History Trivia / MrsDoubtfire

* AdoredByTheNetwork: As of November 2013, this movie is played on the E! Network at least once a week.
** Most recently as of 2019, Freeform loves to show the movie multiple times a week.

* UrbanLegends: One biography claims that Robin Williams tested out how believable the disguise was by going into a bookstore wearing it - and wasn't recognised at all.

* PlayingAgainstType: '''In-universe example''' - Daniel, the happy-go-lucky life of the party, has to play a strict, crotchety old disciplinarian.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Inverted in that Creator/RobinWilliams improvised so much, Creator/ChrisColumbus said he had a hard time editing the footage they had into something resembling the script.

* TheCastShowoff: RobinWilliams has always been famous for his impersonations - and this is a movie revolving around it.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The film's plot would be completely rendered moot today as caller ID would have outed Daniel as the person calling for all the nannies applying, and people don't usually pick up for unlisted numbers anymore. Justified by a throwaway line from the diner scene which states the movie to take place in the 90's, but were the film made today, ways in which Daniel would need to change his scheme:
** It likely would have required writing in Daniel searching around for still-functioning payphones, calling from different lines at work, borrowing friends and coworkers' cellphones, etc. So the plot would still work, it would just require a bit more footwork on the character's part.
** Or Email, but then the voices thing doesn't work so well.

* CareerResurrection: Before this movie, Creator/PierceBrosnan's career was pretty stagnant, with his only real high profile role being the lead in ''Series/RemingtonSteele''. He was considered for his [[Film/JamesBond most famous role]] as early as the mid 1980s but his Remington Steele contract put a stop to that. Thankfully this was the shot in the arm needed for his career to persist a fair bit before finally landing the role of 007 in 1995.

* DeletedRole: Polly Holliday's character of the Hillard family's next door neighbor Gloria Chaney, was originally scripted as a large supporting character and had a much bigger role in the film. Many scenes were filmed in which Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire gets even with Gloria as Gloria tells Mrs. Doubtfire that she heard rumors that Daniel cheated on Miranda and abused his children. This leads Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire, observing Gloria's passion for gardening, to give Gloria a formula that will help her flowers bloom better, and the secret ingredient in the formula is dog urine. Several scenes show Gloria actually getting dog urine and applying it to her flowers which kills them, and upsets her very much. Due to time constraints all of these scenes were cut out, and as a result, in the final cut of the film, the character of Gloria is only seen once during the opening credits before she calls Miranda to complain about Daniel throwing a birthday party next door, and later right before Daniel/Mrs. Doubtfire, rips the logo off of Stu's Mercedes Benz, you can see a brief glimpse of Gloria doing some gardening. All of Gloria's deleted scenes can be seen in the special features on the film's DVD.
* DeletedScene: A scene was filmed, but deleted and remained unseen until after Robin Williams' death, as the deleted scene was omitted from the deleted scenes on the DVD. After the birthday dinner, Daniel turns up at the house, and Daniel and Miranda have a heated argument about Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire; Daniel tells Miranda that Lydia and Chris found out the truth and that they knew; the argument ends when Lydia angrily says that she hates them both and races up the stairs to her bedroom, and Chris also says that he also hates them and joins Lydia with Natalie upstairs.

* DeletedScene: A scene was filmed, but deleted and remained unseen until after Robin Williams' death, as the deleted scene was omitted from the deleted scenes on the DVD . After the birthday dinner, Daniel turns up at the house and Daniel and Miranda have a heated argument about Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire and Daniel tells Miranda that Lydia and Chris found out the truth and that they knew and the argument ends when Lydia angrily says that she hates them both and races up the stairs to her bedroom and Chris also says that he also hates them and joins Lydia with Natalie upstairs.

** The original author suggested Creator/WarrenBeatty for the role of Daniel because she thought it would be funny to see him (a known womanizer) having to disguise himself as an old lady in a film. Other candidates included Creator/JasonAlexander, Creator/RowanAtkinson, Creator/KevinBacon, Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/JohnCandy, Creator/JimCarrey, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/BryanCranston, Creator/BillyCrystal, Creator/JeffDaniels, Creator/RobertDeNiro, Creator/ChrisFarley, Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/MichaelJFox, Creator/RichardGere, Creator/MelGibson, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/TomHanks, Creator/DavidHasselhoff, Creator/DustinHoffman, Creator/MichaelKeaton, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/WayneKnight, Creator/NathanLane, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/DudleyMoore, Creator/MikeMyers, Creator/BillPaxton, Creator/DennisQuaid, Creator/KurtRussell, Creator/AdamSandler, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Creator/MartinShort and Creator/JohnTravolta.

* ActorAllusion:
** Miranda's boss, who's played by Martin Mull, references a Wellman house. Martin Mull had starred in ''{{Series/Roseanne}}'', where Wellman Plastics was a featured industry.
** Mrs Doubtfire uses a play on the phrase "carpe diem". That was the CatchPhrase of Creator/RobinWilliams' character in ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety''.

* DeletedRole: The next door neighbour Gloria, played by Polly Holiday, had a much larger role. She meets Mrs Doubtfire and gossips about Daniel's bad behaviour - to which he tricks her into watering her flowers with dog urine.

* StillbornFranchise: A sequel was planned and went through several rewrites, Robin Williams never being satisfied with the story. After his death, the project was cancelled completely. Lisa Jakub had expressed interest in doing a sequel, while Mara Wilson had said she'd rather not.

** The original author suggested Creator/WarrenBeatty for the role of Daniel because she thought it would be funny to see him (a known womanizer) having to disguise himself as an old lady in a film.

