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Robbie Williams: "Gary Barlow didn't approve the script"
Apr 1, 2025
In this tell-all biopic special with Robbie Williams, he reveals all about the inner workings of his film 'Better Man', how he became the only villain in his story and how success and fame derailed him for a while, but being 'back on track' leaves him hungry for success.
View Video Transcript
0:00
You know, the script got smaller and smaller and smaller
0:02
until there's only one villain, and it's me. Right. I'm just like, you know, I sent it to Gary Barlow
0:08
and he was like, Rob, I've come off worse than Darth Vader in the first Star Wars. One of my Christmas wishes has come true
0:14
Robbie Williams is here. Hello, Robbie. Hey, buddy. Nice to see you
0:18
Nice to see you as well. And thank you for choosing Boxing Day as well to come see us, a day where no one knows what to do on this day
0:23
Well, no, actually, I think Boxing Day is the day before the adrenaline dump
0:30
So tomorrow, in fact, is the what do we do with ourselves? And I was just thinking
0:34
there's somebody missing out on commercialising the hinterland between Boxing Day and New Year
0:41
Is that what you call it, hinterland? I like that. Well, no, I mean, I don't even know if I use the right word
0:45
I call it the crimbo limbo. That's what I use. I do a lot of throwing a big word in
0:49
where I'm not sure what it means. I do it a lot. I was thinking, are you quite a Christmassy person
0:54
Do you really get into it? Yeah, I do. I absolutely love it. And I didn't..
0:59
Sort of, you know, there's the BMX years where you're like, oh my gosh, I've got a BMX
1:06
and that's amazing. And then there's the £20 in a card from your nan years
1:12
You said, what, the BMX is probably the best gift you've ever been given. What's the best gift you've given somebody else, do you think
1:19
The gift of being my betrothed for the whole of her life
1:25
Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas and this year, monogamous. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Merry Christmas, my love
1:34
Yeah. That is fantastic. Have you ever returned an item? You ever, like, kept a receipt
1:38
Said to somebody, oh, do you know what? This is great. Thank you so much. I'm going to return this in the morning
1:43
I've already got five of these. I'll tell you after that. I can't tell now. Oh, my God
1:47
Yeah. No, I've never returned anything. And there's also loads of stuff that you're like, bless
1:54
You receive it. and you go, this is rubbish. But you can't get rid of it
2:00
So there it stays in your wardrobe for a year, a year and a half, sometimes three years
2:06
And then eventually you go, I've just got to throw this away. That's my technique, yes
2:11
Store it away somewhere, two or three years, then you're allowed to make it quiet. There's a lot of basically people going
2:16
here, you throw this away with a gift. Do you know what I mean? It's yours now
2:20
Yeah, you throw this away. Your burden. Like one of those people that hand out leaflets
2:24
and you're like here throw this away and so it is with a lot of presence i love that man well
2:29
there's another very special reason that you're here on boxing day your brand new film better man
2:34
is out in the cinema the true story of robbie williams are you nervous robbie that we're we're
2:40
gonna get to know you a lot better now is it it must be that kind of terrifying to go this is my
2:45
life story everyone nah no i i am a i'm on the spectrum right which everybody is these days they
2:52
just don't know it and you know and i have this um ability i'm going to call it to overshare and
3:01
not know that i've overshared i don't pick up the cues where other people go i shouldn't say this
3:08
i've said it and worse like here's my hemorrhoids have a look at these you know and then people go
3:13
we don't want to see hemorrhoids and i'm like why show me yours um so i am not scared you mentioned
3:20
like who you are now and i've also heard you say previously at this stage of your life you want to
3:25
be as present as possible you want to be in the moment you don't want to dwell on the past so
3:29
what was it like having to go all the way back to beginning it was worse for the documentary
3:35
because you know i had to look at there was 11 000 hours of my life i've been followed with the
3:40
camera since i was 16 and i never knew why i never knew why i was being followed with this camera it
3:46
It was just like, this is what pop stars do, I guess. And the reason was the documentary
3:50
That's what it turned out in the, you know, 30 years in the future. That was a tough one because I had to watch the car crash
3:57
I had to watch me going through all of those moments and then talk about it. So that was triggering
4:02
This film, I don't know, you know, there's lots of triggering stuff in it too
4:07
Basically, this is the film. 45 minutes of I the awful dodger but I stuck on trend and then spotting for an hour and 20 but serious serious it uh have you seen it it a journey did you cry oh i mean i in touch with
4:26
my emotions i think it's great yeah yeah but like the seventh time really just as yeah just as much
4:33
cry as the first yeah yeah yeah um was it difficult to not just include the good bits because
4:39
Essentially, like, if I was doing a story about myself, if I had control over it, it would be like..
4:45
Dev's amazing. Ain't I great, right? But was it quite difficult to be..
