News:
  • Women Directors 2021
  • Ma Rainey Sings the Blues with Passion and Rage
  • Kareem Tayyar and the Complexities of Joy
  • LIFE AFTER BIRTH APPLAUDS IMPEACHMENT NUMBER 2
  • Poets on Craft: Stephen Kampa and Chelsea Woodward
  • Signs and the City
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
Cultural Weekly logo
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food

Robin Williams – Missing You Already

By Sophia Stein on August 14, 2014 in Film

2

Click Here To View Comments

Robin Williams always brought me to the space of awe.  His imagination was so facile, so quick; I often felt four steps behind.  Frankly, that’s the way I like my art – jaw to the ground, gaping in amazement, while my heartstrings are gently being plucked.

I fell in love with a capital “L” for the first time to The Fisher King.  I shivered at One Hour Photo, and awaited with anticipation each and every successive project graced by his presence.

I am moved to learn that Robin Williams was such a generous friend to Christopher Reeve.  At the time of Christopher Reeve’s critical accident, Reeve was uninsured, and Williams purportedly stepped in to pay his friend’s medical bills.  I am struck by the irony of the Louie episode (episode 3, season 6) in which Williams directly imagines the future occasion of his death and pained to hear his riff on suicide in the illuminating 2010 podcast on WTF podcast with Marc Maron.

To continue on in the wake of the loss of Robin Williams feels labored.  Unfair.  I did not know Robin Williams personally, and yet somehow — I was counting on him to accompany me through the passing of my days.

These days — that have become so unforgiving for artists.  These days — where once again, nobles lord above plebeian masses.  (Where’s our Federal Arts Project?  Our New Deal?)  I do not know if it was the economics of art that pushed Robin Williams towards the precipice of despair, but in the bleak days devoid of his bright light, his singular insight, and his gentle humanity, I will always wonder …

Please, please come back.  Tell me this news was just a waking nightmare.

In my waking dreams, Robin Williams is greeted on the other side of the great divide by compatriots and co-conspirators, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Spaulding Grey.  Robin Williams is among the departed, whose company I will miss …

Robin Williams — WTF with Marc Maron (April 26, 2010) (Excerpt transcribed from podcast, 1:54:40)

Marc Maron:  [B]efore the heart surgery, were you somebody that was hung up on … the mortality element?

Robin Williams:  No, I literally went:  “They found it!”  I didn’t go into [the surgery] going … what are the odds?  I knew with the doctor I had picked that the odds were really great.  He’d done four thousand surgeries, and all of them had gone well … Everybody around me was like, ‘Oh, God.’

I made the choice.  Once you make the choice you’ve gone, “I’m in.  This is gonna be better because right now, I’m flappin’ in the wind,” you know?  And the idea [that] if you didn’t have the surgery, then you really are playing dice, you know.

Marc Maron:  [Y]ou don’t seem to me somebody who is … morbidly fascinated or hung up on death.

Robin Williams:  No.  I mean it’s weird, when I was drinking, there was only one time even for a moment where I thought, “Oh, fuck life.”  And even then my conscious brain went:

Did you really just say, ‘Fuck life’? You know, you have a pretty good life as it is right now. Have you noticed the two houses?
Yes.

Have you noticed the girlfriend?
Yes.

Have you noticed that things are pretty good even though you may not be working right now?
Yes.

“Okay, let’s put the suicide over here on ‘discussable,” … we’ll talk about that. First of all, you don’t have the balls to do it –
I’m not going to say it out loud.

I mean, Have you thought about buying a gun?
No.

What were you going to do – like cut your wrists with a water pic?
Maybe.

So that’s erosion. What are you thinking about that? … So, can I put this over here in the ‘What The Fuck’ category?
Yes.

Let’s put that over in the ‘What the Fuck.’ Can I ask you what you’re doing right now? You’re sitting naked in a hotel room with a bottle of Jack Daniels?
Yes.

Is this maybe influencing your decision?
Possibly.

O.k., we’re going to put that over here, and tomorrow morning … And who’s that in the bed there?
I don’t know.

