From: fakeaddress@mindspring.com   
      
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   Sunday, March 6, 2005   
      
   By AMY LONGSDORF   
   SPECIAL TO THE RECORD   
      
   Growing older is a welcome adventure for Robin Williams.  The   
   motor-mouth comic, who supplies the voice of a creaky machine   
   named Fender in the animated film "Robots," believes that aging   
   allows him to identify with a whole new generation of characters.   
      
   "It was great to work on an old character," says the 53-year-old actor.   
   "This robot is falling apart, and so am I.  The scary thing is,   
   I lose hair on top but all of a sudden it's growing other places.   
   But I'm already the world's hairiest guy, so I'm doing OK."   
      
   Lest anyone think that the man Entertainment Weekly dubbed   
   "the Tasmanian devil of comedy" is considering retirement, Williams is   
   quick to point out that he's going to be around for a long, long time.   
      
   "Figuring out you [have staying power] is like a good-news,   
   bad-proposition," he says.  "You're here to stay, you still have work,   
   but at a certain point you realize you're going to be playing the   
   old-man parts.  You're going to be going, 'Aw, son don't go to town!'"   
      
   In "Robots," due in theaters on Friday, Williams plays a misfit   
   mechanism who, along with other "Rusties," is relegated to the care   
   of Aunt Fanny, a 'bot played by Jennifer Coolidge.  Along the way,   
   Fender encounters a high-tech machine named Rodney Copperbottom   
   (Ewan McGregor), master inventor Bigweld (Mel Brooks), beautiful   
   executive Cappy (Halle Berry) and tyrant Ratchet (Greg Kinnear).   
      
   A production of 20th Century Fox, "Robots" marks the first time   
   that Williams has lent his tonsil power to an animated movie since   
   he voiced the role of the Genie in "Aladdin."   
      
   That film was an enormous hit in 1992 and won raves for Williams.   
   But the actor had a falling-out with Disney over his compensation.   
   Williams has vowed never to return to the Mouse House.   
      
   It was after Williams saw the $400 million-grossing "Ice Age" and   
   the work that director Chris Wedge did with comic actors like Ray   
   Romano and John Leguizamo that he became actively interested in   
   giving animation another go.   
      
   "I loved William Joyce's drawings for 'Robots,' and I'd seen Chris'   
   Academy Award-winning short, 'Bunny,' which is really sweet,"   
   says Williams during an interview in Los Angeles.   
   "So you instantly realize that Chris has the chops.  And it's nice,   
   if you're doing a comedy, to have someone with a sense of humor."   
      
   At times, Williams has too much of a sense of humor.  His various   
   "Robots" ad-libs about "lube jobs" and "polishing the bolt" were   
   zapped after test screening audiences objected.   
      
   "Some of the stuff was way too adult," says Williams.  "In the end,   
   you want a cartoon you can take a 6-year-old to."   
      
   A number of Williams' and Brooks' ad-libbed lines did make it through   
   the mix, though, including one about a 'bot with "a nice keister."   
   At advance screenings, the improvised lines are netting some of the   
   movie's biggest laughs.   
      
   "If that line didn't get a laugh, I'd have to go home and give up   
   the game," says Williams.  "Either that, or I'd know the Rumsfelds   
   were in the house."   
      
   Williams isn't the type of touchy talent who gets precious with his   
   improvised one-liners.  He's happy to throw them out and see which   
   ones stick.   
      
   "What I liked about doing 'Robots' was that I could be wild but then   
   I could come back and be quiet," he says.  "Chris created this great   
   world, and an interesting story that sustains it.   
      
   "I can play the damaged robot - hey, big stretch - and still have   
   something to fall back on.  That's why it was nice to be a part of   
   an ensemble cast where there are these other great, wild characters."   
      
   A few years ago, Williams mounted a full-blown stand-up tour, his   
   first in several years.  He's ready to go back on the road again,   
   if only to talk about all the things in the current political   
   landscape that are ticking him off, including the ongoing war   
   in Iraq and the state of the environment.   
      
   Has Williams faced any backlashes from red state fans for his liberal   
   views?  "I live in San Francisco, and that's as blue as you can get,"   
   he says laughing.  "Have I performed in red states?  Yeah.   
   But you just have to come out and go, 'Come on!  Do the math!'   
   You can't talk about [Bush] in an angry way, going, 'He's an idiot!'   
      
   "By the way, I don't think he is an idiot.  I think it's a great   
   ploy, that 'Ah, shucks' act of his."   
      
   Williams will next be seen in April in "House of D," the   
   semi-autobiographical directing debut of David Duchovny.   
   It's the story of an ex-pat artist (Duchovny) living in Paris   
   who is struggling to come to terms with his troubled past.   
   Williams plays a mentally challenged man.   
      
   Did appearing in a personal project like "House of D" make Williams   
   think about telling his own story onscreen?  "God, no, not at all,"   
   he replies.  "Never.  But if I did, it would be called 'Hairy Guy.'   
   Some actors can direct, and they're very good at it because they learn   
   from the inside out, knowing that this works and this doesn't work.   
   I'm not one of them."   
      
   A self-described family man, Williams is the father of three children,   
   Zach, 21, with first wife, Valerie Velardi, and Zelda, 15, and   
   Cody, 12, with second (and current) wife, Marsha Garces Williams.   
   He's clearly proud of his offspring and their very different pursuits.   
      
   Son Zach is going to college in New York, despite being offered roles   
   in several movies.  "He was at an awards show with me and everyone   
   was saying, 'God he's handsome, so studly.  You should do something   
   in the business,' but he said, 'No thanks, I'm OK.'   
      
   "He's about to get a degree in linguistics.  So, I kind of kidded with   
   him, saying, 'OK, so now you're gonna open a syntax repair shop?'  But   
   actually, he's going to try and work for an electronic gaming company."   
      
   Daughter Zelda has a small role in "House of D," which made for an   
   interesting challenge for her father.  "I was in character but I'd   
   look over at her and think, 'That's my little girl!'  She was great,   
   though, very instinctual.  She's 15 going on 30."   
      
   With Zelda around, Williams is forced to play a role he never   
   imagined he'd be playing: the stern, over-protective dad.   
      
   "I see these boys coming for Zelda, thinking, 'Don't give me that Mr.   
   Haskell look.'  And I'm going, 'Gimme some blood and urine samples   
   before you go out!'   
      
   "You remember back to when you'd pick up girls.  It's funny.   
   With kids, you get your whole life coming right back at you."   
   <===   
      
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