One Hour Photo's 'great outtakes'

Mark Romanek: "Williams is a super, straightforward guy"

by Caroline Westbrook BBC News Online entertainment staff

Working with Robin Williams on the set of One Hour Photo was quite an experience, as director Mark Romanek discovered.

One Hour Photo is Romanek's first film for 17 years - his debut effort, the sci-fi drama Static, received good reviews but had little success at the box office - unlike One Hour Photo, which has been a modest hit in the US.

After that he went into music videos, working with the likes of Beck, Nine Inch Nails and Madonna.

"I honestly consider One Hour Photo to be my first feature even though Static was my first film. I was 23 years old and I had this notion that I couldn't be a great filmmaker unless I made a film before I was 25," says the softly-spoken Romanek, 43.

I realised I had a lot to learn about life and filmmaking and working with actors, and I had these opportunities to do music videos so I ended up embracing that."

Once in his 40s, the director decided to try his hand again at feature films.

The low-budget thriller sees the funnyman in deadly serious mode as Sy Parrish, a desperately lonely photo lab worker who takes his obsession with one of his clients a bit too far.

Williams, almost unrecognisable beneath blond hair and glasses in the role, delivers one of his most serious, intense performances to date - but away from the camera, his sense of humour was as solid as ever.

"Robin's method on this movie was that he needed to expand his comedic energy and vent it so it wouldn't contaminate this incredibly intense performance," says Romanek.

Amazing

"So he would be hysterically funny between takes. But there were also a lot of great outtakes from the film."

Williams plays photo lab worker Sy Parrish in the film

"If you're being that serious and that intense, if someone flubs a line, you tend to really explode because you're holding so much in.

"So we ended up with a couple of takes Robin going off on a roll and just doing 15 minutes of Sy as an old Yiddish man, that kind of thing."

But when Romanek began work on the film, he never imagined that Williams would end up in the lead.

"I think Robin Williams has done some amazing dramatic roles," he said. "I liked his performances in The Secret Agent and Good Will Hunting, but I didn't have those kinds of ambitions for the movie."

Connie Nielsen co-stars in the film

"I was in the process of starting to interview some interesting actors and some character actors for the part.

"Then through a series of circumstances his manager read the script and knew Robin was looking for new challenges and looking to work with new young directors.

"And I thought maybe if he really changes himself physically so that people don't realise they're watching Robin Williams it could be very interesting.

"So I met him for lunch, and there was an instant rapport, and he connected deeply with the script.

"It was clear to him that this was a labour of love, that he wouldn't get his normal fee for it, and he didn't care. He was just a super, straightforward guy."