O.k., well, don’t discuss this with her because she may tweet it, o.k.? … Let’s put that over here in the “What the Fuck” category. We’re going to put that over here possibly for therapy, if you want to talk about that in therapy. Or maybe a podcast, two years from now. Do you want to talk about it in the podcast?
No, I feel safe.

You’re talking about it in the podcast!
I know. [confrontational] Who is this?

It’s your conscience, asshole.
Oh, o.k.

So, have you ever thought about it since then?
No.

During the surgery, were you thinking about death?
No.

Why?
Because you’re just thinking everything’s going to be fine.

Was that your mother talking?
Maybe. She was a Christian Scientist who had plastic surgery.

(whispers) Wow.
Is that a mixed message?

Yeah, that is.
O.k. Well, we’re going to go back to the podcast now because Marc is sitting here and we’re talking now.

I know.
I feel like golf commentary. Look, Tiger’s back. Tiger’s playing. Tiger’s doing well.

I was hoping that some of the tweets would have golf metaphors like “choke up,” or like “I’m going to hold you down and putt from the rough.”  But, no, it didn’t say that, you know, it’s all good.  We’re back  …

To listen to the complete podcast:  WTF with Marc Maron – “Remembering Robin Williams”

Click Here To View Comments

Tagschristopher reeveFederal Arts ProjectLouieMarc MaronNew DealOne Hour PhotoRobin WilliamsSophia SteinThe Fisher KingWTF

Previous Story

DTLAB: Family

Next Story

In Working with Ang Lee,
Seizing the Moments

About the author

Sophia Stein

Sophia Stein

Facebook Email

Sophia Stein writes about film and is a regular contributor to Cultural Weekly. Stein studied production at USC School of Cinema-TV. She worked as a Hollywood development executive, editing assistant and post-production supervisor. Currently, she resides in the San Francisco Bay area. She appreciates most those films that make her think, as well as laugh or cry.

Related Posts

  • Evolution! Mallorca — 7th Edition Sparkles

    By Sophia Stein
    The 7th edition of the Evolution! Mallorca...
  • Mammoth Lakes Film Festival is going Up In Smoke

    By Sophia Stein
    In what amounts to a brilliant subversive...
  • 2017 Sundance Film Festival – More Relevant Than Ever!

    By Sophia Stein
    Sundance is upon us, and I feel as excited...
  • Margarita With A Straw – Yes, please.

    By Sophia Stein
    The best film that you see this weekend...

Support Our Friends

Follow Us

Join Our Mailing List

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @CulturalWeekly

Comments

  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    A Case Against New Year’s Resolutions
    Here is an interesting new voice: candid,...
    1/14/2021
  • Matthew R. Matthew R.
    A Taste of Gypsy Boots
    Thank you Gypsy, for being brave in your new...
    1/8/2021
  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    Bye Bye 2020 … a mute testimony
    given the events at the US Capitol of January 6th...
    1/7/2021

New

  • 5 Netflix Sports Docus that Will Inspire Your Inner Artist
  • Top 9 Things to Remember When Buying Car Accessories Online
  • The Dangers of Drug Addiction
  • Why Should we Focus on Our Mental Health?
  • The Different Types of Counseling

Tags

art dance film Los Angeles music photography poem poems poetry tomorrow's voices today

Like us

Please Help

Donate

Who are we?

Cultural Weekly is a place to talk about our creative culture with passion, perspective and analysis – and more words than “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” Our mission is to draw attention to our cultural environment, illuminate it, and make it ... read more

Site map

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Contributors
  • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Food
  • Home
  • Masthead
  • Privacy Policy/Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Submission Form
  • Submissions: Write for us
  • Subscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Thank You

Links

Adam Leipzig
Entertainment Media Partners
This Is Crowd
CreativeFuture
Plastic Oceans Foundation
Arts & Letters Daily
Alltop
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Jack Grapes
Ethan Bearman
Writ Large Press

Mailing List

* indicates required


  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy/Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Contact us
Cultural Weekly is the digital magazine and public platform of Next Echo Foundation. DONATE HERE.
Copyright © 2010-2020 by Adam Leipzig. All Rights Reserved.