7 Comedians Who Have Successfully Gone Dark

3) Robin Williams – One Hour Photo (2002)

By the time One Hour Photo arrived, Robin Williams was an award-winning legend. The comedian, renowned for his creative genius and stream-of-consciousness style, had taken the world of humour by storm – in stand-up, on television, and in film – and had also delved into dramatic roles on occasion, such as Dead Poets Society, Awakenings and The Fisher King. He already won an Academy Award for his serious turn in Good Will Hunting, but it was One Hour Photo that really showed us the darker side of the comedy icon.

In the lead role of Seymour Parrish, Robin Williams delivers a portrayal of a man damaged by childhood abuse. He is a lonely, isolated man, who works in a developing shop as a photo technician, becoming obsessed with his most regular customers – the Yorkin family. Imagining himself as a part of their lives, Seymour routinely makes additional prints of the Yorkin family photographs so that he can display them in his bleak home. When his excessive printing is discovered, he is dismissed from his job and also learns that Will Yorkin (Michael Vartan) is a philanderer.

Incensed by what he perceives to be Will Yorkin’s arrogance and indifference to the fortunate life he leads, Seymour anonymously informs Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) of her husband’s infidelity, and follows Will to one of his motel room liaisons with his mistress (Erin Daniels). There, he intimidates the couple with a knife and forces them to pose in highly sexualized positions while he takes photographs. When apprehended, it transpires that Seymour was never taking pictures of the couple at all, and was simple re-enacting the type of terrible experiences he lived through at the hands of his own father.

It is the fact that this disturbing character is being played by a beloved giant of comedy that makes One Hour Photo such a shocking endeavour – and the fact that he plays Seymour so perfectly adds to the unsettled sensation the audience feels while watching the tale unfold. Most unpleasant of all is that, as Seymour arrives at the motel Will Yorkin is using, we realize that we aren’t entirely sure what Seymour will do, or how far he will go.