Sally Field Admits Robin Williams’ On‑Set Antics “Just Weren’t Funny” To Her – VIDEO

Sally Field is offering a very different kind of Mrs. Doubtfire story: one where Robin Williams’ nonstop improvising did not crack his co‑star up at all. In a new interview, Field said she never laughed at Williams during filming, even though everyone else on set was in stitches. “Because I would never laugh, ever,” she told Stephen Colbert. “And everybody else was laughing and carrying on.”

Field explained that Williams quickly turned her stone‑faced reaction into a personal challenge. Known for trying new bits in every take, he kept pitching one gag after another to see if he could finally get her to break. “It drove him mad, actually,” she said of his frustration when nothing landed. “It wasn’t funny. It just wasn’t funny.” She added, “Robin was always trying something different to make me laugh. It was so unfunny. I can’t begin to tell you.”

In the end, it was not Williams but Pierce Brosnan, who played her character’s new love interest, who finally got her to crack up. Field said they were sitting together at a restaurant when Brosnan made a fart noise on his arm, and she completely lost it. “And I was gone. That was it,” she recalled, adding that she laughed so hard she had to step away so the makeup team could fix her face before they resumed shooting. Williams, she remembered, was incredulous that something so simple did what all his elaborate antics could not: “He remarked, ‘That’s all it took?’”

Field also made clear that her reaction on set was not a judgment on Williams’ talent so much as her own way of working. She stayed locked into character during scenes, even when others were openly enjoying his improvisations. Looking back now, she says it simply “took [her] some time” to appreciate his particular brand of chaos, even as the rest of the crew was breaking up around them.