An unreleased excerpt from an interview conducted with Mila Kunis in the summer of 2012, in New York City, the evening of her first day of shooting "The Angriest Man in Brooklyn" with Robin Williams.
Esquire: Had you worked with Robin Williams?
Mila Kunis: No, but I can tell you a story.
I reminded Robin of it today. I was 15, 16 maybe, and Kurtwood Smith knew him—Kurtwood Smith was on That '70s Show—we were shooting at CBS and Robin was shooting a show at the time that no longer's on the air--it was some doctor show—and he played a man with elephantiasis. And Kurt said, "Oh, I'm gonna go say hi to Robin." And I was like, Oh my god, like there's Robin Williams.
We were Stage 2 and this doctor show, or whatever it was, was Stage 3. And I said, "Kurt, can I come with you?" And he's said, "Oh my God, of course."
And so many times you meet people they don't impact you. You meet them and they're gracious and they're nice, and then there are sometimes when you meet somebody and they say one thing and for the rest of your life you carry that one thing and they don't even know that they impacted your life. So here's Robin Williams fully decked out in elephantiasis makeup, like he was the Elephant Man, and we were talking and I'm being super quiet, and he just kind of turns to me and he said, "What's your name?"
And I said, "I'm Mila."
And he said, "Yeah? You're on '70s?" And then he said, "Remember this moment. Remember this because things like this don't happen very often. Remember this time."
Having somebody of Robin Williams' stature tell me to just acknowledge something meant so much. He didn't mentor me. He just said, "Step back and appreciate this. You're having an amazing time." I was so nervous. And he said, "Relax. And don't forget to enjoy yourself because things like this don't happen to everyone."
ESQ: I think that powerful people lose sight of the fact that they can be so generous in such small ways.
MK: Completely.But he wasn't even trying to be.All he did was say, "Enjoy yourself and don't forget this." Like: "Just take a breath and acknowledge that you have an amazing opportunity." For no reason. It wasn't like I asked him anything. And I told him this today, and he said, "It stands true. Today, right now, at this very moment, step back and appreciate it." And I went, "Okay."
More on Robin Williams from the pages of Esquire:
Michael Eisner, 2009
You sit with Robin Williams back when he was Mork, and over the course of the conversation you realize, This man is wired differently than I am. When you see raw talent, you realize that everybody doesn't have it.
The quest to find people who do have it is really what my life is about.
Francis Ford Coppola, 2009
People feel the worst film I made was Jack. But to this day, when I get checks from old movies I've made, Jack is one of the biggest ones. No one knows that. If people hate the movie, they hate the movie. I just wanted to work with Robin Williams.
Christopher Reeve, 2003
"My friendship with Robin Williams is one of the real joys of my life. Robin is a person who gives to people 24 hours a day. The gift of joy, the gift of laughter. Just to be in a room with Robin Williams is a privilege. He's a gift to the world."
