Nathan Lane Recalls Working with ‘Kind and Brilliant’ Robin Williams on “The Birdcage”

Meredith WilshereSat, April 25, 2026 at 4:59 PM UTC

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Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in The BirdcageCredit: Frank Trapper/Corbis/Getty -

Nathan Lane loved working with Robin Williams in The Birdcage

The 1996 comedy starred Lane, Williams, Gene Hackman and Calista Flockhart

Williams was originally slated to play Lane's role with Steve Martin in the role that ultimately went to Williams

Nathan Lane loved working with Robin Williams on The Birdcage.

Lane, 70, appeared on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday, April to talk about how supportive Williams was of his casting in The Birdcage.

He tells Stern that Steve Martin was originally cast in Robin Williams’ role, and Williams was supposed to play his role in the movie.

“It was supposed to be Steve Martin and Robin. Robin was gonna play the part I played. Steve had another commitment, and Robin thought because he had played Mrs. Doubtfire, he should play the more subdued role,” Lane reveals.

Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in The BirdcageCredit: United Artists/Getty

Lane shares, “that’s why the part opened up.”

The movie, directed by Mike Nichols from a script by Elaine May, starred Robin Williams as a drag club owner, Armand, and Lane as Albert, his partner who performs in the shows. Their son Val (Dan Futterman) falls in love with Barbara (Calista Flockhart), whose parents are the conservative Senator Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman) and his wife Louise (Dianne Wiest).

When Stern asks Lane if he was upset that he wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award, Lane shares, “I'm very touched that you say that it was an enormous break for me, and it was certainly the biggest role I'd ever played in a film by that point.”

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Stern then asks about whether or not it was hard for Williams to watch Lane in the role and delivery the funny over-the-top lines.

Lane says, “No, because he was kind. He was brilliant, most generous soul. We did have a dinner after it was all over, and he did say to me, there were times when he watched and he thought, you know, ‘Did I make the right decision?’ Because, you know, I got to do a lot of fun things, but no one could have been more supportive and loving,” Lane shares.

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Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in The BirdcageCredit: Frank Trapper/Corbis/Getty

At the time the movie came out in 1996, Lane hadn’t done the big roles he came to be known for, while Williams starred in multiple comedies, making him a household name.

“He was an enormous movie star. He could have easily have said, ‘You got to get Billy Crystal. You got to get somebody an equivalent movie star to play opposite me,’ and he saw my screen test and said, ‘Absolutely.’ And he believed in Mike Nichols’ opinion that I was right for this. And so he couldn't have been more supportive. You know, he loved that if he improvised, that I could go with him where he wanted to go. He was the greatest.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”