Coincidentally, Good Will Hunting has been on Encore for a couple of weeks now and is available on demand. There are some scenes in there that make you wince.
Yes and that is somewhat institutionlized. It is OK, expected even, for celebrities to be open and lauded for their honesty about addiction. About mental illness, not so much. There is still a lot of stigma on that issue. And Robin Williams was of a generation that typically shamed mental illness.
That movie quite literally changed my life. I was, er, 14 when I saw it, I think. It was the ‘‘Catcher in the Rye’’ of my era. I was still in high school. I went home from the theater and I started writing a novel, which I finished a couple of years later. It’s a terrible novel, because I was 14. But the point is that movie compelled me to write it. It didn’t matter if it was terrible because it was helping me deal with my own shit. I really can’t think of a higher compliment for a movie.
A massively successful career with awards, check
4 movies in production, check
wealth, check
beautiful wife and kids, check
An adoring public, check
the ability to pick and choose career and hobbies, check
I doubt this tiny set back from a nothing network was his undoing.
Dammit, nevadaexile, you make me note that Magiver has a good point. Now I’ll have to reconsider the usefulness of the super duper double monkey punch.
Have you seen World’s Greatest Dad? It was not a super mainstream movie and is not for the faint of heart, but I thought it was pretty great. I have to admit when I first heard the cause of death was asphyxiation and that he had apparently left a note…
I mean, I know it’s normal to speculate on why someone would commit suicide. I guess. But what I wish more people understood is that there doesn’t have to be a why. The why is depression.
Wait a minute – Robin Williams was a comic genius, so quick, so sharp, so smart, and did I say how quick his wit was? But… was he high on coke for some or many of his performances? Or, not?
