Robin Williams plays a reverend who's developed an extensive test for couples about to get married in the Warner Bros comedy film, License to Wed. Mandy Moore and John Krasinski (The Office) star as the couple forced to go through the process in order to get married in Reverend Frank's church.

Taking on the Role of a Reverend: Williams got into the character by using his own experiences of going to church.

“Having been a choirboy, and I'm not Catholic, so that welcomes a certain amount of questions,” joked Williams, “just going back to the old days when I was into going to church and remembering, as a Protestant, which is Catholic Light, once again, the idea of somebody that could really advise and has something offer. I think for that it was just remembering those guys that I grew up with in the Episcopal Church, which is there is no purgatory, just spiritual escrow. That was beginning of that. And then the idea that he's pretty much hands on, as much as you can be without being a priest.”

Coming Across Projects That Fit His Sense of Humor: Williams admits it’s tough to find scripts that accommodate his special brand of humor. “It is hard to find something where you can go off as much as I do in standup, but I think standup allows me that freedom. Where you can really go off and have a good time. But within the character there's enough room to play, and when you have someone like John Krasinski and Mandy [Moore], people who will play opposite you and keep going.”

Having a 10-Year-Old as a Sidekick: Williams’ young assistant in the film is played by Josh Flitter (Nancy Drew). If this hadn’t been a PG-13 film, the very idea of having a young boy as a reverend’s closest companion might have played out a whole different way. “That's why he's a Protestant,” explained Williams. “If you had a Catholic priest with a small boy they're already going, 'What's up?' It's a boy for the weekends. It's been a difficult thing for the Catholic Church to deal with after all these years when they have the Divine Witness Protection program. It's like three card, 'Find a priest, find a pedophile, find a priest. Here we go. Where is he? There he is. Whoa, found him. Move him over to another parish. Okay, find him.' Hence, a lot of parishes don't have Little League programs anymore.

That's why they went with a Protestant right away. I mean, it be something for the Catholic Church to look at, maybe losing the whole celibacy thing. And then saying, it's a difficult thing when you realize that, first of all, you have to give up sex and then say, ‘Okay, we're going to put you in a small box and every week people are going to come and go 'Bless me father, for I have sinned. What have done, my son? Last night I was with two Philippine twins and a Slip n' Slide. Oh, really? Keep going.'’ And then they're going take you from that and put you next to pubescent kids. It's like getting out of Jenny Craig and saying, 'Where are you going work? Haagen Dazs!' In the big picture, that's why he's a Protestant and has been married and has some perspective on sexuality, because it must be very difficult being a priest and having to talk about sex. Kind of like Quasimodo as a chiropractor. I guess it works…”

Putting Couples Through a Marriage Test: Williams’ character comes up with all sorts of crazy things for engaged couples to do in order to prove they’re ready for marriage. If Williams had to devise a test himself, he’d fashion it after a popular reality TV show. “It'd be like Survivor but without a lot of food. I think it'd be the idea of how you really get together to solve problems. You know, living together is a really interesting thing. A lot of couples do it now before marriage and by the time they get married they're going, ‘Hey, we know the drill.' I think the simplest test would be what do you know about him and what do you know about her? Other than position four, what do you like? What do you not like? Even the things you don't like, but you kind of do like. What are the things that drive you nuts?

I remember in Good Will Hunting talking about all the things that drive you crazy, but at the same time you really love about a person. Because when you really hang out with a person for a long enough time you really find out. The great thing about marriage is the idea of really getting to know someone, and really getting to know a woman is a lifelong task. I can't imagine polygamy. To have two or three women pissed at me would be, and if they're all going through their period at the same time… 'You have to sleep sometime you a**hole.'

But the idea of getting to know someone, it really is interesting. And someone who loves you, or me, warts and all - that's a kind of gift.”

Working with Mandy Moore: Williams labels his License to Wed co-star as ‘very sweet and really funny.’ “Mandy isn't making the papers as much because she's not playing bumper cars with her Bentley. She's got all the same chops; she's doing all the same stuff. She's just living the life quietly and happily and seems to be doing well. I don't who she's with today, but I imagine they're happy. And I had a good time working with her because she's funny. Plus, she's also got this…Pam Dawber had it…this kind of wholesome sensuality where a lot of guys come up and say, ‘Did you ever do Mindy?'

She's got a lot going on and I had a great time just being around here and working with her. She and John, they had most of their scenes together, so they have a dynamic that's believable as a young couple in love, having sex, and yet still being denied sex and yet still going, ‘Okay, let's get married,’ and building love, which is kind of cool. I think for me it was fun to watch their scenes because I wasn't in them. I know that's a weird thing to day. We'll talk about that in therapy.”

Page 2:Robin Williams on Improvising and His Upcoming Films