** Stuart was supposed to be more of a typical {{Jerkass}}--wanting to send the kids OffToBoardingSchool, etc.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The film's plot would be completely rendered moot today as caller ID would have outed Daniel as the person calling for all the nannies applying, and people don't usually pick up for unlisted numbers anymore. Justified by a throwaway line from the diner scene which states the film to take place in the 90's, but were the film to be made today, ways in which Daniel would have to change his scheme:

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The film's plot would be completely rendered moot today as caller ID would have outed Daniel as the person calling for all the nannies applying, and people don't usually pick up for unlisted numbers anymore.

* ThrowItIn:
** Creator/MaraWilson ad-libbed the princess line.
** Daniel attempts this In-Universe while recording a scene where Pudgey the Parrot is forced to smoke, in an attempt to prevent the scene from setting a bad example for children. But besides finding it too preachy, the director points out that the animation is already completed and Daniel cannot adlib during scenes when Pudgey's mouth is not animated to move.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: One biography claims that Robin Williams tested out how believable the disguise was by going into a bookstore wearing it - and wasn't recognised at all.

** Mrs Doubtfire uses a play on the phrase "carpe diem". That was the CatchPhrase of Robin Williams's character in ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety''.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: When the film was first released in the UK, it was rated "12" (no one 12 and under admitted) due to a moment during the dinner scene where Mrs. Doubtfire unleashes a barrage of sexual slang terms at Stu to make him feel uncomfortable. Cue a public outcry from families who wanted to see the film. As a result, an edited "PG" version was released within a few months. The uncut version would not see the light of day in Britain again until 2012.

* {{Corpsing}}: Pierce Brosnan is clearly trying not to lose it at one point during the dinner scene. Quite glaring considering his character is supposed to be annoyed.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Inverted in that Robin Williams improvised so much, Chris Columbus said he had a hard time editing the footage they had into something resembling the script.

* RealLifeRelative: Robin Williams's brother plays the bartender in the pool scene.
* RealitySubtext: Sally Field was going through a divorce during filming.

* ThrowItIn: Creator/MaraWilson ad-libbed the princess line.

* {{Tuckerization}}: The character Aunt Jack was named after Robin Williams's favourite characters in ''The Aunty Jack Show'' (an Australian TV series).

** A sequel was planned and went through several rewrites, Robin Williams never being satisfied with the story. After his death, the project was cancelled completely. Lisa Jakub had expressed interest in doing a sequel, while Mara Wilson had said she'd rather not.
** The original author suggested Warren Beatty for the role of Daniel because she thought it would be funny to see him (a known womanizer) having to disguise himself as an old lady in a film. The role of Stu was written with Tim Allen in mind, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with ''Series/HomeImprovement''.

** The original author suggested Warren Beatty for the role of Daniel because she thought it would be funny to see him (a known womanizer) having to disguise himself as an old lady in a film. The role of Stu was written with Tim Allen in mind, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with ''Series/HomeImprovement''.

* CareerResurrection: Before this movie, Creator/PierceBrosnan's career was pretty stagnant, with his only real high profile role being the lead in ''Series/RemingtonSteele''. He was considred for his [[Franchise.JamesBond most famous role]] as early as the mid 1980s but his Remington Steele contract put a stop to that. Thankfully this was the shot in the arm needed for his career to persist a fair bit before finally landing the role of 007 in 1995.

* DeletedRole: The next door neighbour Gloria, played by Polly Holiday, had a much larger role. She meets Mrs Doubtfire and gossips about Daniel's bad behaviour - to which he tricks her into watering her flowers with dog urine. She only has one scene in the finished film.

** Daniel attempts this In-Universe while recording Pudgey the Parrot in an attempt to prevent the scene where Pudgey is forced to smoke to set a bad example for children...but besides finding it too preachy, the director points out that the animation is already completed and Daniel cannot adlib during scenes when Pudgey's mouth is not animated to move.

* {{Corpsing}}: Brosnan is clearly trying not to lose it at one point during the dinner scene. Quite glaring considering his character is supposed to be annoyed.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The original script had Daniel and Miranda getting remarried, but Williams, Sally Field, and Columbus (all divorcees) felt that they didn't want to give children of divorced parents an unrealistic ending.

* FakeBrit: [[invoked]] Daniel when in his Mrs. Doubtfire status.
** Which is {{Lampshaded}} by not-really Brit Pierce Brosnan (his character is, while Brosnan is Irish, but he moved to London when he was ten) when he first meets Mrs. Doubtfire. He immediately spots that "her" accent is a bit muddled. Mrs. Doubtfire {{Handwave}}s this by claiming to have moved around a lot.

* ThrowItIn: Attempted within the movie, and it doesn't go well.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: As mentioned in ExecutiveMeddling above, original plans had [[spoiler: Daniel and Miranda remarrying]]. In addition the original script had Stu being a more snide character, ready to ship the children off to boarding school.
** A sequel was planned, but then Robin Williams [[ActorExistenceFailure died]].

* [[Bowdlerize]]: When the film was first released in the UK, it was rated "12" (no one 12 and under admitted) due to a moment during the dinner scene where Mrs. Doubtfire unleashes a barrage of sexual slang terms at Stu to make him feel uncomfortable. Cue a public outcry from families who wanted to see the film. As a result, an edited "PG" version was released within a few months. The uncut version would not see the light of day in Britain again until 2012.

** The original author suggested Warren Beatty for the role of Daniel because she thought it would be funny to see him (a known womanizer) having to disguise himself as an old lady in a film. The role of Stu was written with Tim Allen in mind, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with ''HomeImprovement''.