Matthew Lawrence says Sally Field became ‘another mother’ to him while filming “Mrs. Doubtfire”
Matthew Lawrence says Sally Field became ‘another mother’ to him while filming “Mrs. Doubtfire”
Jami GanzSun, October 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Matthew Lawrence; Sally FieldCredit: Arturo Holmes/Getty; Charles Sykes/Bravo via GettyLawrence has only fond memories of working with Field, Pierce Brosnan, and the late Robin Williams.Key points -
Matthew Lawrence recalls Sally Field becoming “another mother” to him on the set of Mrs. Doubtfire.
“I don’t know how anybody could have anything bad to say about the lady,” Lawrence tells Entertainment Weekly of the Oscar winner.
Lawrence’s new graphic novel, which he cowrote with his brothers Joey and Andrew, pays tribute to his on-screen parents, played by Field and Robin Williams.
Matthew Lawrence has thought of his Mrs. Doubtfirecostar Sally Field as a surrogate mother the whole time.
The two starred alongside each other in the beloved 1993 dramedy, which starred Robin Williams as Daniel, a father who masquerades as the titular elderly nanny, in an attempt to prove his maturity to estranged wife Miranda (Field) and secure more time with their three kids (played by Lawrence, Lisa Jakub, and Mara Wilson).
In a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Lawrence — who knows something about working with family, as he’s long collaborated with his brothers Joey and Andrew — had only glowing reviews of the adults who starred in the film. That includes Pierce Brosnan, who played Miranda’s beau, Stu.
“We really became a family unit on that set,” Lawrence shared, while promoting the fraternal trio’s new graphic novel, The Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency, which includes a tribute to Field and Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire.
(L-R) Matthew Lawrence, Lisa Jakub, Robin Williams, Mara Wilson, and Sally Field in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’Credit: Phil Bray/20th Century Fox
That makes sense, though, given that filming spanned “somewhere between six to eight months” of shooting — nearly a month of which was reserved for the famed restaurant scene. (Yes, the WHOLE time.) For that, he recalled that the cast would “sit down at the table and, you know ... just hang out as if it was some kind of, you know, family.”
“We had a month of rehearsal even before that where we were just getting to know each other and, you know, going through scene work,” recalled the Boy Meets World alum. “So [Field] kind of really became another mother figure, for sure.”
Lawrence recalled the two-time Oscar winner as “so sweet” during what was an “amazing experience” working together.
“She was so caring, so kind,” he said. “I don’t know how anybody could have anything bad to say about the lady. I mean, she was so supportive and just so kind. ... She was great.”
Lawrence, who was just 12 when working on the film, said Field, Williams, and Brosnan “neither treated me and talked down to me as a child, nor did they, you know, overexpose me to the adult world.”
The trio, he said, “walked a line with me that was absolutely wonderful,” which he’s tried to replicate in years since, when he’s been the elder statesman.
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“I’ve always tried to do that because I didn’t wanna be treated as a kid, and in that era ... you were expected to, you know, deliver like an adult. You were expected to have a work ethic like an adult,” said the Brotherly Love podcaster. “And that was fine. ... that was what was expected.”
(From left) Pierce Brosnan, Robin Williams, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’Credit: Courtesy Everett
Still, he said that Field, Williams, and Brosnan weren’t the “A-list celebrities sometimes that you hear of where they’re method and tough to work with and... the horror stories. You know, none of them were like that at all.
“All three of those actors all walked that line so brilliantly with all of us that it was just one of those incredible, incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences with all of them,” said Lawrence. “But Sally in particular... she was amazing.”
More than three decades later, Field’s warmth endures, as does Lawrence’s fondness for his former costar.
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“Every time I run into her, it’s always the same thing,” he told EW. “Always. She’s always great.”
Speaking to EW in 2025, Lawrence credited Williams’ wise words with having kept him on the straight and narrow, and away from substances.
The late comedian, who died by suicide in 2014, “really opened up” to his on-screen son.
“I’ll never forget it,” said Lawrence. “There were times he would just grab me and he’d be like, ‘Don’t put that stuff in your body. If I could go back and tell myself, this is why I’m telling you, don’t put that stuff in your body.’”
Lawrence said Williams also displayed the “type of compassion you need to have for people” and implored him, “Don’t judge until you walk in someone else’s shoes.”
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
