Rami Malek is sharing his experience filming alongside Robin Williams. The two were working together on "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," which was Williams' final movie before he died, when Malek noticed his co-star was growing agitated. Speaking during an appearance on Wednesday's "The Tonight Show," the actor opened up about the emotional moment.
"We're shooting at the British Museum at night and we have the place all to ourselves," Malek told Jimmy Fallon, People reported. "And Robin - you could tell something was happening with him. He would go on these riffs every once in a while and light up the world and you'd be like, 'Oh my God. Who are you?' And then dip back down into this other place."
"The Little Things" star explained that Williams could "see us all on our phones and devices" and began questioning why people no longer interacted face-to-face.
"And so I see him veer off and he walks off alone, and he's just kind of staring at this massive rock in the British Museum. And I'm like, 'Oh, man. What's going on with him? Is he all right?'" Malek continued.
He soon realized that Williams was frustrated with how technology had absorbed people to such an extent that they could no longer appreciate the present.
"I walk up to kind of say, 'Is everything okay?' And he looks at me, just kind of slightly over the shoulder, and he goes, 'How often do you get to be alone with the Rosetta Stone?'" Malek explained.
Robins passed away in August 2014 at age 63. At the time of his death by suicide, reports indicated that Williams had suffered from depression but an autopsy later revealed that the Oscar-winning comedian had suffered from Lewy body dementia. Filmmaker Shawn Levy, who was directing Williams in "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," recalled how, towards the end of his life, the "Patch Adams" star was having difficulty in his job and was concerned about what it meant for him as an actor.
"Robin was struggling in a way that he hadn’t before to remember lines and to combine the right words with the performance," Levy said in the documentary, "Robin’s Wish," according to Vanity Fair. "Robin would call me — at ten at night, at two in the morning, at four in the morning — saying, 'Is it usable? Is any of it usable? Do I suck? What’s going on?' I would reassure him."
Williams' passing sparked speculation that he had relapsed into old addictions, but his widow, Susan Schneider, recently laid the rumors to rest in an interview with The Guardian.
"Robin had been clean and sober for six years when he passed," she said. "It infuriated me when the media said he'd been drinking, because I know there are recovering addicts out there who looked up to him, people dealing with depression who looked up to him, and they deserve to know the truth."
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