‘Boulevard’ director: Robin Williams made a ‘great’ gay man
By Will Stroude
The director of Robin Williams’ final ever film, in which he plays a closeted man coming to terms with his sexuality in later life, says the late actor made a “great” gay man.
In an interview with Out, director Dito Montiel said that as a man who was “always putting on a show” himself, Williams was “smart enough” to be able to portray the character’s own internal struggle.
Finished shortly in the months before his untimely death in August last year, Boulevard sees Williams play a 60-year-old married man who begins to accept his long-suppressed sexuality after meeting a male hooker (Roberto Aguire) and paying him for companionship rather than sex.
Asked if Williams made a good gay man in the film, Montiel said: “Great! He makes a good man, a good Nolan. Nolan was so complex. This was the story of Nolan coming out for me. Closeting himself for 40 years makes him a very messed up — a very hurt — character.
“Robin was Mork, he was the guy on Letterman. In real life, he was not that different. He was a burst of energy. I thought, ‘How interesting that the character is hiding this other guy that’s in there.’
He added: “Robin, the guy we knew as a loud, funny guy, always putting on a show, was a smart enough actor to pull it off.
Williams was found dead in his California home on August 11 last year, in what was eventually ruled as a suicide. It was later revealed that the 63-year-old Good Will Hunting star, who had publicly fought battles with depression in the past, had recently been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease.
Co-starring Kathy Baker and Bob Odenkirk, Boulevard will hit US screens this Friday (July 10). A UK release date is yet to be announced.
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