Mrs. Doubtfire

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Chris Columbus, written by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, based on the 1987 novel '' Madame Doubtfire'', by Anne Fine. The film was produced by Mark Radcliffe, Marsha Garces Williams and her then-husband Robin Williams, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein, and Robert Prosky. It follows a recently divorced voice actor who disguises himself as an elderly female housekeeper in order to spend time with his children.

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' was released in the United States by 20th Century Fox on November 24, 1993. It grossed $441.3 million on a $25 million budget, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1993. While critical reception was mixed, the film won the Academy Award for Best Makeup,Awards for Mrs. Doubtfire
. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-11-12. and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Williams was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Plot

Freelance voice actor Daniel Hillard lives in San Francisco and is a devoted father to three children – 14-year-old Lydia, 12-year-old Chris, and five-year-old Natalie. However, his workaholic wife Miranda considers him immature and unreliable. After quitting a gig following a disagreement over a morally questionable script, Daniel throws Chris a chaotic birthday party, despite Miranda's objections due to Chris's poor grades. In the ensuing argument, Miranda says she wants a divorce. Due to Daniel's unemployed and homeless status, Miranda is granted sole custody of the children, with Daniel having visitation rights every Saturday; shared custody is contingent on Daniel finding a steady job and suitable residence within the next three months.

Daniel secures an apartment and a job as a shipping clerk at a television station. After learning that Miranda seeks a housekeeper, Daniel secretly alters her classified ad form and calls her using his voice acting skills to pose as various undesirable applicants before calling as "Euphegenia Doubtfire" (a name he derives from a newspaper headline), an elderly British nanny with strong credentials. Impressed, Miranda invites Mrs. Doubtfire for an interview. Daniel's brother, Frank, a makeup artist, and Frank's domestic partner, Jack, help Daniel appear as an old lady through the use of makeup and prosthetics.

Miranda hires Mrs. Doubtfire following a successful interview. The children initially struggle under her authority, but eventually come around and thrive, while Miranda becomes more easygoing and closer with the kids. Daniel also further improves himself by becoming more responsible and learning several household skills, which earns him Miranda's respect. However, Miranda puts more trust in Mrs. Doubtfire than in Daniel, and cannot bring herself to dismiss her. Miranda also begins dating an old friend, Stu. One night, after Daniel is discovered standing while urinating, he reveals the truth to Lydia and Chris, who agree to keep his secret so they can keep spending time with their father.

One day, the station's CEO, Jonathan Lundy, sees Daniel playing with props on the set of a recently canceled children's show. Impressed by his voice acting, humor, and imagination, Lundy invites Daniel to dinner to discuss plans for a new show. The meeting turns out to be at the same place and time as a planned birthday dinner for Miranda, to which Mrs. Doubtfire is invited. Daniel spends the night changing in and out of the Mrs. Doubtfire costume to attend both events. Becoming intoxicated, Daniel accidentally returns to Lundy in costume, but explains himself by saying that Mrs. Doubtfire is his idea for the new show's host. After learning that Stu is allergic to pepper, Daniel sneaks into the kitchen and seasons Stu's jambalaya with powdered cayenne pepper. When Stu begins choking, Daniel administers the Heimlich maneuver, which causes the prosthetic mask to slip off and expose his identity. Horrified, Miranda leaves with the kids.

At their next custody hearing, Daniel says that he has met the judge's requirements ahead of schedule, explains that his actions were done out of love for his children, and begs to still be allowed to see them. The judge dismisses Daniel's words as another ruse, grants Miranda full custody of the kids, and further restricts Daniel's rights to supervised Saturday visits. This devastates Daniel, the children, and even Miranda, who realizes how her resentment and bitterness towards Daniel have been hurting the family. Without Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda and the kids become miserable, acknowledging how much "she" improved their lives. They then discover that Daniel is hosting the new children's show, ''Euphegenia's House'', as Mrs. Doubtfire, which becomes a nationwide hit.

