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During a recent interview, director Chris Columbus — known for his work on Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the first Harry Potter movie — revealed that he and Robin Williams had discussions about making a Doubtfire sequel the year he died.
According to Columbus, while Williams was long against the idea of a sequel, the pair had a meeting in 2014 in which discussed a script that he felt was “really strong.”
Columbus said that while Williams was open to the idea, he did have one condition: less time in the fat suit.
“Back then, there was an attitude that sequels were looked down upon by the artists. So Robin was against doing a sequel immediately after. 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,” Columbus recently told Business Insider while discussing the 30-year anniversary of the film.
“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. He was older, obviously.”
Mrs. Doubtfire was just one of the many iconic roles that Williams had in the 1990s, as he also starred in Aladdin, Hook, Jumanji, and Good Will Hunting.
In addition to Williams, Mrs. Doubtfire also starred Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein, and Robert Prosky.
While Mrs. Doubtfire initially received mixed reviews from critics at the time of its release in 1993, the film would go on to gross over $440 million against just a $25 million budget and would ultimately be considered one of the most beloved family movies of the decade.