Robin Williams has been praised for standing up for his child co-stars on the set of the 1995 film Jumanji, 12 years after his death. Bradley Pierce, who played one of the children alongside Kirsten Dunst, recalled how Williams intervened when producers allegedly tried to push the young actors into working overtime.
Williams Refused Overtime for Child Stars
Pierce, who was 13 at the time, told CBCListen that filming a monsoon scene was draining. “I couldn't breathe through my nose,” he said, adding that the eight-day shoot “was really draining for everybody” and left him “tired.”
He alleged that producers approached the parents of the child stars to ask for overtime, saying, “Children can only be on set for a number of hours. The producers had approached our parents and said, ‘Is there any way we can do a bit of overtime to get it done?’ That’s not uncommon at all in the industry because it literally saves $100,000 (£73,000) plus to do that extra half hour rather than a whole day.”
Williams Stepped In
Williams “caught wind of these conversations” and “pulled the director [Joe Johnston] and producers aside” to shut down the idea. Pierce recalled: “He said, ‘No, we are not doing any extra time. You’re going to let everybody out now and we’re going to come back next week.’”
Pierce added: “For all the dollars that would have cost, nobody would have stood up the way he did. In addition to being warm, generous and kind, he was also very protective.”
The Mirror has contacted Joe Johnston's rep for comment.
