Most stars hire armies of publicists to clean up their images.
Robin Williams is on a one-man crusade to sully his.
After a string of such feel-gooey movies as
What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams, Jakob the Liar and Bicentennial Man,
Williams seems hell-bent on swearing off the schmaltz.
First came his psycho clown in Death to Smoochy, which didn't take.
Then his buttoned-up killer in Insomnia, which did.
His latest touch-of-evil turn can be found in One Hour Photo (opened Aug. 21).
The indie psychological thriller (written and directed by music-video vet Mark Romanek)
stars Williams as Sy Parrish -- a lonely and disturbed film processor obsessed with
an idyllic family whose photos he develops. On the eve of the movie's release,
and in the midst of his return to stand-up comedy after a 16-year hiatus,
Williams riffed about his saintly image, wrestling with his past demons,
and how he got into the mind of a lunatic.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY One Hour Photo is the third film in what some are calling
your dark trilogy, after Death to Smoochy and Insomnia.
Does it bother you that they're being lumped together?

ROBIN WILLIAMS I guess if you went by color coding, these are dark.
They're not happy, light films. Smoochy's just nasty.
Insomnia's more of a classic murder mystery -- a thinking movie.
I found myself being very moved at the end by Pacino's performance.
And my wife was like, Shut up, you killed him!

EW But there seems to be this sense that you're atoning for sentimental films like Patch Adams...

RW I know. Patch got the s--- kicked out of it.
God, all those things about how it's saccharine crap.
Listen, Patch, for many people, was very powerful.
For a lot of critics, it was the Antichrist. But is this a response to that?
No, this is just an idea of finding characters that I haven't been offered before.
To play the full range of human behavior, rather than being locked off and being the kind and wonderful man.

EW Jerry Lewis once said The Nutty Professor was him acting,
but his character in The King of Comedy was the real him.
Is there anything to that? Do you have a dark side?

RW Oh, f--- yeah, who doesn't? I mean, that's why I gave up drinking and drugs.
Because the nasty s---, you couldn't contain it.
You get so raw that you're snapping at everybody. Everybody's got it.
It just depends how you control it, where you release it, what do you do with it,
and when you need it.

EW How much does doing stand-up help to get it out?

RW That's the ultimate catharsis. Stand-up is the place where you can do things
that you could never do in public. I couldn't go out on the street right now
and talk for five minutes about eating p----y without people going Officer!

EW But if they're paying 20 bucks with a two-drink minimum...

RW Then they want to hear the p----y thing. Once you step on stage,
you're licensed to do that. It's an understood relationship. You walk on stage,
it's your job. Then it's a question of what can you get away with

EW Well, how far can you go right now because of 9/11?

RW You can start off talking about the idea of 72 virgins.
There was an article in the New York Times about how the actual translation
isn't 72 virgins, but 72 clear, crystal raisins --
which must be pretty rough if you go to the gates of heaven going
Where are my bee-atches? And they hand you a bowl of grapes.
For three months the topic was a no-fly zone.
Now how far you push it depends on how brave you feel
and if the audience is going with you.

EW How did you get into the head of a guy like Sy in One Hour Photo?

RW There's a lot of videotape on disturbed people. Just to get a tone, you know?
The rest is just extrapolation of your own neuroses and insecurities.
When you look at a videotape of Dahmer...

EW You looked at videotape of Jeffrey Dahmer?

RW Oh yeah, there's great stuff.

EW You just pop it into the VCR in your living room?

RW Well, not with the kids around. Kids, sit down. Watch this guy.
He's kind of funny! And there's a book out there that's basically a study of psychosis
and different psychological syndromes.

EW How do you shake it at the end of the day?

RW You just have to. You can't take stuff like that home.
I shook it after the take. I'd start f---ing around again with the crew.
Just blowing off steam. Especially at the end where you're getting into the incest s---.
And you've got a knife and two naked people and you're threatening to cut off
someone's b---s and stuff 'em up his a--. Okay, lunch, everybody!

EW You mentioned that you tapped into your own neuroses and insecurities.
What are we talking about here?

RW Well, I was an only child. There was no abuse or anything,
but there was loneliness. I mean, I have a very happy life.
But have I had a very lonely life at times? Yes.

EW So you're a clown crying on the inside?

RW God, no!

EW Is it hard trying to disappear in a character like this when you're so well-known off screen?

