Robin Williams once likened his role as Peter Banning in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook to an exorcism, describing how playing a buttoned-up adult who rediscovers his inner child in Neverland felt like purging something from himself. The comparison, resurfaced from a 1998 interview, offers insight into how Williams viewed his own performances and pushed back against the idea that he used his film roles to work through personal issues.

In the interview, Williams insisted "I'm not trying to work out something therapeutic in my films," arguing that what looked like a recurring childlike persona was simply "connecting as a human being" rather than a deliberate return to childhood themes. He felt the "child-like" tag was unfairly attached to him whenever he played characters marked by naivety or joy. Notably, despite framing Hook as a break from such roles, Williams went on to take similar innocent and playful parts in later films, suggesting the "exorcism" he described may not have been as complete as he claimed.