During his 63 years on earth, Robin Williams brought smiles to a countless number of faces through his comedic work until his death in 2014. The trailer for the HBO documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind gives a glimpse into Williams' many achievements, as well as how many lives he touched. The movie will premiere on HBO on July 16, Deadline reported.
The trailer shows clips from some of Williams' live stage performances. It also includes interviews with comedians who've been inspired by Williams, sharing what they admired about the star. Billy Crystal, for example, recalled a series of prank voicemails Williams left him at one point. According to Deadline, other people, including Whoopi Goldberg and David Letterman, are also interviewed in the documentary.
"He was really comfortable on stage," Steve Martin says of Williams in the trailer. "Offstage, I just felt he was holding himself together."
The trailer also includes statements from Williams himself during past interviews. "Standup is survival," Williams' voice says in the trailer. "For me, that's jazz — that's what I have to do."
Williams' son Zak Williams also appears in the trailer, sharing a message about his late dad. "My father didn't always feel he was succeeding," Zak says in the clip. "But he's the most successful person I know."
The trailer isn't all positive — it also hints at the struggles Williams faced during his life. There's audio from an interview in which Williams admitted he had a "fear of abandonment" as a child. "It's a primal fear for any child," Williams' voice says in the clip. "And it dictates a lot of how you deal with life."
Whatever issues Williams faced, though, he still had an incredible career. From his roles in classic movies like Flubber, Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, and Aladdin to his hilarious standup comedy, Williams had many talents on screen and on stage. Williams won an Academy Award for his role in Good Will Hunting, but a quick scroll through his IMDb page shows just how extensive his acting career was.
Williams died on August 11, 2014, at age 63. A month before his death, TMZ reported that the comedian entered a rehab center and Williams' rep issued the following statement on July 1, 2014:
"After working back-to-back projects, Robin is simply taking the opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment, of which he remains extremely proud."
Williams had addressed his sobriety in interviews, including one with Parade in 2013, where he described the temptation he faced to start drinking again while filming the 2005 movie The Big White. He told the publication that his family helped him go to rehab in 2006:
“It was not an intervention so much as an ultimatum. Everyone kind of said, ‘You’ve got to do this.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’”
Throughout his struggles, though, Williams kept people laughing with comedy, sharing his own insights about the business over the years. One of the most popular quotes attributed to Williams is "Comedy is acting out optimism," and it shows how much he loved his work.
Among Williams' many fans is former President Barack Obama. In a statement about Williams' death, Obama called the comedian "one of a kind." Here's the former president's full statement from 2014:
"Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien — but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most — from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin's family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams."
Williams had many fans the world over, and they'll likely find comfort in the new documentary. His legacy has lived on long after his death, as the trailer shows.
If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
You can find more resources about suicide prevention at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
