Robin Williams defended Jumanji child stars from overtime
Robin Williams once pulled Jumanji director Joe Johnston and producers aside to stop child stars Bradley Pierce and Kirsten Dunst from working illegal overtime, Pierce has revealed. The late actor insisted the exhausted kids leave set and return another week, Pierce told CBCListen — a protective stand resurfacing near what would have been Williams’s 75th birthday.
Key Takeaways
- Bradley Pierce says Robin Williams blocked illegal overtime for Jumanji’s child cast in 1995.
- Williams told director Joe Johnston and producers to wrap and resume the next week.
- Pierce was 13, struggling to breathe in monkey makeup during an eight-day monsoon shoot.
- The anecdote has resurfaced around what would have been Williams’s 75th birthday, nearly 12 years after his death.
The story sits squarely in Celebrity Breaking News territory: a fresh reminder of how Robin Williams used his clout off-camera, not just his comedy on it.
What did Robin Williams do on the Jumanji set?
According to Pierce, producers asked the children’s parents if the kids could stay for a bit of overtime to finish a difficult sequence. Child performers can only be on set for a limited number of hours, and overtime is not legally permitted.
Pierce said Williams “caught wind of these conversations,” then “pulled the director [Joe Johnston] and producers aside.” His message was blunt: no extra time, send everyone home, and come back next week.
“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 recalled in comments reported by The Independent.
Why were the Jumanji child stars so exhausted?
Pierce, then 13, and Dunst played the Shepherd children in the 1995 family adventure. One sequence trapped them in a fierce monsoon unleashed by the magical board game.
Pierce’s character was transformed into a monkey, requiring extensive costume and makeup. Combined with water on set, he said, “I couldn’t breathe through my nose.” The shoot lasted eight days and was “really draining for everybody,” leaving him “tired.”
Producers still pressed for overtime. Pierce noted that finishing with an extra half hour instead of another full day can save $100,000 or more — industry pressure he said Williams refused to accept at the kids’ expense.
How did Bradley Pierce describe Robin Williams after the row?
“For all the dollars that would have cost, nobody would have stood up the way he did,” Pierce said. “In addition to being warm, generous and kind, he was also very protective.”
Williams played Alan Parrish, a man trapped in the board game for 25 years, in one of his most popular films. The Independent has contacted Johnston for comment. Nearly 12 years after Williams’s death in 2014, Pierce’s account still underscores why co-stars remember him as a fierce ally on set.