Miranda visits Daniel on set and admits that things were better when he was involved with the family as Mrs. Doubtfire. She arranges joint custody, allowing Daniel as himself to take the kids daily after school. As Daniel leaves with the kids, Miranda watches an episode of ''Euphegenia's House''. In it, Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a young girl whose parents recently separated, saying that no matter what arrangements families have, love will prevail.

Cast

* Robin Williams as Daniel Hillard / Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire
* Sally Field as Miranda Hillard
* Pierce Brosnan as Stuart "Stu" Dunmeyer
* Harvey Fierstein as Frank Hillard
* Polly Holliday as Gloria Chaney
* Lisa Jakub as Lydia Hillard
* Matthew Lawrence as Christopher Hillard
* Mara Wilson as Natalie Hillard
* Robert Prosky as Mr. Lundy
* Anne Haney as Mrs. Sellner
* Scott Capurro as Jack
* Martin Mull as Justin Gregory
* William Newman as Mr. Sprinkles

Casting

Blake Lively unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Natalie Hillard, before Mara Wilson won the part.
Warren Beatty was Anne Fine's first choice for the role of Daniel Hillard / Mrs. Doubtfire.
Tim Allen was offered the roles of Daniel Hillard and Stu Denmeyer, but declined both of them. Daniel Stern was another choice for the role of Stu Denmeyer, but was busy with ''Rookie of the Year''. Chris Columbus originally wanted Catherine O'Hara for the role of Miranda Hillard because of her experience in ''Home Alone'', but O'Hara was busy with ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'', Kirstie Alley was also considered for the role of Miranda Hillard. George Carlin, Gene Wilder and Charles Grodin were considered for the role of Mr. Jonathan Lundy.

Production

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' was filmed in San Francisco. Various locations in the city were used during filming. Parts were filmed at the studios of television station KTVU in Oakland. Street signs for the intersection near the " Painted Lady" home, Steiner, and Broadway, were visible onscreen.

The exact address, 2640 Steiner Street, became a tourist attraction for some time after the film's release. Following Williams' death on August 11, 2014, the house became an impromptu memorial. All interior filming for the home took place in a Bay Area warehouse, converted for soundstage usage. Williams' character, Daniel Hillard, lived upstairs from Danilo Bakery at 516 Green Street; his children attended a school at Filbert and Taylor.

The makeup for Mrs. Doubtfire's appearance took four hours to apply. Williams later recounted how he used to walk through San Francisco dressed in full makeup and costume as Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, and on one occasion, visiting a sex shop to buy a large dildo and other toys. Director Chris Columbus stated in a 2015 interview that they shot with multiple cameras at once, like shooting a documentary, to capture the cast members' reaction to Williams's improvisation. According to Columbus, they ran out of film after shooting too much of Williams' improvisation. The restaurant scene was filmed at Bridges Restaurant & Bar in Danville, California.

The score was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Howard Shore.

The ''Pudgy and Grunge'' animated film segment in the opening scene was directed by Chuck Jones. Though only one minute of the cartoon is shown during the film, Jones and his team animated five minutes of footage.

Release

The film was released in the United States on November 24, 1993, and was rated PG-13.

When the film was released in the United Kingdom in January 1994, it received a certificate of 12, which, at the time, completely refused access to children under age 12 at cinemas (the 12A certificate did not exist until 2002). This resulted in cinemas requesting their local authorities to override the decision of the British Board of Film Classification, after having to turn down disappointed families. In February 1994, ''The Independent'' reported that the censors refused to give the film a U or PG certificate, and gave it a 12 instead, which was due to 20th Century Fox refusing to remove three controversial lines. After the film's distributors requested the BBFC to reconsider, a compromise was reached, and the film was rerated PG, with just one of the proposed three cuts implemented, involving the removal of thirteen seconds featuring sexual innuendo (the other two cuts would have removed just some of the innuendo), and it was rereleased in May 1994.

Home media

Fox Video released the film on VHS in the United States on April 26, 1994, just five months after the film's theatrical release and while the film was still grossing over $1 million a weekend. It would also debut on a THX certified LaserDisc release that same month.

