Christopher Reeve's Superman performance prompted Robin Williams to play Popeye

In the book, Itzkoff - who had access to Williams and his family for interviews - explains that Williams feared "his unique attributes would get lost in the trappings of a familiar cartoon character". He was concerned enough to hand the script over to his longtime friend and writer Bennett Tramer, who said, "Unless you sound like Popeye is enough to sell a movie, there's no story here."

It's hard to think that delivering Robin Williams lines isn't a selling point, but it was it was early in his career, and Williams didn't want to turning down a director like Altman for his first major film. He was also encouraged to take on the role by his friend Christopher Reeve, who had just come off his success in the film adaptation of "Superman." That one had been a big risk. It was a very expensive production for its time, with a budget of $55 million, but it resulted in three Oscar nominations and rave reviews from audiences.

Williams ended up taking on 'Popeye', hoping he would have the same success.