The beloved actor was very grateful to have been able to make this thriller under the orders of Mark Romanek
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of Robin Williams, an actor much loved by the public who participated in many great films throughout his career. However, there was only one special enough to him to agree to do something he only did once. I am referring to ‘Portraits of an Obsession’ and recording an audio commentary reviewing the title in question.
Williams released ‘Portraits of an Obsession’ in 2002, a year in which we could also see ourselves in ‘Insomnia’ and ‘the never sufficiently vindicated’ ‘Smoochy’. In the film directed by Christopher Nolan he already gave life to an unforgettable villain, but in the film we are now dealing with he composed an unforgettable character totally removed from the image to which he had accustomed us.
Williams himself explained in the audio commentary of this psychological thriller directed by Mark Romanek (‘Never leave me’) why he made an exception and I agree to record it. Specifically, these were his words on the matter:
With this film I have been able to do other things because I don’t see myself, I see a character. I can do it because he is very different, he is very far from myself and that’s why I can see him. I can get very clinical about it, be interested in it, and get hooked.
“It was fascinating”
In fact, Williams always had a hard time watching his own work again – hence why he did not record any other audio commentary, not even for such legendary titles as ‘Jumanji’ or ‘Aladdin’ – but with ‘Portraits of an Obsession’ that was never a problem:
For the first time while I was making a movie, I was able to sit down and watch it. I couldn’t before because I was always drawn to something about myself. I guess it got to a point in my life where the combination of what the character’s look was mixed with the ability to be able to say, “Wait a second, this has nothing to do with me but there’s something of me in it.” I was also an only child, but I was never abused as a child, but I can relate to obsessing over other things to find a way around it. It was fascinating.
The actor also reveals that at premieres he normally got up and left instead of staying to see it, because seeing himself on screen with an audience “could be devastating“, but in this case he was able to do it and enjoy how other aspects of the film served to enrich it. Furthermore, He greatly appreciated the following about his participation in ‘Portraits of an Obsession’:
I felt liberated making this film. Of not having to have a specific physical appearance, of not having to assume certain rules about pleasing the public, something that Anthony Hopkins said was the great advantage of playing evil or disturbed characters. And also that you can do something so different that it cannot be easily described with a word (…) Being able to do something complex and that is not easy to explain was great.
In case you weren’t familiar with ‘Portraits of an Obsession’, the film tells of Seymour Parrishthe story of a seemingly peaceful clerk at a photo developing store. However, he becomes obsessed with a family and will do anything to keep it the way he wants it.
‘Portraits of an Obsession’ was a commercial success (it raised 52 million against a budget of just 12), but lately it has been somewhat forgotten. In fact, it is not even available in the catalog of any streaming platform currently.
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