Aladdin was released, became a box office juggernaut, and merchandising was a no-brainer for the Walt Disney Company. Williams accepted to be paid less for the role ($75,000 instead of $8 million) to ensure his voice wouldn't be used to sell any kind of products.
During the course of recording the voices, the late Robin Williams improvised so much they had almost sixteen hours of material. Because Robin Williams ad-libbed so many of his lines, the script was rejected for a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination.
Finally, in 1994, Joe Roth took over for Katzenberg as Chairman of the Studios and publicly apologized to Williams. He even returned for Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). In 2009, Williams was inducted as a Disney Legend at D23, and all was forgotten about the feud.
In September 1995, it was confirmed that Robin Williams would reprise the role of the Genie reportedly for a $1 million salary after he received an apology from Joe Roth for Disney breaching an agreement not to use his voice to merchandise products inspired by Aladdin.
The lyrics to the version of "Arabian Nights" heard in this film were lifted from the original demo version of the song. Robin Williams was not a part of this movie due to a disagreement with Disney (see trivia for Aladdin (1992). Walt Disney Television Animation Australia animates the first 34 minutes of the film.
To many fans, however, Williams is best known as the voice of the Genie in the Disney animated classic Aladdin. The actor broke barriers with his no-holds-barred performance, helping the film to become a huge success. And he improvised hours of comedic material in the process.
In 1993, when Williams went on The Today Show to promote Mrs. Doubtfire, it was there he revealed why there was bad blood between himself and Disney. He had a strict agreement before signing onto Aladdin that he didn't want his voice involved in merchandising.
Following a contract dispute between Williams and Disney, Dan Castellaneta voiced the Genie throughout the direct-to-video feature The Return of Jafar, as well as the television series, before Williams reprised the role for the final installment, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, as well as for the character's own mini- ...
He left his estate, which is believed to have been worth up to $100m, in trust to his children from previous marriages and his third wife Susan Schneider-Williams.
Robin wanted to audition for the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, but didn't get his foot in the door. The director had to turn him down, though, because JK enforced a rule that only a British cast were involved in the franchise. The part eventually went to the late Robbie Coltrane, who was a fantastic casting.
A fan of the book series, Williams was gunning for the roles of Rubeus Hagrid and Remus Lupin, but was denied an audition on the basis of Rowling's “No Americans Allowed” policy that somehow did not extend to the first film's director.
How long did it take Robin Williams to record Aladdin?
Robin ended up recording about six to eight four-hour sessions. It was a marvel to watch him do his thing. It's a very fond memory of watching a true comic genius at work. Robin changed the way animated films were perceived.
The rise of our current era of big names plastered over animated film posters has been traced back to Robin Williams in the 1992 Aladdin. And it's that same Aladdin that gives Tom Cruise a connection — albeit a loose one — to animation: he was actually a model for the main character.
Storyline wise it's just a short reprise of the main film really, and it truly is short, even for an animated move. The worst aspect is, of course, the lack of Robin Williams portraying the Genie, Dan Castellaneta does his best, but he's only ever a poor imitation of the original performance.
The piece of audio used for Williams came from one of the actor's many unused outtakes that he recorded years ago for Aladdin. Abraham sifted through 16 hours of archived recordings to pick the perfect soundbite. "We got the approval of the Robin Williams estate very, very early on," he says.
Robin was cast to play the Genie in the 1992 Aladdin movie, and returned for King Of Thieves in 1996 but didn't do the 2nd film because he had issues with Disney over the marketing of the first one. So he was replaced with Dan Castellanetta.
And he's no foreigner abroad either: he's a native Chinese boy, not an Arabian youth who's ended up in China. (Nor is he an orphan: in the earliest versions of the story, Aladdin is not an orphaned street urchin but a lazy boy living at home with his mother.)
But still, that doesn't mean when you're watching a favorite like "Aladdin" you're actually conscious of the fact that Jasmine is actually only 15 years old, which would result in Aladdin getting arrested in just about every state in the Union. Or that Snow White is just 14.
They had spent years trying to get a correct diagnosis for their father who later killed himself. Their father's brother had read Schneider Williams' 2016 editorial in Neurology about Robin's experience with Lewy body dementia and shared that with their father's doctor. Soon after, the father got an accurate diagnosis.
How much did Robin Williams improvise in Mrs. Doubtfire?
According to director Chris Columbus, the late, great Williams improvised so much while shooting Mrs. Doubtfire that nearly 2 million feet of film was amassed during production.
Malcolm Sayers in Penny Marshall's 1990 film Awakenings. This surprised many people when they found out about it because they were expecting one of his better-known films but Williams maintained that the role was a “gift”.
