It’s been nine years since we said goodbye to Robin Williams, who left behind a highlight reel of hilarious scenes and moments of impassioned drama. And no compilation would be complete without any number of clips from 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire, which, probably for the better, never got a sequel despite being a hit with audiences, proving to be the #2 movie worldwide that year behind Jurassic Park.
As director Chris Columbus put it, “It’s an interesting thing. Back then, there was an attitude that sequels were looked down upon by the artists. So Robin was against doing a sequel immediately after.” Perhaps surprisingly, Williams only ever did a few sequels in his entire career: a DTV Aladdin one, Happy Feet Two and a pair for Night at the Museum.
Of the many hysterical moments of Mrs. Doubtfire, one that Williams may have considered a favorite was the frantic scene in which his character, without makeup, dips his face into a cake, pops from the fridge and shouts, “Hello!” As it turns out, Williams had a lot of trouble with the entire costume. “He and I didn’t talk about a sequel until the year he passed away. We had a script that was written and it was the last time I saw Robin. I went to his house and we sat down and talked about it and the script was really strong. 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.” For their efforts, the movie’s team won the Best Makeup Oscar.
The status for a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire is about where you’d expect it, with Columbus adding he’d be as against one as the fans. “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…Fox/Disney owns the rights, I think…so the studio can do whatever they want with it…Should they? God no. I will certainly be very vocal about it if they decide to do it.” So so long as Matthew Lawrence doesn’t sign on for a legacy sequel or mischievous producers don’t get funny with AI, we should be in the clear.
Chris Columbus also noted that in existence is nearly two million feet of footage in about 1,000 boxes — a significant amount brought on due to Robin Williams’ penchant for improv — that could be used for a documentary on Mrs. Doubtfire. Now that’s something we’d like to see!