99Mrs. Doutbtfire (1993)
Screenplay by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, Based on Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine
Mrs. Doubtfire was Randi Mayem Singer’s first produced screenplay. “I was drawn to the idea of a divorced couple learning to put their differences aside in the interests of co-parenting. It’s an emotional, universal theme,” she said. Screenwriter Leslie Dixon had previous credits on the comedies Outrageous Fortune and Overboard. The source material was a 1986 children’s book written by Anne Fine. Fine said she named her nanny character for an Edinburgh shop owner whom she saw when she was a young mother pushing her child in a stroller. But the name Doubtfire soon became synonymous with a blockbuster title in Robin Williams’ prolific career. As in Tootsie, the man in drag is a struggling actor, except this time he’s posing as a nanny to spend more time with his kids than court-ordered visitation allows. Released at Thanksgiving, Mrs. Doubtfire rocketed to the top of the box office, posting the second-biggest opening of 1993, trailing only Jurassic Park.