4:48
Mine's called Better Man. Dev's would be called Already Better Man. Been it
4:53
Pretty swell, guys. Been it. What is one of the problems I feel like with, say, social media
4:58
You're only really getting the success stories. You're not seeing the failure and the rejection along the way
5:03
It's like you have to include that in the story, right, for it to be complete. But like I say, I don't know which bits to take out
5:09
Or, you know, normal people, quote unquote, would go, better leave that out
5:16
But what is interesting about the making of the film is that many things
5:22
but we have to send the script to everybody that's depicted in it. And legally, you know, the script got smaller and smaller and smaller
5:30
until there's only one villain and it's me. I'm just like, you know, send it to Gary Barlow
5:36
and he was like, Rob, I'll come off worse than Darth Vader in the first Star Wars. Okay, we'll make amends
5:42
We'll make amends to the script. But then it's like, well, I'm gone
5:46
I can't be the only villain in my life, but it turns out it's me. Wow
5:50
As a fan from the outside, obviously this is just like felt from the outside
5:55
I feel like we've always been rooting for you. You're like the underdog
5:59
You're the rebel. You're the one who's like, you know what? I'm going to do things my own way. And I feel like part of that underdog status
6:05
is you've managed to just keep reinventing yourself. You keep coming back better
6:09
And there'll be people listening to this right now. They'll be in that in-between bit
6:14
They're trying to leave something behind, trying to reinvent themselves, transition into this new life that they want for themselves
6:20
Did you get any good advice along the way when you were in that transitional period
6:24
Here's a big word, autodidact. Do you know what that means? I have no idea
6:29
Okay, so I'm ready to learn. So I am learning, and I kind of understood that, you know
6:35
a career or my career is pretty much like a roller coaster
6:39
And there was, you know, the bit in a roller coaster where, you know, you get the expectancy going up the thing
6:46
Well, that was take that and the beginning of my solo career. And now I'm on the rest of the bit where it's like
6:52
I'm doing the loop-de-loop and I don't like it. I feel sick
6:56
No hands. Yeah, no hands. I feel sick. So I'm on this roller coaster where it's like peaks and troughs
7:02
and peaks and troughs. And the interesting thing for me is like going to a dinner party these days and people going, so you just still do music
7:12
Yeah, I'm playing the stadium down the road. So, you know, perception sort of shifts and goes off somewhere when you become middle aged and there's middle aged priorities for people
7:23
And we sort of hibernate in these niche places for ourselves online and on streaming services
7:29
So unless you're omnipresence like a Taylor Swift or a Harry Styles or a Ed Sheeran
7:35
which is where the baton's been passed on to, you know, you've got to do these things to remind people that you exist
7:42
which is why you do books, which is why you do documentaries and which is why you do films
7:47
I am still full of ambition and drive. And, you know, I want to be the man
7:54
You are the man, Rufi. You've been the man. You know, and I will be, and then I won't be
7:59
and then, you know, and this is my lot for the rest of my life
8:04
So, which is why it's so important in my mind, this film
8:09
You know, this facilitates the third act of my career. There is quite a huge part of this film we've not even mentioned yet
8:16
and that is the decision to have you played by a CGI chimpanzee
8:21
which at first, right, seems a little bit bonkers, but then you see the trailer and you go No actually this kind of makes sense for this How did you feel about it Oh I loved it You know and he identifies as a monkey So the idea was muted to me by Michael Gracie
8:39
the director of The Greatest Showman that's directing this film. And it was like, one day he came in and he said
8:43
what's your spirit animal? And like, chin out, chest out, chin up, chest out
8:48
I was like, I am a lion. And he went, he cocked his head and went
8:53
like, really, mate? And I went, monkey? And he went, yeah, okay, here's the idea
8:59
So, but here's another interesting thing about being eccentric or weird or unusual
9:07
I couldn't understand that people couldn't understand it when it was first muted and it came out
9:15
And in fact, Michael told me this idea and I'm just like, I'm in, that one
9:19
And then I went to see my wife, who's the minister of finance and the minister of everything that happens in our life
9:25
and I was like, guess what babe? I've got being bonky in a film. And she was like, what
9:32
You know, and I'm like, oh, is this an unusual idea? I think it might be
9:37
But then she saw the film and she's like, she's blown away and she totally gets it
9:43
And, you know, from a certain perspective, it shouldn't work, but it absolutely does
9:48
There's also something that I thought was a really beautiful reminder, that it's like okay to dream
9:54
this idea that something really stuck with me that you're essentially you're this kid from
9:59
stoke-on-trent you had a dream and it's almost like if you're from a certain place you're not
10:04
supposed to want too much that a lot of that's already been decided for you but you did that
10:10
it saddens me so much and it's a british problem and i think it's a hangover from the class system
10:17
and we're only one generation from, you know, Know Your Place. On my grandma's school report, it said
10:26
we'll do well for the people over her. So she was just expected to be under somebody working for the man
10:34
