Actor's Impeccable Robin Williams Impression Has Fans Wanting A Full-Length Movie

Oct 14, 2021 by apost team

The Academy Award-winning actor Robin Williams was known for his wild, goofy and sometimes frenetic comedy persona that found its way into family movies central to American culture, like “Peter Pan” and “Jumanji.” But Williams wasn’t just the funny guy in Hollywood. He also showed tremendous range, starring in more serious dramas like “Dead Poets Society” and “Good Will Hunting,” for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The well-liked comedian died on Aug. 11, 2014, at his home in Tiburon, California, at the age of 63 after the actor took his own life, according to The New York Times.

Williams is survived by his wife, Susan Schneider, his son Zak, his son Cody and his daughter Zelda. His memory also lives on in his many films and the hearts of fans who continue to celebrate his work today.

Jamie Costa, a popular YouTuber and amateur actor, is certainly keeping Williams’ legacy alive. On Oct. 11, Costa, who has impersonated Williams before on the now-defunct platform Vine, uploaded a 5-minute scene featuring himself as Williams and Sarah Murphree as Pam Dawber on the set of “Mork & Mindy,” a 1970s and 80s sitcom. The video, titled "ROBIN Test Footage Scene," focuses on a moment when Dawber tells Williams that the comedian John Belushi has died.

The clip is based on a true story. Not only did Williams star on “Mork & Mindy,” but he also met with Belushi the night before he died at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in 1982, a fact which is mentioned in Costa’s scene.

“John's not dead, I was with him last night,” Costa says after Murphree breaks the news.

Costa’s performance has spread like wildfire across the internet, with multiple media outlets covering the story and hundreds of fans who are pushing for a Costa-led Robin Williams biopic.

Since the video was uploaded to YouTube on Saturday, it’s already received more than 3 million views and 7,000 comments. Fans on Twitter were also impressed by the screen test.

“I am at a loss of words of how extraordinary this is,” Edward Hong tweeted on Sunday.

“Jamie Costa encapsulates the essence of Robin Williams so perfectly that this ‘fan footage’ for a proposed biopic is a clear sign this truly needs to happen.”

“The real good thing about this test footage is it shows that Jamie Costa is a very good actor, not just a good impressionist. I say give him the $$ to make it,” Elias Toufexis wrote on the platform.

While some fans speculated that this was a screen test — a short clip to assess an actor’s suitability for a role — Joe Kura of SFist threw cold water on that idea.

“People, this was no screen test. This is a plucky attempt to generate interest in the possibility of a Robin Williams biopic,” Kura writes in his piece.

“Jamie Costa posted the clip to his Youtube channel, probably in hopes of whipping up investors, and perhaps support from the Williams family for this completely aspirational project.”

Even if Kura is right, there’s no doubt that Costa and his acting talent have shown that there’s a real appetite for a fictionalized, feature-length treatment of Williams’ life.

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Last year, Tylor Norwood released “Robin’s Wish,” a documentary that focuses on the actor’s struggles with a severe case of Lewy body dementia, which Williams’ widow has blamed for the actor’s death in 2014. She detailed the actor’s experience with the disease in a long column for the scientific journal Neurology.

“This is a personal story, sadly tragic and heartbreaking, but by sharing this information with you I know that you can help make a difference in the lives of others,” she wrote.

According to CNET, Susan approached Norwood to produce the documentary, which came out on Sept. 1, 2020.

Although Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film for its “lack of objectivity,” he writes that the film “fully succeeds in its admirable goal of using Williams’ story to shed light on a disease with which many people were previously unfamiliar.”

When Williams’ death was announced in 2014, it shocked the country, leading to an outpour of tributes and support from figures as high up and well known as then-President Barack Obama.

“Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind,” President Obama wrote in a White House statement. “He arrived in our lives as an alien — but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most — from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets.”

Even if filmmakers don’t pursue a Williams biopic, one thing is clear. Thanks to his incredible personality and talent, Williams’ memory will continue to live on for years to come.

What do you think of a Robin Williams biopic? And should Jamie Costa play Williams? Let us know — and be sure to pass this on to hear from others.

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