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This behind-the-scenes Aladdin video shows Robin Williams was just as great off-screen

Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI

There will be many offerings, in the coming days, of actor and comedian Robin Williams’s greatest moments on screen. See, for example, this stunning clip of him in 1987’s Good Morning Vietnam. But one of my favorites is of Williams offscreen, recording the voice-overs for Genie in the 1992 Disney cartoon Aladdin. Watching him bringing the character to life in the little sound studio, every bit as exuberant as when he was when in front of some sold-out crowd, it’s clear that he earnestly felt the joy and the every-muscle-in-his-body purpose that he brought to every role.

One line that really struck me is from producer John Musker, who said of Williams’s devotion to the movie’s kid-friendly moral arc, “That was what was really cool about Robin, is he would invest in the emotional things as well as the gags.”

Hat tip to Climate Desk’s James West for surfacing this video.

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