Robin Williams' ‘Popeye' movie ‘made while the set was snowed in cocaine'

Yahoo

27-05-2025

Robin Williams' 'Popeye' film was made while the set was snowed in cocaine. The troubled comic, who took his life in August 2014 aged 63 after well-documented battles with drugs, alcohol and depression, starred as the spinach-gobbling sailor in the 1980 Robert Altman movie – and former movie boss Barry Diller has now spoken about the extent of substance abuse that went on behind the scenes. The 82-year-old media mogul, who served as CEO of Paramount Pictures from 1974 to 1984, made the comments during an on-stage conversation with journalist Anderson Cooper at the 92nd Street Y in New York while promoting his new autobiography 'Who Knew', saying there was so much cocaine on the set of 'Popeye' 'you couldn't escape it'. Barry added during the production of the movie, which also starred Shelley Duvall and was shot in Malta, the drug was so prevalent it was being transported alongside reels of film. He said: 'Film cans would be sent back to LA daily for processing the film. 'And we found out the film cans were actually being used to ship cocaine back and forth to the set. Everyone was stoned.' Diller added the influence of the drug may be apparent in the final cut of the film, which he described as playing like a vinyl record at an unnaturally fast speed. 'Think of… record speeds,' he said. 'If 33rpm is the standard speed for playing an LP on a record player, this is a movie that runs at 78 rpm.' The film's orchestrator, Van Dyke Parks, 81, previously recounted similar experiences during the production. In an interview with The Telegraph, he said: 'I was the hero of the regiment for opening up a walkie-talkie to change the battery and finding a bag of cocaine. 'I don't remember how much there was or to whom I gave it. But I remember that I recoiled, because I knew that it would be a component in the way people behaved, and the difficulties of the production right up to the top.' Van Dyke also recalled famed film producer Robert Evans, who was behind 'The Godfather' and 'Chinatown', narrowly avoided arrest when his cocaine-filled luggage went missing during the shoot. Robert was later arrested on unrelated cocaine trafficking charges while 'Popeye' was in post-production. Even though the charge was eventually cleared, Robert told an interviewer in 1994: 'Bob 'Cocaine' Evans is how I'll be known to my grave.' Robin Williams was very open about his struggles with cocaine addiction during the time 'Popeye' was shot.