‘RV’ star Williams hasn’t lost his drive
Give Robin Williams an inch, and he’ll take a smile.
The comedian will riff on the most tepid of topics. Take the otherwise unexciting San Pellegrino bottled water he’s sipping.
“It’s got all sorts of Italian minerals,” Williams intones before breaking into an exaggerated Italian accent, a la Roberto Benigni.
“It eeez good for yoooo,” he sing-songs. “How much you pay for water makes gas look stupid!”
Looking stupid is not something Williams, 54, is afraid of – if his new movie is any indication.
In “RV,” he plays a frazzled father who takes his two surly children and disgruntled wife (Cheryl Hines) on an ill-advised road trip in a recreational vehicle.
Williams, who has three children (two with second wife Marsha), prefers to ride his bike at home in San Francisco – that is, when he’s not raising cash for stem-cell research, his buddy Lance Armstrong‘s LiveStrong foundation or Doctors Without Borders.
“He’s incredibly kind. On weekends, he’d disappear to do charity functions but wouldn’t ever talk about it or let you know about it,” says “RV” director Barry Sonnenfeld. “He’s an amazing guy that way.”
Producer Doug Wick recalls Williams’ display of “fall-down funny sweetness and sensitivity” at a stem-cell research fund-raiser he hosted last year to honor Dana Reeve, who died of lung cancer March 6.
“Robin was the one who introduced her,” Wick says. “There was one point when she was having trouble turning a page. He was watching her behind the lectern, and he jumped in to turn the page for her.
“Suddenly, he felt he might be too intrusive because she looked at him for a second. So he walked backward, in the most beautiful clown, Chaplin-esque way, like he’d want to disappear.”
Despite reports to the contrary, Williams and his wife are not going to raise Will Reeve, the son of Dana and the late actor Christopher Reeve, who was Williams’ friend from college.
“We’ve always been there to help out with Will, but no, we’re not the sole caregivers,” Williams says. “He has a huge support system. We’ll be there if he needs anything.”
Next up, Williams shoots the comedy “License to Wed,” about a marriage counselor.
But don’t expect a sequel to his 1993 hit “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which had him dressing in overstated drag to play a nanny.
“There have been two different drafts (of the sequel script),” Williams says. “The hard part about following it up is at the end of the first one, he revealed his identity to his kids. How do you play that out? How does she come back?
“One of the ideas was that he’d go to New York because his daughter was going to college and he’d be nearby. But as a script, it never worked.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Cloris Leachman is 80. Singer Willie Nelson is 73. Singer Bobby Vee is 63. Actress Jill Clayburgh is 62. Singer Merril Osmond (The Osmonds) is 53. Actor Johnny Galecki (“Roseanne”) is 31. Rapper Lloyd Banks is 24. Actress Kirsten Dunst is 24. Country singer Tyler Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 22.