In the cartoon adaptation Popeye – The Sailor with the Hard Punch by Robert Altman, Robin Williams played the main character Popeye. As Williams later admitted, The shoot was a real challenge.
No one could understand what Robin Williams said as Popeye
As Far Out Magazine detailed in a 2024 article, Williams had a hard time with a certain aspect of the character. Popeye was known from the cartoons since the 1930s.
Both the specific look and his voice were part of his trademark and had to be transported accordingly by Williams.
The musical comedy from 1980 is about the sailor Popeye, who gets involved in some turbulent adventures while searching for his father. As an experienced comedy actor, Williams managed to imitate Popeye’s facial expressions and gestures, and muscle prostheses did the rest. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, things got tricky.
According to his own statement, Williams was “like a killer whale farting into a wind tunnel”: The film had to be dubbed twice because no one could understand him if he wanted to sound like Popeye.
A success at the box office, but not for Williams’ private life
Although the film received mixed reactions, it was a success at the box office, grossing three times the original film budget. However, Robin Williams’ performance was also viewed critically.
His experience at the time was essentially limited to his leading role as an alien in the sci-fi comedy series Mork from the Orc, so the audience didn’t yet know much what to do with his improvisational talent.
As we all know, his performance as a quick-witted sailor was far from being the end, but just that Start of a successful film careerwhich would only really get going a few years later.