Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus denies that there's an NC-17 cut of the Robin Williams comedy, but has simultaneously confirmed that there are plenty of R-rated deleted scenes. Better yet, for fans who've been calling for Columbus to release the NC-17 or R-rated cut of Mrs. Doubtfire, the director is open to releasing the footage, perhaps as part of a documentary about the making of the movie.

For years, there have been rumors of an NC-17 cut of Mrs. Doubtfire. In 2016, former child star Mara Wilson, who played Williams' daughter in the movie, said that an R-rated cut did exist. The rumors then resurfaced this week and went viral with thousands of fans demanding the NC-17 cut of Mrs. Doubtfire. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Columbus himself confirmed that Williams got pretty raunchy while improvising on set, but it wasn't quite dirty enough to actually warrant an NC-17 rating.

"The reality is that there was a deal between Robin and myself, which was, he'll do one or two, three scripted takes. And then he would say, 'Then let me play.' And we would basically go on anywhere between 15 to 22 takes, I think 22 being the most I remember. He would sometimes go into territory that wouldn't be appropriate for a PG-13 movie, but certainly appropriate and hilariously funny for an R-rated film. I only [previously] used the phrase NC-17 as a joke. There could be no NC-17 version of the movie."

So, should fans bother with a social media campaign to #ReleaseTheColumbusCut? For his part, Chris Columbus is teasing that he's open to letting the fans see the R-rated footage, recalling just how funny Williams could be when going off on these vulgar tangents in character. An all-out re-release of Mrs. Doubtfire with an R-rating isn't very likely, but Columbus feels that a making-of documentary would provide the perfect avenue to release some of the footage re-edited into certain scenes.

"I would be open to maybe doing a documentary about the making of the film, and enabling people to see certain scenes re-edited in an R-rated version. The problem is, I don't recall most of it. I only know what's in the movie at this point because it's been a long time. But I do remember it was outrageously funny material."

Regardless of how vulgar Robin Williams might be in some of these unseen cut scenes, fans of the beloved actor would be stoked to see new footage of Robin doing what he did best. As it was, Mrs. Doubtfire was a big hit at the box office as the second-highest grossing movie of 1993. It also earned Williams the Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award win for Best Makeup as well.

There's clearly enough fan interest in seeing the Mrs. Doubtfire R-rated cut that it's not outside the realm of possibility, especially if Columbus gets the behind-the-scenes documentary about the movie that he wants to see happen. For now, the original movie can be streamed on HBO Max. This news comes to us from Entertainment Weekly.