In the United Kingdom, the rated PG version was used in the initial VHS and DVD releases. In November 2012, the distributors resubmitted the original version to the BBFC, and the 12 certificate was reinstated for home video, along with a 12A certificate for cinema release in 2014. On March 4, 2013, the original version was released on Blu-ray and downloads in the United Kingdom.

Deleted scenes

Over 30 minutes of scenes were omitted from the final cut of the film, some of which were featured in the 2008 DVD release of ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' called the "Behind-the-Seams Edition". If the scenes had been included, the film would have run for 157 minutes. These include an entire subplot featuring Daniel's conflict with his nosy neighbor, Gloria Chaney ( Polly Holliday), in which, after Daniel dresses as Mrs. Doubtfire, he fools Gloria into killing her flowers by spraying dog urine on them, and a final confrontation in which Gloria sees Daniel in his Mrs. Doubtfire bodycostume but without the face mask. There is also an extended scene at Bridges restaurant. In 2016, three scenes from the 2008 DVD release, which were also included in the 2013 Blu-ray release, gained media attention to much fanfare and praise for Robin Williams. These included a scene in which Daniel and Miranda fight at Lydia's spelling bee competition, and a confrontation scene with Miranda after Daniel's identity is revealed at the restaurant. He recovers and comes back home to the family.

In early 2021, several web articles claimed that there was an NC-17 cut of the film featuring extraordinarily vulgar ad libs by Robin Williams. However, the claim was debunked by director Chris Columbus and star Mara Wilson, with Columbus stating that Williams did film enough outtakes to make an R-rated version, but that an NC-17 rating was absurd. Wilson previously denied the claims of an NC-17 version of the film in 2016 in her memoir, ''Where Are They Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame''.

Reception

Box office

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' collected $20.4 million during its three-day opening weekend. Within its first five days of release, it generated a total gross of $27.5 million. Upon opening, it would go on to reach the number one spot at the box office, beating out '' Addams Family Values'' and '' A Perfect World''. This would be the last non-Disney film to win the Thanksgiving weekend box office until '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' in 2000. The film earned $219,195,243 in the United States and Canada, and $222,090,952 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $441,286,195, making it Fox's highest-grossing film internationally at the time, and the highest-grossing cross-dressing film. It became the second-highest-grossing film of 1993, behind ''Jurassic Park.'' Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 52.6 million tickets in the US. It had a record opening for Fox in the United Kingdom, with $5.8 million in 6 days (and the third-best in the country, after ''Jurassic Park'' and '' Bram Stoker's Dracula''), and went on to gross $30.1 million, a Fox record. It had the second-biggest opening in Italy, behind ''Jurassic Park'', with $2.9 million, and also grossed a record for Fox in Italy, with $15.6 million. It had record openings for Fox in France (with an opening week gross of $4.8 million, and a total of $23 million), Belgium, Hungary and Denmark. It grossed $29.6 million in Germany. The film was number one at the Australian box office and Japanese box office for nine consecutive weeks.

Critical reception

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' received mixed reviews from critics upon release. At the time of its release, several critics compared ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' unfavorably with ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959), and others who viewed the film favorably noted its similarity to '' Tootsie'' (1982).

On Rotten Tomatoes, ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' has a rating of 71%, based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's critical reception reads: "On paper, ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' might seem excessively broad or sentimental, but Robin Williams shines so brightly in the title role that the end result is difficult to resist." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 53 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on a scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert of ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of a possible four. He questioned if William's character could actually conceal his identity in makeup from his ex-wife and children, and also wrote "the film is not as amusing as the premise, and there were long stretches when I'd had quite enough of Mrs. Doubtfire." Ebert also noted comparisons to ''Tootsie'', which he described as "more believable, more intelligent and funnier" while ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' was essentially a television sitcom.

Accolades

In 2000, the American Film Institute placed the film on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list, where it was ranked #67.

Canceled sequel and cast reunions

In 2001, Bonnie Hunt began to develop ''Mrs. Doubtfire 2''. Anne Fine had not written a follow-up to '' Alias Madame Doubtfire'', and writing for the sequel did not begin until 2003. Robin Williams was set to return in disguise as the eponymous Mrs. Doubtfire. Rewriting began in 2006 because Williams was unhappy with the plot in the new script. The film had been anticipated for release in late 2007, but following further script problems, the sequel was scrapped in December 2006.

