Robin Williams stood up for his “Jumanji” castmates, says former child actor Bradley Pierce.
Pierce, who played Peter Shepherd in the blockbuster 1995 fantasy-adventure film, caught up with CBCListen ahead of its 25th anniversary. Pierce, now 38, told a story of how Williams stood up for him and co-star Kirsten Dunst.
He spoke of a “draining” day on set shooting the scene where a monsoon sweeps away the house: “I couldn’t breathe through my nose.”
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“Children can only be on set for a number of hours,” Pierce explained. “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-plus to do that extra half hour rather than a whole day,” he elaborated.
Fortunately, the late Williams stood up for Pierce and put his foot down.
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“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.’ For all the dollars that would have cost, nobody would have stood up the way he did,” said Pierce.
“In addition to being warm, generous, and kind, he was also very protective,” he reflected fondly.
The original “Jumanji” film went on to quadruple its budget at the box office.
