Word of the tragic loss sparked tributes from around the world, as well as tributes close to home, including at the 37th Mill Valley Film Festival, where some of Williams’ old friends and standup comedy veterans shared tales of their time with him, as well as outside the Throckmorton Theatre, where Williams often popped in for unannounced sets that left audiences delirious and exhausted made surprise performances at Mark Pitta & Friends Tuesday Comedy Night and even Comedy in the Plaza. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition organized a “Robin’s Ride” around his treasured Paradise Loop, and Caltrans even named the much-loved Rainbow Tunnel after Williams in 2016. of the
Now comes word that on September 1, Robin’s Wish, a new documentary about Williams is on its way, with director Tylor Norwood (“The United States of Detroit”) focusing on Williams’ battle with the effects of the brain disease Lewy Body Dementia that played a factor in Williams’ suicide. Based on a quote from his wife Susan Schneider in the trailer, it appears that Williams was unaware of the disease which was attacking “nearly every region of his brain.”
Doctors in the trailer express disbelief that Williams was even able to walk at all given his health condition, and the director of the Night At The Museum series, Shawn Levy, admits that Williams confided in him that he was no longer feeling like himself at the time of filming, two years prior to his death.
News of the film comes two years after the release of Marina Zenovich’s documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, which premiered on HBO, and New York Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff’s recently released biography Robin. “Both respectfully try to shed some light on Williams’ craft and life and the ways in which one informed the other,” according to Rolling Stone. “And both succeed, albeit for different reasons.
Here’s the trailer for Robin’s Wish: