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   Ready to Kick Some 'Bot   
      
   Williams up to his animated old tricks in Robots   
      
   By LOUIS B. HOBSON   
      
   HOLLYWOOD -- It's beginning to worry Robin Williams that some of his   
   recent film roles seem to fit him a little too comfortably.  In Robots,   
   the new animated feature from the creators of Ice Age that opens Friday,   
   Williams supplies the voice of Fender, a robot whose life is literally   
   falling apart.  Poor Fender keeps losing body parts and has to search   
   for replacement ones.   
      
   "They called me to play the damaged 'bot.  Boy, that was a stretch,"   
   says Williams, 53, who immediately launches into a comic tirade   
   about aging, concluding he's "falling apart like Fender."   
      
   Hardly. Next month Williams will be seen starring with wife Tea Leoni   
   and Erykah Badu in House of D, a nostalgic drama written and directed   
   by David Duchovny, who also stars.   
      
   "I play a mentally challenged delivery boy, which wasn't that much of a   
   challenge either," says Williams, who met Duchovny in 1994 in Vancouver.   
      
   "I was shooting Jumanji and was a huge fan of The X-Files, so I visited   
   the set one day.  David refused to believe I was there.  He thought   
   they were playing some kind of UFO joke on him -- a kind of 'Mork   
   from Ork is here' thing.  David and I have been friends ever since."   
      
   Working with Duchovny on the actor's debut directing project was just   
   part of the thrill for Williams.  His daughter, Zelda Williams, also   
   has a role in the film.  (Zelda is Williams' 15-year-old daughter with   
   his second wife Maria Garces.  They also have a 12-year-old son, Cody.   
   Williams has a 21-year-old son, Zachary, with his first wife,   
   Valerie Velardi.)   
      
   "When you have a teenage daughter, your whole life comes back at you.   
   You know exactly what the boys are thinking when they turn up at your   
   door."   
      
   Williams says his son Zachary has been offered movies "because the kid   
   is so studly, but he's not interested.  He's studying linguistics at   
   New York University.   
      
   "Being my kid, it's amazing Zach turned out so well.  He's a really   
   strong kid."   
      
   Robots marks the first time Williams has voiced an animated character   
   since 1992, when he turned The Blue Genie into one of Disney's most   
   popular characters.  Williams had a very public falling out with Jeffery   
   Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, who were Disney's head honchos at the   
   time.   
      
   "Let's see.  Eisner is still at Disney, and Jeffery is over at   
   DreamWorks, which could explain why I wasn't in Finding Nemo or Shrek.   
   Robots is a Fox movie.  It's a more comfortable pairing."   
      
   Comfortable for Williams, maybe, but for director Chris Wedge it was   
   equal parts exciting and exhausting.   
      
   "How do you edit Robin Williams?  He never said the same thing twice.   
   Everyone has to work so much harder when you're creating around Robin,"   
   says Wedge.   
      
   The director admits executives at Fox "were a bit concerned audiences   
   would make a comparison between Fender and Aladdin's genie,   
   but the fact we got Robin was a coup.  I'm the first to admit I was   
   intimidated at the thought of directing Robin, but it was worth it.   
      
   "It only seems like he's out there on his own," insists Wedge.   
   "He's very much a collaborator.  He knows exactly what you need   
   and want but he always makes it so much crazier."   
      
   Williams says he did 32 hours of tapings for Robots, admitting   
   "a lot of it was a bit too adult, so there was no way it was even   
   going to be considered and it won't be on the DVD.  Like so much   
   of my stuff it just rolled off my tongue, naturally."   
      
   Maintaining a verbal stream-of-consciousness is Williams' approach   
   to standup.  He records his ramblings, then fine-tunes them.   
      
   "It takes me about six months to build up enough material to take   
   a show on the road.  I took a long time off from standup but when   
   I went back, I realized just how much I missed it.  I'm working on   
   a new show now."   
      
   Williams admits he's eying the same-sex marriage debate in   
   Canada, because "that whole issue offers a wealth of material.   
   If it passes, I predict Canadians will be dancing in the streets."   
      
   Why, you may ask?   
      
   "Because every choreographer in America is going to be moving north,"   
   he explains with a wink.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)