In the upcoming documentary Robin’s Wish, director Shawn Levy opened up about how Robin Williams’ struggles became increasingly apparent on set of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.
‘We saw that Robin was struggling in a way that he hadn’t before to remember lines and to combine the right words with the performance,’ recalled Levy, 52, in a clip obtained by ET on Wednesday.
Williams committed suicide at the age of 63 on August 11 of 2014 at his San Francisco Bay home, less than four-months before Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb premiered in theaters.
Struggling: In the upcoming documentary Robin’s Wish, director Shawn Levy opened up about how Robin Williams’ struggles became increasingly apparent on set of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb; Robin pictured in 2013
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb was the final film in the blockbuster Night At The Museum trilogy, which also starred Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Steve Coogan. Williams famously played the role of Teddy Roosevelt.
According to Levy, Williams’ moral was crumbling and he was constantly questioning himself and seeking outside reassurance.
‘When Robin would call me at 10 at night, at two in the morning, at four in the morning, saying, ‘Is it usable? Is any of this usable? Do I suck? What’s going on?’ remembered Levy.
Shawn said that his faith in Robin ‘never left’ and he tried his best to remind the late actor of his worth.
Changes: ‘We saw that Robin was struggling in a way that he hadn’t before to remember lines and to combine the right words with the performance,’ recalled Levy, 52, in a clip obtained by ET on Wednesday; Robin Williams, Shawn Levy pictured on set of Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb in 2013
Crumbling moral: ‘When Robin would call me at 10 at night, at two in the morning, at four in the morning, saying, ‘Is it usable? Is any of this usable? Do I suck? What’s going on?’ remembered Levy; Robin pictured
‘I would reassure him. I said, “You are still you. I know it. The world knows it. You just need to remember that.”‘
‘My faith in him never left, but I saw his moral crumbling. I saw a guy who wasn’t himself and that was unforgivable,’ concluded Levy in the brief clip from Robin’s Wish, which will be available on demand on September 1.
Robin’s Wish documents his final days and for the first time, explores what he went through as a result of suffering from the neurodegenerative disorder Lewy body dementia.
In Robin’s Wish, William’s widow Susan Schneider Williams details her search to better understand what afflicted her famous husband and caused him to take his own life at the age of 63.
Final days: In the documentary Robin’s Wish, Susan Schneider Williams, the widow of Robin Williams, goes in search of answers about the neurodegenerative disorder that led to his death
Trailer: ‘For so many, it was difficult to understand why Robin would go,’ Schneider Williams explained. ‘When someone takes their own life, there is always more to it. This film is that more’
‘For so many, it was difficult to understand why Robin would go,’ Schneider Williams said in a statement as the first trailer for the documentary was released.
‘When someone takes their own life, there is always more to it. This film is that more,’ she said.
In the released preview, footage and photos of Williams from various stages of his career are interspersed with news reports about his death.
The Hollywood star had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, something he had kept secret, but an autopsy performed after his death on August 11, 2014, revealed he had been misdiagnosed and had instead been suffering from Lewy body dementia.
The official cause of death was ‘asphyxia by hanging’. Toxicology reports revealed Williams had antidepressants, caffeine and levodopa, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease, in his system.
Shock: In the newly released preview, footage and photos of Williams from various stages of his career are interspersed with news reports about his death
Gone too soon: The beloved comic and actor committed suicide at his Marin County home on San Francisco Bay on August 11, 2016
His brain was under attack’: Williams had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, something he had kept secret, but an autopsy revealed he had been misdiagnosed and had instead been suffering from Lewy body dementia
In the trailer for Robin’s Wish, Dr Bruce Miller, the director of the Memory and Aging Center at University of California, San Francisco, and a distinguished professor of neurology, is heard explaining: ‘Lewy body dementia is a devastating illness. It increases anxiety, self-doubt, causes delusions.’
Filmmaker Shawn Levy, who directed Williams in his final film Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb, shared that it had been ‘clear to all of us on that set that something was going on with Robin.’
He said: ‘I remember him saying to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not me any more.’
Not right: Shawn Levy, who directed Williams in his final film Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb, shared it was ‘clear to all of us on that set that something was going on with Robin’
Close friend: The filmmaker had worked on three Night At The Museum movies with Williams and witnessed his neurological decline
Troubled: Levy recalled: ‘I remember him saying to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not me any more’
Knew something was wrong: Another close friend, producer David E. Kelley is seen in the trailer, saying: ‘There was something eroding within him’
Another close friend, producer David E. Kelley is seen saying: ‘There was something eroding within him.’
Schneider Williams married the star of Mork & Mindy, Mrs. Doubtfire and Goodwill Hunting in 2011 and was his third wife.
She is heard explaining over a montage of photos of the couple together: ‘Nearly every region of his brain was under attack. He experienced himself disintegrating.’
The trailer ends with Williams, in his own voice, declaring: ‘The thing that matters are others – that’s what life is about.’
Wedding day: Schneider Williams married the star of Mork & Mindy, Mrs. Doubtfire and Goodwill Hunting in 2011 and was his third wife
Sought answers: ‘Nearly every region of his brain was under attack. He experienced himself disintegrating,’ she explained
Robin’s Wish, directed by Tylor Norwood, will be available digitally and on demand on September 1 and is being released by Vertical entertainment.
As for the film’s title, Schneider Williams explained in her statement: ‘Robin wanted to help all of us be less afraid. That was Robin’s wish.’
She went on: ‘We had been discussing what we wanted our legacies to be in life; when it was our time to go, how we wanted to have made people feel. Without missing a beat, Robin said, ‘I want to help people be less afraid.”
In addition to Schneider Williams, the legendary star is survived by his first two wives Valerie Velardi and Marsha Garces and his three children, Zak, Zelda and Cody.
Coming soon: The trailer ends with Williams declaring: ‘The thing that matters are others – that’s what life is about.’ Robin’s Wish will be released digitally and on demand on September 1