In 2006, in a ''Newsday'' interview, Williams said that the sequel was indefinitely scrapped, stating his reasons:

Also, in December that year, during an interview on BBC Radio 1 by DJ Edith Bowman, Williams said that if it was not going to be done right, then it was not worth doing, and that there would not be a sequel with him in it.

In August 2010, on '' Alan Carr: Chatty Man'', Williams again brought up the topic of a sequel to ''Mrs. Doubtfire''. He blamed the script not being right as the reason why a sequel was not made. He claimed that the script had been written three times and failed, and there was no mention of any ongoing work on the project. Furthermore, in December 2011, during an interview by ''Moviehole'', Williams again stated that the chances of a sequel are "highly unlikely".

In 2011, Williams said:

In 2014, Chris Columbus stated, in turn:

In April 2014, a sequel was announced to be in development at 20th Century Fox. Williams and Columbus were expected to return, and ''Elf'' screenwriter, David Berenbaum, was hired to write the script. Initial reception to the announcement was mixed, with some people fearing that the sequel would revive certain misgivings about the transgender community and set the LGBTQ awareness progress back two and a half decades, especially after an image of the character was used to mock the trans community at a medical insurance coverage reform in 2013. Matthew Lawrence, Lisa Jakub and Pierce Brosnan had expressed interest in reprising their respective characters for the sequel. However, Mara Wilson, who played Natalie Hillard in the original film, expressed no interest in returning for the sequel. Following Williams's death in August 2014, plans for a sequel were put on hold, then again canceled.

In August 2014, shortly after Robin Williams's death, it was revealed that Williams had grown weary working on film sets because it tended to take him away from his family for extended periods of time, and he signed on for the sequel "purely out of necessity". In August 2015, Chris Columbus revealed that the sequel came to be after someone came up with a very interesting idea, and that his conversation with Williams about the subject was the last time he ever talked to the actor. In December 2021, Columbus stated that a sequel is impossible without Robin Williams's involvement.

The three sibling cast members reunited with Pierce Brosnan in 2018 for the film's 25th anniversary and on their own for a joint podcast appearance in 2024.

Stage adaptation

Theatrical producer Kevin McCollum spoke in 2013 about the film's musical prospects, noting that the plot was "tailored for Broadway audiences". Following a 2015 plan going on hiatus, McCollum assembled a different creative team in 2018: Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick composing the score, with John O'Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick writing the book, and Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks directing. The musical, ''Mrs. Doubtfire'', premiered in Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theatre on December 13, 2019. The production transferred to Broadway, with previews beginning March 9, 2020, at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. All Broadway productions were suspended three days later due to the coronavirus pandemic. Eventually, ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' resumed previews on October 21, 2021, and officially opened on December 5, 2021.

See also

* Cross-dressing in film and television
* '' Avvai Shanmughi'', the 1996 Indian Tamil-language film that was inspired by ''Mrs. Doubtfire''
* '' Chachi 420'', the 1997 Indian Hindi-language remake of ''Avvai Shanmughi''
* '' Kauda Bole Alice'', the 2000 Sri Lankan Sinhala-language remake

References

External links

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1993 films
1993 comedy-drama films
1993 LGBTQ-related films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
1990s legal films
20th Century Fox films
American comedy-drama films
American courtroom films
American legal films
Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners
Comedy film characters
Cross-dressing in American films
Female characters in film
Fiction about child care occupations
Fictional tricksters
Films about actors
Films about brothers
Films about divorce
Films about dysfunctional families
Films about nannies
Films adapted into plays
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Chris Columbus (filmmaker)
Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Films scored by Howard Shore
Films set in San Francisco
Films shot in Oakland, California
Films shot in San Francisco
Films that won the Academy Award for Best Makeup
Films with screenplays by Leslie Dixon
Films with screenplays by Randi Mayem Singer
English-language comedy-drama films
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award–winning films