Mrs. Doubtfire

All you want to know about Mrs. Doubtfire

Mrs. Doubtfire

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Chris Columbus
Written by Anne Fine (novel)
Randi Mayem Singer (screenplay)
Leslie Dixon (screenplay)
Starring Robin Williams
Sally Field
Pierce Brosnan
Harvey Fierstein
Music by Howard Shore
Cinematography Donald McAlpine, ASC
Editing by Raja Gosnell
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) 24 November 1993
Running time 125 mins.
Country United States
Language English
IMDb profile

Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 comedy film based on the novel Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. It was directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and was also rated #39 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies Of All Time.


Contents

Plot

The story takes place in San Francisco. Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams), is an out-of-work voice actor (who quit his job over his objections to showing cartoon characters smoking cigarettes) with extraordinary imitative skills, whose interior decorator spouse Miranda Hillard (Sally Field) has reached the end of her patience with their marriage due to his irresponsibility. The breaking point is a birthday party Daniel throws for their twelve year old son Christopher behind Miranda's back (not allowed by Miranda because of Christopher's bad report card), which includes a petting zoo and twenty children running around the Hillard household. Since Daniel has no steady source of income (as Miranda was the main breadwinner of the family), Miranda gets primary custody of their three children (fourteen-year-old Lydia, twelve-year-old Chris and five-year-old Natalie) and Daniel has visitation rights limited to Saturday evenings. The news is crushing to Daniel, who adores his children.

When Daniel learns Miranda intends to place an advertisement for a housekeeper, he requests to pick them up from school and spend time with them. The children are receptive, but Miranda nixes the idea. Daniel sabotages the ad Miranda wrote, changing the phone number, so that he is the only applicant. He calls Miranda several times, disguising his voice while pretending to be an unsuitable applicant (a British rocker, a Swedish transsexual, a redneck, and an immigrant with a poor command of English). He finally presents the perfect applicant: a 60 year old widow from Scotland with years of experience, giving the name "Mrs. Doubtfire" after reading the news headline "Police Doubt Fire Was Accidental". With the cosmetics skills of his brother (Harvey Fierstein), a makeup artist, his brother's partner, and his own acting talent, Daniel goes to the Hillard residence as Euphegenia Doubtfire. He uses his knowledge of his family's passions, bringing up storytelling to his youngest daughter Natalie and soccer to Chris, and so is quickly offered the job. As Mrs. Doubtfire, Daniel is able to see his children every day, giving him the opportunity to be the firm father figure that he wasn't formerly. He initially has the children doing chores and homework, but still finds time to join them in their favorite activities, including reading stories, soccer, and bike rides. The difference shows in the children, and Miranda remarks that something about Mrs. Doubtfire is very familiar.

Daniel goes through a series of mishaps, including igniting his fake breasts when cooking dinner and attempting to stall his ex-wife's relationship with Stuart Dunmeyer (Pierce Brosnan), her new boyfriend. One day, Stuart invites Miranda, Mrs. Doubtfire and the kids to come swimming with him at a fancy resort pool. When Stuart criticizes the children's father by calling him a loser, Daniel (as Mrs. Doubtfire) secretly throws a lime at his head, then blames it on the bar staff ("It was a run-by fruiting!").

Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) disguised as Mrs. Doubtfire (having just lost his dentures).
Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) disguised as Mrs. Doubtfire (having just lost his dentures).

Daniel's cover is blown when Chris walks in on him standing at the toilet, urinating like a man; he then explains the situation to the two elder children, as Natalie wouldn't be able to keep such a big secret. Both children are happy to have their father back in their lives and agree to maintain the pretense. Daniel's double life ends when his two personalities are forced to come together. The CEO of the television studio, Jonathan Lundy (Robert Prosky), where Daniel works as a shipping clerk, sees him clowning with toy dinosaurs and is impressed enough to schedule a dinner meeting to hear his ideas. Miranda then invites Mrs. Doubtfire to dinner with Stuart and the family, at the exact same time and place as Daniel's business dinner. Daniel cannot cancel on either, so he changes clothes in the bathroom while going back and forth between his boss and his family, progressively getting more and more drunk and confused. Intending to get revenge on Stuart, Daniel sneaks into the restaurant kitchen and adds cayenne pepper to Stuart's prepared dish of jambalaya, to which Stuart is allergic. Upon consuming his food, Stuart begins to choke, forcing a guilty Daniel (as Mrs. Doubtfire) to perform abdominal thrusts on him to avert his death. Stuart is saved, but Daniel is exposed: during a particularly rough thrust, Daniel's mask is partially ripped off. Miranda is horrified then furious to see that her housekeeper is really her ex-husband.

