IN AN ideal world, Robin Williams would have been born a cartoon.
After all, merely human roles rarely give him the chance to free-associate, deliver dozens of accents and leap through his imagination the way no regular person ever does. And, let’s face it, when he starts doing his shtick offstage, he occasionally wears out his welcome.
When he took the role of the Blue Genie in 1992’s Aladdin, Williams crafted one of the most indelible characters in animation history. But after Robots opens in the United States on Friday, it’s possible that Williams addicts will begin calling him Fender. Fender is Williams’ first animated role since Aladdin. The red robot with a coffeepot for a head may not look much like the 53-year-old comic, but they share a certain manic energy.
Fender is “a Skid Row bum, a man living hand to foot who puts the ‘funk’ in dysfunctional,” Williams says. He talks nonstop and loses his body parts to rust.
The performance makes use of Williams’ hyperactivity without, as he puts it, “my having to train animators can create the physicality I could never get near.
“I love doing the voices,” he adds. “I can play and create. You can’t find many parts that allow you such freedom — and it’s easier to look at myself.”
{{/usCountry}}“I love doing the voices,” he adds. “I can play and create. You can’t find many parts that allow you such freedom — and it’s easier to look at myself.”
{{/usCountry}}Cartoons could be Williams’ main source of income, if he didn’t love doing standup comedy and making live-action movies. Two of the latter will open this year, the coming-of-age tale House of D and a black comedy, The Big White.
Set in a world inhabited by mechanical people, Robots tells the story of idealistic young Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor), who dreams of being an inventor and sets off for the big city with his father’s blessing. Naturally, his life does not go smoothly, even with Fender as a close friend.
Williams related to the follow-your-dreams scenario. “I loved the scenes between Rodney and his father because of my dad,” he says. “My dad told me, ‘Do what you want to do. I will help you. If you want to be an actor, that’s great. Just have a backup .” As a father of three — Zach, 21, Zelda, 15, and Cody, 13 — Williams is trying to be equally supportive. “Zach is studying linguistics right now,” he says. “Cody has got a real sense of humour and Zelda has the voices.” She’ll appear with her father in House of D.