Robin Williams: The Legend Behind The Laughs

Becoming the genie

When Disney were trying to get Williams to sign on as the genie, they decided to animate and lip-sync the genie performing Williams’ own stand-up comedy. Williams absolutely loved it and signed on immediately.

Despite Aladdin being a huge success and everyone falling in love with the genie, it was rejected at the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay as Williams improvised most of the lines in the movie so it divulged too much from the original script. In the end, over 16 additional hours of dialogue were recorded by Williams.