Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus has confirmed that an R-rated cut of the cult 1993 comedy exists — despite the official film being rated a safe PG-13. 

Over the weekend, a tweet went viral that claimed that during the filming of Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams improvised so much that there were PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 cuts of the film. Columbus since confirmed this rumour in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. 

The director explained that Williams requested to let him play with the material after delivering a few scripted takes. The late actor would subsequently deliver 15 to 22 takes with his own improvised lines.

“The reality is that there was a deal between Robin and myself, which was, he’ll do one or two, three scripted takes. And then he would say, ‘Then let me play.’ And we would basically go on anywhere between 15 to 22 takes, I think 22 being the most I remember,” Columbus shared.

“He would sometimes go into territory that wouldn’t be appropriate for a PG-13 movie, but certainly appropriate and hilariously funny for an R-rated film.”

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Columbus doubts that an R-rated version of the film will ever see the light of day, but he’s contemplated doing a documentary about the making of the film.

“I would be open to maybe doing a documentary about the making of the film, and enabling people to see certain scenes re-edited in an R-rated version,” Columbus said. “I think that would be the best approach. I’m very proud of this film.”

Columbus mused that the hypothetical documentary could be comprised of interviews with Columbus, editor Raja Gosnell and producer Marsha Garces Williams, “I’m in a good place with Mrs. Doubtfire, so there’s really no reason to do the definitive cut. The definitive cut of Mrs. Doubtfire is out in the world right now.”

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