In family court, Daniel acts as his own attorney and confesses his need to be with his children, but the judge, although feeling sympathy for Daniel, finds Daniel's behavior disturbing, and custody is awarded solely to Miranda. Furthermore, Daniel's visitation rights are further restricted, as the judge only allows him to see his children with supervision from a court liaison. Miranda and the children all miss Daniel very badly, and one day they see Aunt Euphegenia's House, a new children's TV show starring Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire. This evidence leads Miranda to renegotiate the terms of custody with Daniel, and since they still love each other, they agree to work together for the sake of their children and establish a joint custody arrangement. Miranda will not seek a housekeeper/caretaker while she is at work in the afternoons, instead arranging for the children to spend that time with Daniel. The film concludes with Daniel picking up his kids and Miranda watching an episode of Aunt Euphegenia's House, featuring advice to children of divorced parents, saying that no matter what type of family living arrangement children have, love will maintain the bond.

Proposed alternate ending

According to Williams, the studio had wanted the parents to be reunited and remarried in the final reel, but he, Field, and Columbus resisted this, thinking it too unrealistic and likely to give false hope to the children of divorced parents.[citation needed]

Cast

Locations

Various locations in San Francisco were used for filming. The street signs for the intersection near the "Painted Lady" home, Steiner and Broadway, were visible on-screen. The exact address, 2640 Steiner Street 37°47′38.07″N 122°26′10.78″W / 37.7939083, -122.4363278, became a tourist attraction for a while after the film's release[1].

Box office

Box Office Revenue[2]
United States International Total
$219,195,243 $222,000,000 $441,195,243

Awards

Academy Awards

  • 1993
    • Best Makeup (Greg Cannom, Ve Neill, Yolanda Toussieng)

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

American Film Institute recognition

Sequel

Mrs. Doubtfire 2 was due to be a sequel to the 1993 box office hit. Writing began in 2005 by Bonnie Hunt (Cheaper by the Dozen, Cars, Jumanji). Robin Williams was set to return in disguise as an old nanny like in the first movie. Due to problems with the script, re-writing began in early 2006 as Robin Williams was allegedly unhappy with the plot. The film was expected to be released in late 2007, but following further script problems the sequel was declared "scrapped" in mid-2006.

Recently in an interview for Newsday, Williams said the movie's sequel was indefinitely scrapped. Stating his reasons, he said, "The script they had just didn't work.".[3]

Apparently, the sequel's story involved Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire moving close to his daughter's college so he could keep an eye on her.

On December 5, 2006, during an interview with BBC Radio 1 by DJ Edith Bowman, Williams said that if it's not going to be done right, then it's not worth doing and that there won't be a sequel with him in it. However, the character might return in some form some day in the future. The interview doesn't seem to have been recorded but was posted online almost immediately.[3]

The film was classed as "stalled" for a brief period, but it now seems that the project will not occur and has even been removed from the IMDb website.

Comparisons with book

During the conversion to film, most of the characters were moderated heavily. In the book, all the main characters, apart from Natalie, tend to act in self-interest and expect a large amount of credit whenever they do otherwise. The divorce of Miranda and Daniel in the book is also much more bitter.

Notes

  1. ^ Shot on This Site, William A. Gordon, Citadel, 1995, p.39.
  2. ^ "Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
  3. ^ a b Brunton, Richard (2006-12-05). "Williams says no Mrs Doubtfire 2". Filmstalker. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.

See also

External links


Preceded by
The Player		 Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
1993		 Succeeded by
The Lion King
v • d • e
Films directed by Chris Columbus

Adventures in Babysitting (1987) • Heartbreak Hotel (1988) • Home Alone (1990) • Only the Lonely (1991) • Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) • Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) • Nine Months (1995) • Stepmom (1998) • Bicentennial Man (1999) • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) • Rent (2005) •
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Doubtfire"

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