RW Well, it's easier now. Maybe because the big star thing has been there so long
that you can finally get rid of it. For me, my career has been like a bungee jump
-- it's been up and down and all over the  place.
 That's what was so great about premiering [One Hour Photo] at Sundance.
People came up and said, After 15 minutes I forgot it was you.
I was like, F---in' A!

EW Did winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Good Will Hunting free you up to take more chances?

RW Nah, that's just one of the perks. It's a moment that had a half-life of about six months.
The first day people were like, Hey, congratulations!
A month later it was Didn't you...?
And six months later people were calling me Mork again.

EW Were you surprised that Smoochy flopped?

RW I think it's hysterical. But it was a hard sell.
But it didn't bother me because I was on the road [doing stand-up],
and I wasn't questioning Well, am I funny? It was a strange, nasty movie.
It's one of those things where a handful of people come up and say
[he slips into a creepy stalker voice], F---in' 'Smoochy' rocked, man! I've got no pants on!

EW How has your stand-up act changed since when
you were first getting started in San Francisco in the '70s?

RW Well, it's just much more comfortable for me.
It's like the acting thing where all of a sudden you know you got the gig,
so now let's see what you can do with it. Some of the reviews are like,
He seems less energetic. Well, yeah, I'm 51, I don't need to run around...

EW And no drugs too...

RW That helps! But even then I didn't do them on stage. It was always afterward.

EW What kind of drugs are we talking about?

RW It was usually a nice combination of vodka and cocaine.
It was more just to keep the energy up.

EW You once said Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you're making too much money...

RW Oh, f--- yeah.

EW When did you realize it?

RW When I was about to have a kid. Six months before Zachary was born I stopped
-- 20 years ago. It was a quick thing. It  wasn't like I had to go to a group,
I just went F--- this! and quit. There were times when you'd wake up
and your heart was like a Porsche in neutral. And you're saying
I'm gonna die, I'm never gonna do this again! And the next day, you're like,
F--- that, I was full of s---!

EW You seem to be on almost all the time. Do you ever shut it off?

RW Once in a while. Yeah, just veg in front of the TV and watch the World Cup.

EW You live in San Francisco. Why not Hollywood?

RW I chose to live here after Mork & Mindy tanked and
when parking-lot attendants started knowing the box office of your movies.
Too bad about last weekend. Your box office dropped 42 percent.
Can I have my keys? Up here, they don't give a s---.
And it's a beautiful place where I can get on a bike and go over the bridge for 40 miles.
It's as close to Europe as you can get without having unusual French people.
And you can just get on a plane and go down [to L.A.] when you have to
and look at the carnival, see the rides, and get off.

EW How do your costars deal with your improvising?

RW Most of 'em are up for it. I'm not going to f--- with someone.
You don't want to go off and leave someone hanging.

EW Which actors were most receptive to your freestyling?

RW Ed Norton in Smoochy was insane. And Nathan [Lane in The Birdcage].
Pacino could riff like crazy if he wanted to.

EW Was anyone like, Just say the goddamn line!

RW No, I've never run into that. Some directors -- who shall remain nameless
-- have said that because I think they werre scared.

EW Which of your films do you wish you could take off your resume?

RW God... [long pause] my first film, Can I Do It Till I Need Glasses?
It was a series of dirty jokes. They cut me out of it and when Mork hit,
they put me back in the movie and released it with a big picture of me in my suspenders
-- In his first film! The good news is, itt was false advertising and
the judge threw it out of court and it's gone.
You can find it, but you'll do time.

EW What do you think is your most underappreciated movie?

RW The World According to Garp. It kind of came and went.
It's a weird movie. If you look sometimes they'll have it in the video store
under Comedy. Have you seen the movie!? I like The Secret Agent
[a little-seen 1996 adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel about
19th-century British anarchists]. It's Ted Kaczynski's favorite book.
You want that guy liking you. Dear Mr. Williams,
as I sit here in my cell without access to tools...
That was the first time I got to play a really hideous character.

EW I heard that you directed an episode of Mork & Mindy.
Any interest in directing again?

RW I did direct the show once, but that was just to get the [Directors Guild] card.
I knew I wasn't very good at it. People ask me if I want to direct now.
Can you imagine? Everybody, let's improvise! It would be the longest shoot ever.
Maybe when I get to the ripe old age of 80.

EW You just turned 50 last year -- how did that go?

RW Great. I already had my dark moments of the soul when I was 30.
Right now is a wonderful time. I have a sweet gig.