Sally Field has explained where one of her most famous lines came from, and the answer may be surprising. The line comes from Mrs. Doubtfire, the 1993 comedy, and appears when her character Miranda discovers the true identity of the title character.
That character turns out to be Daniel, Miranda’s estranged husband, played by Robin Williams. He wants more time with their children, played by Mara Wilson, Matthew Lawrence and Lisa Jakub. Miranda responds by repeating “the whole time” with growing frantic energy.
Sally Field revealed her iconic ‘The whole time?’ line in Mrs. Doubtfire was improvised
Field made the disclosure to The Hollywood Reporter in a story published Thursday. “That was me improvising,” she said. “That whole sequence, we shot it at the end of the film. It was several days in that restaurant. But that moment, that is an ad-lib because the line was [supposed to be] very calm. ‘The whole time’ was an improvisation.”
She said Williams deserves part of the credit. Her costar died in 2014 at 63.
“Robin and I had created a relationship, a world where we improvised a lot,” Field said. “It allowed Mrs. Doubtfire to come alive because it was such a weird circumstance.”
Director Chris Columbus gave the pair that latitude, and Field said they used it to keep Miranda out of villain territory. “The script wasn’t what was on the page because of what Robin and I were allowed to do by [director] Chris Columbus. We did not want — and Robin felt this strongly, too — the mother to be the villain,” she said. “We both felt that there were no villains in this divorce. Marriages don’t always last. Sometimes there are no bad guys. It’s time to move on. Without getting in the way of the comedy, it was a delicate dance to allow her to not be mean.”
Field, whose credits also include Smokey and the Bandit, Steel Magnolias, Forrest Gump and Lincoln, said nobody involved expected the comedy to become as successful as it did.
It ranked among the highest-grossing releases of its year and still turns up in theaters. “I think they thought it would be successful. Robin was at the height of just … brilliance,” she said. “But I don’t think anyone saw it being as huge as it was.”
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