One of the greatest roles that Robin Williams hoped – but never got the opportunity – to play is returning in a new version of First Person Plural: My Life as a PluralCameron West’s memoir co-written with his wife, Ricki West, hits shelves on May 26. The original 1999 book provided an intimate window into West’s experience living with dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, in which dozens of alterations he experienced developed as a result of severe childhood trauma.
West, now a Ph.D. in Psychology, struck a chord around the world by telling his story without hesitation. gold The Oprah Winfrey Showarrived instant New York Times Bestseller status – and the screen rights were sold to Disney in a seven-figure deal with Williams attached to star and Eric Roth set to write an adaptation.
This narrative couldn’t have been more authentic: Williams was a year away from winning an Oscar Goodwill fishingwhile Roth was recently nominated for it The insider Screenplay (he had also won an Oscar a few years earlier for writing Forrest Gump). Roth had dinner with West in preparation, grabbing a table upstairs at Mr. Chow’s restaurant in Beverly Hills, but they didn’t delve into the details of the script. “I don’t remember him asking me any particular questions,” West says now. “He was just using the book.”
But Williams had endless questions. West was invited to the star’s home to discuss the project, and a bond was quickly formed. “He’s a lot more like you than you think,” West recalls Williams’ wife at the time, producer Marsha Garces, telling him. “He has a lot of wounds on his mind.”
Williams sat so close to West that they were touching. The actor intended to understand the man he was about to face. “He wanted to meet my characters,” West says. He did so, and then “Williams asked me to rub his arms,” West says. “You can see the hair on my arms sticking out,” he said.
Williams had two dogs at the time and was curious to see how they would react. “Dogs are incredibly perceptive, and when they show changes, they know — so they know it’s not you. They react to different changes very differently,” West says. “Anyone who saw that in the room would say, ‘Oh my God,’ and that was Robin. He said, ‘Oh my God, look what my dog just did.’”
The pair kept in touch until a few years before Williams’ death in 2014. A deep, almost unspoken understanding developed between them and they continued to explore in advance of the supposed film. “We got as close as we could that way because this was someone who had endless amounts of fame and endless amounts of money,” West explains.
Meanwhile, Roth was talking about his script Vanity galleryThe 2000 Academy Awards, per A New York Party Report, while Winfrey promoted the upcoming film on her show. But due to leadership changes at Disney, the project lost its champions and stalled momentum, though a source familiar with the deal at the time says Williams’ engagement was unspecified “with a turnaround clause that was likely built into his Disney production deal.” “It looked like it was going to be something really big, and they paid a lot of money for it. It was a heartbreak for us,” West says. He and Ricky still have a draft of Ruth’s screenplay stashed in their house. The rights remain with Disney.
In popular culture, DID remains widely misunderstood and rarely depicted even though a recent study found that it affects tens of millions of people worldwide. First person plural It astonished readers for this very reason, presenting a picture far more complex than the most famous ones up to that point, such as the one led by Sally Field. Sybil. Latest projects, e.g United States Tara and Moon Knighttook into account advances in understanding the disorder—as in the new edition of First person pluralwhich includes more of West’s private life.
In this way, it persists. “I had four more hospitalizations, and more changes occurred,” West says of the period following the book’s initial publication. His relationship with Ricky remains the anchor: “It’s a love story. We were faced with a serious challenge that we didn’t know we could overcome.” As the book’s re-release approaches, he hopes the screen project will be revived in Williams’ memory, now on a scale befitting a series: “There’s a lot to tell. There’s a whole lifetime now.”
This story appeared in the May 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
