That’s what it’s like working with these guys,” the Oscar winner reflected. “It’s terrifying thinking of the consequences, but then you get into it, and it’s like, ‘Wow! What a great way to stretch.'”
Natural grit may not be a pre-requisite for breathing fire, but it certainly helped embolden Hoskins to make an off-the-cuff suggestion based on his own personal history that could well have made its way into Hook were it not for those pesky health and safety regulations.