'Night at the Museum' director details Robin Williams' struggles during filming

Director Shawn Levy has spoken out about the changes he saw in Robin Williams during filming for Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Photo / 20th Century Fox

A director for one of Robin Williams' final movies has opened up for the first time about the struggles the actor faced while filming.

In a clip from the documentary Robin's Wish, which hopes to shed light on the comedian's final days, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb director Shawn Levy speaks about the changes he saw in Williams during the 2014 shoot.

"I would say a month into the shoot, it was clear to me, it was clear to all of us on that set, that something was going on with Robin," Levy explains.

"We saw that Robin was struggling in a way that he hadn't before to remember lines and to combine the right words with the performance," he remembers.

"When Robin would call me at 10 at night, at two in the morning, at four in the morning, saying, 'Is it usable? Is any of this usable? Do I suck? What's going on?,' I would reassure him. I said, 'You are still you. I know it. The world knows it. You just need to remember that.'

Director Shawn Levy has spoken out about the changes he saw in Robin Williams during filming for Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Photo / 20th Century Fox

"My faith in him never left, but I saw his morale crumbling," Levy concluded. "I saw a guy who wasn't himself and he thought that was unforgivable."

Williams died by suicide at age 63 in August 2014, four months before Secret of the Tomb was released.

Robin's Wish, from film-maker Tylor Norwood and made in collaboration with Williams' widow, Susan Schneider Williams, will document his fight against the neurogenerative disorder Lewy Body Dementia.

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