Nathan Lane

"The Birdcage" actor Nathan Lane will always remember co-star Robin Williams for protecting him when he wasn't ready to come out as gay during an interview ...

“I just wasn’t ready to do that,” Lane disclosed. “Now you have to make a public statement about it — I was terrified … We won’t talk about it,’” Lane continued. “I said to Robin beforehand, ‘I’m not prepared. I’m not ready,’” Lane said. [said during a chat](https://www.today.com/video/nathan-lane-on-how-robin-williams-protected-him-on-oprah-166655045709) on the [“Today”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDfwZPGHqs) show Sunday about being open with his homosexuality in public.

Nathan Lane says he wasn't ready to publicly come out of the closet when The Birdcage opened in 1996, and co-star Robin Williams helped him dodge the issue ...

While promoting the film, the duo was invited to appear on Winfrey’s daytime talk show, and Lane says he feared the subject of his sexuality might come up. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television. I just wanted to talk about finally [getting] a big part in a movie, and I didn’t want to make it about my sexuality.”

Nathan Lane called his 'The Birdcage' co-star Robin Williams a 'beautiful, sensitive soul.'

“Now you have to make a public statement about it — I was terrified… I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television. It was while they were on [The Oprah Winfrey Show](https://uproxx.com/tag/oprah-winfrey/) that Lane, who was not publicly out yet, credits Williams for protecting him from questions about his personal life.

Nathan Lane recounts a touching story about how the late Robin Williams protected him from being outed on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996.

[Williams' other co-stars on ](https://screenrant.com/hook-movie-robin-williams-aladdin-genie-dante-basco/) [Hook](https://screenrant.com/hook-movie-robin-williams-aladdin-genie-dante-basco/) and Mrs. The Birdcage is widely considered one of [Robin Williams' best movies](https://screenrant.com/robin-williams-best-movies/) in his illustrious career and an example of the actor's incredible versatility. [Today](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDfwZPGHqs&ab_channel=TODAY) and recounted a touching story about Robin Williams. Lane's lovely story is an exemplification of how Williams' generosity aided him through a particularly stressful time in his life. Nathan Lane recounts a touching story about how Robin Williams protected him from being outed during their press tour for The Birdcage. Williams and Lane starred together in the 1996 remake of the French musical as a gay couple who pretend to be straight in order to meet their son's fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents.

Nathan Lane recalled how "The Birdcage" co-star Robin Williams helped avoid discussing Lane's sexuality during a 1996 "Oprah" interview.

Lane later responded that he was a character actor without “an image to uphold” and therefore was not worried about being typecast. Neill further noted that Williams was simultaneously the most “irresistibly, outrageously, irrepressibly, gigantically funny” co-star he’s worked with. [1996 “Oprah” interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upAy5uC1M9E), Winfrey asked Lane whether he was “afraid of taking that role and being like typecast and people forever saying, ‘Are you? “I just wanted to talk about [how] I finally got a big part in a movie and I didn’t want to make it about my sexuality,” Lane said during the “Today” show. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television, I’m not ready,'” Lane said. Co-star Williams helped Lane avoid questions of his sexuality during the press tour, particularly for an “Oprah” interview.

Robin was just the greatest person ― such a beautiful, sensitive soul," the actor said of his Birdcage co-star, who died in 2014.

This spring, he’s starring alongside Danny Burstein and Zoë Wanamaker in the play [Pictures From Home](https://playbill.com/article/reviews-what-do-critics-think-of-broadways-pictures-from-home), now on Broadway. The film, which also starred Gene Hackman and Calista Flockhart, raked in [a reported $185 million](https://www.mcall.com/2017/10/13/nathan-lane-on-enduring-impact-of-the-birdcage-people-still-talk-to-me-about-it/) at the box office worldwide, while Lane nabbed a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. For his part, Lane finds comfort when viewers tell him that the movie helped them realise they were LGBTQ, or prompted them to embrace a loved one who feared being shunned because of their queer identity. I’m not prepared to discuss that I’m gay on national television. Lane, who is gay, said he’d been open about his sexuality to friends and family long before The Birdcage hit cinemas in 1996. “I don’t think Oprah was trying to out me, but I said to Robin beforehand: ‘I’m not prepared.

Joaquin Phoenix had to avoid looking directly at Nathan Lane while filming "Beau Is Afraid" since he was scared to break character.

“Midsommar” director Aster previously said his next film will be a [four-hour-long “nightmare comedy”](https://www.indiewire.com/2020/06/ari-aster-next-movie-nightmare-comedy-1202235780/) when “Disappointment” was officially announced in February 2021. [directly at my nose](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/10/joaquin-phoenix-left-her-set-scarlett-johansson-orgasm-1234772172/).” [Originally titled “Disappointment Blvd.,”](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/12/ari-aster-a24-beau-is-afraid-joaquin-phoenix-poster-1234791453/) the long-in-the-works feature is slated for an April 21, 2023 release date in theaters from A24. “It might take me a few movies before I wind back around to [horror], but I love horror and I’m sure I’ll be back,” Aster said. While the plot has long been under wraps, one thing we know is that the film is about a paranoid man (Phoenix) who embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in a typically depraved and bold new film from the “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” director. He and I, Joaquin, we really hit it off, although we have very different sensibilities. [Joaquin Phoenix](https://www.indiewire.com/t/joaquin-phoenix/) was scared of [breaking character](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/12/ridley-scott-rewrote-napoleon-joaquin-phoenix-1234794489/) on “ [Beau Is Afraid](https://www.indiewire.com/t/beau-is-afraid/).”