Danny DeVito revealed he was once almost killed by Robin Williams whilst they were on set together.
The late Williams is regarded as one of the greatest comedians in Hollywood, infusing each performance with vibrancy and energy. Meanwhile, DeVito is also an accomplished actor who has had a long and successful career in the entertainment industry.
Despite their lengthy careers as comical legends, the duo only worked together once before Williams’ tragic death by suicide in 2014.
Back in 2002, Williams and DeVito joined forces in the comedy-thriller called Death to Smoochy, directed by the latter.
The film follows a corrupt children’s television host, ‘Rainbow’ Randolph Smiley, played by Williams, who is caught by the FBI for accepting bribes to bring children onto the show.
Rainbow vows revenge on Edward Norton’s Smoochy, the lovable rhino character who replaces him. Despite being a lesser-known film, it brought Williams and DeVito on-screen together for the first and only time.
Despite earning the title of Roger Ebert’s worst movie of the year for 2002, DeVito looks back on the experience fondly as he recalled working with Williams.
“I laughed my ass off with him,” DeVito told Far Out. However, he noted that one time, the laughter went too far and led to an incident in a swimming pool.
The actor, who turns 80 today (November 17), said: “He once almost killed me in a pool. I’m not a great swimmer, I was in the deep end and he was holding court, and I never laughed so hard — I swallowed a big gulp of water and choked for five minutes.”
DeVito recounted being rescued by someone on the crew when they realised he was choking. “Everybody was laughing at me,” he confessed.
Despite not remembering Williams’ joke that nearly drowned him, he added: “It was pretty good.”
DeVito recently shared his thoughts on Colin Farrell’s portrayal of Oswald Cobblepot in HBO’s The Penguin.
The filmmaker starred as the Penguin in 1992’s Batman Returns, with his raw fish-eating, long-nosed, terrifying take on character still one of the best portrayals in Batman history.
But it appears Farrell’s take on the villian in the follow-up to Matt Reeves’ The Batman, has got DeVito thinking.
He said: “Oh, Colin’s giving me a run for my money. And it’s totally different. I’ve been watching it. I haven’t watched the whole thing, but I watched most of what was out… and you know, it’s really good.”
Pointing out key differences in their portrayals, he later added: “So mine is a totally different character than in The Penguin with Colin, which is good. It’s good. Here you got a gangster penguin. It’s fine, and he’s doing a great job.”
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