#TBT - I have been thinking a lot about Robin Williams this last week. He was, oddly enough, my segue from acting and singing into filmmaking. When legendary director Mike Nichols was making THE BIRDCAGE with Robin and Nathan Lane he was looking for someone to do research and film drag queens. I went to London, Paris, Atlanta and San Francisco filming drag queens to help him - even though I had never held a video camera before and was making my living singing for my supper. I traveled alone with a borrowed camera and 2 weeks later turned in a 90-minute opus on VHS to Mike, who loved it and borrowed from it liberally to make the film. I met Robin for the first time a year later at the Oscars, where I had brought Fay Wray, who it was prearranged would be feted by Billy Crystal from her seat in the audience. He could not have been nicer and we were yacking during a commercial break after he had already won his Oscar. He kept saying, Man, I sort of grew up in San Francisco and I KNOW drag queens! But man - you found the best! Me and Nathan and Mike and Elaine (May) would sit in my trailer every day eating lunch so we could watch your film again. Man, you inspired us!” We would bump into each other at galas and benefits over the years and he was always equally excited and never needed reminding who I was, which amazed me. But, the last time I saw him was 3 years ago when Jamie DeRoy, my longtime pal and co-producer, took me to Robin’s opening night on Broadway in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. We talked at the party and I told him that “Broadway: The Golden Age” was now a trilogy and that I would love for him to be in the third film. “Am I in drag in it,” he asked? “No,” I told him, “You are safe!” He told me how he loved the first film and how he looked forward to being part of the trilogy. “If its the third part, we don’t have to shoot it right away do we,” he asked, looking exhausted. “Rick, I am just so, so tired,” he said. I reassured him that there was no hurry and he sighed and gave me a hug. As we said good night I remember thinking that no one should have to talk to all these people and basically do another complete show at the party after finishing an opening night on Broadway in a play where he was practically never off stage. I worried about how tired he would be the next day and how tough an eight-show-week would be for the run of that play. I spend my life trying to beat the clock as I document our industry’s history before the subjects run out of time, but I was never worried about getting Robin as I knew we had plenty of time. Hmmm … plenty of time. I guess we should never take a moment for granted, not to mention years. I am sorry now that we never got to work together on that upcoming film, but I certainly don’t regret not pushing or rushing him. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders, but as I was leaving him that night someone tapped him on the shoulder before he could even take a breath and he winked at me, turned around with a big smile and went “back to work” greeting his public. Here’s a clip from the PBS series IN THE LIFE where the great actor/playwright/host Charles Busch interviews me when BIRDCAGE came out. Much of what I shot found its way into the finished film in one form or another, and I soon found myself firmly ensconced in film and television. And Robin put another legendary performance on film. And that, I am happy to say, will last forever. https://youtube/watch?v=F4oHR55SaxM See the new trailer and support the Broadway film trilogy at: broadwaythemovie/trailer/bbga Or get the award-winning first film of the trilogy, BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE on DVD: amazon/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000649YA2/ref=nosim/broadwthegold-2 With Rick McKay, Celia Castevens, Anne Bernstein, Jamie DeRoy, Richard Eric Weigle, Jane Klain, Fran Bator and Michael Anastasio.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 23:06:07 +0000
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