Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Mork & Mindy' (2005) (TV)

Director:

Neill Fearnley

Writers (WGA):

Andy Dougan (book)
David Misch (written by)

Release Date:

4 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An inside look at the ABC sitcom which turned Robin Williams into a star in 1978.

Plot Keywords:

Television Show | Character Name In Title

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Chris Diamantopoulos	...	Robin Williams
Daniel Roebuck	...	Garry Marshall
Erinn Hayes	...	Pam Dawber
Michelle Harrison	...	Valerie Velardi
David Richmond-Peck	...	Harvey Severson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kwesi Ameyaw	...	Cop
Johnathan Brownlee	...	Jay Thomas
Peter Bryant	...	Detective
Lisa Calder	...	Pretty Fan
Robert Clarke	...	Conrad Janis
Brad Dryborough	...	Stagehand
Sarah Edmondson	...	Gina Hecht
Stacy Fair	...	Penny Marshall
Neill Fearnley	...	Loud Guy
Ona Grauer	...	Raquel Welch
Peter Hanlon	...	Glen Langley
Adrian Hough	...	Robert Evans
Jesse Hutch	...	Crazed Fan
Pascale Hutton	...	Secretary
David Josefsberg	...	Henry Winkler
Richard Kahan	...	Alan Davis
Tyler Labine	...	John Belushi
Dion Luther	...	Interviewer
Cameron MacDonald	...	Doctor
Shaw Madson	...	Ron Howard
Meredith McGeachie	...	Lila Milford
Maxine Miller	...	Elizabeth Kerr
David Nykl	...	John Byner
Ryan Robbins	...	Street Performer
Kirsten Robek	...	Cindy Williams
Greg Rousseaux	...	Assistant Director
Chris Shields	...	Richard Pryor
Jeff Skinner	...	Jonathan Winters
April Telek	...	Woman in Bungalow 5 at Chateau Marmont
Venus Terzo	...	Isabelle Garcia
Maureen Thomas	...	Female Minister
Greig Thorlacius	...	Drunk
Robert Thurston	...	Spencer the Censor
Sam Vincent	...	Sherman Miles
Jerry Wasserman	...	Frank

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

NBC Studios

Trivia:

In the scene at the club, where an NBC talent exec is there to see Jay Leno but finds Robin Williams instead, a quick shot is shown of someone 'playing' Jay Leno in his younger days. The actor is actually the winner of a "Jay Leno Look-alike" contest run in 2004 on The Tonight Show.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene at the music store of Mindy McConnell's dad, there is a record rack near the front door. In the front right hand corner of the rack is Lionel Richie's 1982 solo debut LP. This album did not come out until late summer/early fall of 1982, the series' last episode aired in May of '82.

Quotes:

Garry Marshall: [forced to fire Conrad Janis and Elizabeht Kerr] What can I do? It's their network...
Elizabeth Kerr: They are such wieners!

Movie Connections:

References "Mork & Mindy: Mork in Wonderland: Part 1 (#2.1)" (1979)

Typical "Going Hollywood" Movie

In the 1920's they called it "going Hollywood" — talented but naïve kid from the sticks gets a big movie deal, becomes an overnight sensation, gets big-headed, blows his money on alcohol (an illegal substance in the U.S. back then) and sex, then either dies young or pulls himself together, gives up the booze and returns to the woman who loved him before he became famous. In 1933 Raoul Walsh directed a film with that title, starring Bing Crosby and Marion Davies, and "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Mork and Mindy'" could almost be considered a remake. It takes the known facts of Robin Williams' early success and presses them into the familiar cliché mold, with cocaine instead of alcohol and John Belushi as a sort of Mephistopheles to Williams' Faust. Best things here are Chris Diamantopoulos' eerily exact reproduction of the early Robin Williams and some bits of felicitous creativity in the writing (especially when Diamantopoulos as Williams encounters a busker doing him doing Williams and gives him $100).