Robin Williams
Robin Williams is a name and voice no one can forget. Let me illuminate some Disney Drama in honor of one of the most beloved voice actors and comedians.
First off, the 90s were a huge comeback decade for Robin. Disney recently casted Williams in two huge live action roles: Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society which both earned him Oscar nominations. When he was approached for the iconic role of Genie in Aladdin, he decided he owed it to them and took a major pay cut for the role.
However, there was one caveat.
Robin requested that Disney Marketing would not use his name or voice in the advertising for Aladdin because of another live action film called Toys which was to be released the same year, something Robin was extremely passionate about.
And what did Disney do?
CEO of Douchebags, Jefferey Katzenberg (head chairman of Disney at the time) was in the process of blazing trails through the Disney Renaissance of the 90s. He made Genie the vehicle for marketing, and Williams and Toys were hurt.
So after a pay cut, explicit betrayal of trust, and 0 earnings from marketing his own voice, Williams decided he wouldn’t work with Katzenberg anymore, and Disney lost Robin for Aladdin’s sequel. He even advised Billy Crystal to not play the role as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (who later, when Pixar was under different management voiced Mike Wazowski).
However, blood wasn’t bad forever. Years later, Disney issued a formal apology from then chairman, Joe Roth, genuinely stating how sorry they were for the backstabbing. Robin accepted this apology and even came back to voice Genie in Aladdin and the King of Thieves. (It should be said that Katzenberg had already fucked off to found DreamWorks and steal more ideas. Maybe King of Thieves was based on real life.)
It is also worth noting that casting the huge sensation Robin Williams as Genie created a monstrous downhill avalanche of animated movies casting A-list stars to draw crowds. Thereby spending a huge portion of the budget on star power rather than story or art, but maybe that’s for another angry blog.
Regardless of drama, we all love you, Robin. Rest in power.
Sources:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000245/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-24-ca-54095-story.html
Art vs Commercialization 
I love the choice to feature Robin Williams for this post! To me he was the epitome of someone who only wanted to create things for other people’s enjoyment. It is tragic that people with such a noble cause often get screwed by the C-suite entertainment execs.
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