Robin Williams is known for being one of the most talented actors in the Hollywood industry. The Academy Award winner was famous for his versatile acting skills, ranging from comedy to drama. The star was widely appreciated for his classic movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, Jumanji, License to Wed, and others. However, being an actor, he has chosen some iconic roles and some roles, which he wished he never took up.

Williams was among the first few actors who dived into the comic book adaptation movie genre. He played the character of Popeye in the 1980 film, inspired by Christopher Reeve’s Superman.

Robin Williams was inspired by Superman star for taking up Popeye

The film Popeye is a 1980 musical comedy film based on E. C. Segar’s comic character Popeye. It was directed by Robert Altman and produced by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions. The film starred Robin Williams as Popeye the Sailor Man and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl.

As per the New York Times bestselling book Robin by Dave Itzkoff, when Robin Williams was initially offered the lead role, he was hesitant. But another comics-based movie star convinced him to take the character. He was inspired by the Superman movie star Christopher Reeve.  

Christopher Reeve as Superman

After Robin Williams took up the role, he was very dedicated to it. He took dance and acrobatics classes, learned the songs, and more for preparation. He also got a close-cropped bleach-blonde haircut to look similar to his character, Popeye.

The actor had shared,

“I also had that dream of getting up to thank the Academy. I thought, this is it, this is my ‘Superman,’ and it’s gonna go through the f*****’ roof! After the first day on ‘Popeye,’ I thought, ‘Well, maybe this isn’t it,’ and I finally wound up going, ‘Oh, God, when is it going to be over?’”

However, things did not go as expected by the star. The film did average business and was an utter mess. It received negative reviews for the writing, and even the incredible comedy star could not save the film.

Robin Williams felt his Popeye voice sounded like whale farts

The director of the film wanted to retain the authenticity of Segar’s comic strip in his film, as the audience would expect Popeye to sound like Jack Mercer’s Popeye from Fleischer Studios cartoons. He was supposed to sound a little mumbly, like a man speaking with a corn cob pipe in his mouth. He had to make his dialogues understandable for the viewer, which became a difficult task for Robert Williams.

Robin Williams in and as Popeye

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Williams confessed,

“I had to dub that movie over twice… because people couldn’t understand what I was saying. I sounded like a killer whale farting in a wind tunnel.”
He aced the voice the second time, and it was so perfect that it was difficult to differentiate if he was speaking a dialogue or improvising it. The film received $60 million worldwide, against a budget of $20 million.