Wow. Just expected. Now, that's the thing about us. There's so many great things about us
10:43
One thing that we don't do, which the Americans do so well, is be okay if you want to be successful and i really want to be successful and i want to achieve
10:56
and i want to get and i want to be that the journey is magical and i you know i wish i could
11:04
impact and i probably will or impart this information it's like look i'm not a good
11:11
singer i'm not a good dancer i'm not the best looking i've got 14 number one albums if this
11:20
chimp can do it then you can too you've just got to aim for it and then figure it out you know is
11:28
i didn't i wasn't born with a glam squad my nan didn't have an indoor toilet until 1985 wow you
11:36
know she had a silver bath that she had a hook on the wall and i remember having a bath and she used
11:40
to she used to fill it from a tap and then boil the kettle twice this sounds insane right but what
11:48
i'm saying yeah it's like i wish people knew their own magic i wish people knew what they were capable
11:55
of and then want to go towards it i'm you're firing me up man yeah it's gonna be a good 2025
12:01
yeah um you've already touched on some of these incredible achievements 14 uk number one singles
12:07
14 UK number one albums a record by the way that still hasn't been broken
12:10
by a solo artist 18 Brit Awards that's more than any other artist
12:14
performed to over 375 people across three nights 2003 at your Nedworth concerts
12:20
I know it's difficult to pick a favourite but is there one
12:23
you're particularly proud of? They're all in my bag and I'm like
12:27
I'm glad that happened to me and it's still surreal and it's still shocking
12:31
and still kind of feels like the Matrix has bended towards me somehow
12:35
because like you've said all of those things and I'm like, all of those things
12:39
happened to me, didn't they? Wow. Here the thing right And this is going to sound quite um uh harsh everything dead it all the future it all the future it all the next album it all the next project it all the you know
12:56
wanting bigger and better and nicer things to happen to me and this time i get to experience
13:03
it all with joy i get to i get to derive joy and happiness from it and i i you know so i was
13:11
mentally ill for two decades so when you say all of those things i know i did them and they're in
13:16
my bag and i can point to them and go there's my premier league medal if you like but to be honest
13:22
with you i wasn't happy wow but now i am which is like i just want to swing by have another bite of
13:30
the apple and experience it in the way that i thought i was going to experience it but didn't
13:35
i need to go lay down after this yeah this is i like tony robbins aren't i yeah you really are
13:45
this is incredible well there is a question i like to ask all of my guests it's where i like to
13:52
maybe try and work out if i've done my job properly it's called please stop asking me
13:56
so it's a question that you reckon you get asked quite a lot you're not saying it's a good question
14:01
or a bad question just one you feel like at this point in your career you've probably answered it
14:06
quite a lot one of my favourites was Simon Pegg Simon Pegg says
14:11
please stop asking him if there's going to be any sequels to any of his films every time he's at the supermarket
14:15
someone's like we're going to be getting Hot Fuzz 2 or Shaun of the Dead like part 2
14:19
where that ain't happening again he's not saying it in a bad way
14:23
but do you have a please stop asking me yeah I do and it's at the end
14:28
of every interview yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here it comes. So, and I will tell you the question and then I will tell you how I answer it
14:38
It's, if you could go back and tell a 16-year-old Robbie anything
14:44
what wisdom would you impart on him? And my answer now is, if I could go back in time and tell 16-year-old Robbie anything
14:53
it would be that you're going to do 2,000 interviews, where at the end of it, they're going to ask you
14:59
what wisdom you would impart to you. My wisdom is, come up with a good answer for that question
15:05
because it will do your head in. Serious. Oh, I absolutely love that
15:12
I actually have a present to give you. Do you mind? Oh, wow. If you notice underneath the tree..
15:16
Do you want me to go get it? There's one present left underneath the tree, Robbie. Something in a frame
15:21
Yes. Oh, he's good. He's worked this one out already. It's my prison mugshot
15:27
That's next year. Next Boxing Day. Oh, wow. So that is Thelma, right
15:34
Thelma is a female chimpanzee born on the 25th of September along with her twin sister
15:40
We've adopted Thelma. Thelma is a cherished member of the Hananayas group
15:47
That's the one who really rolls off the tongue. It's in Dorset. Protective of her
15:51
She's very spoiled. I instantly love her. I love you, Thelma. Well, we've adopted her on your behalf
15:59
Foster dad. Yeah, we just need to get your sort code and account details so we can keep up with payments, Robbie
16:03
Okay, okay. Keep up with the payments. But there you are. Merry Christmas, Robbie
16:10
Thank you very much. You seem quite captivated by a film. No, I genuinely, genuinely am
16:14
Who wouldn't be? Yeah. This is a good-looking chimp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
16:19
I mean, not like that. Robbie, this has been incredible. I'm not just saying this
16:25
genuinely my favourite interview I've done this year. Thank you so much for being so open
16:30
so honest about... It's why we love you, because we know that we're just going to get the realness
16:34
So thank you so much for seeing us. Oh, bless you, Dev. An absolute pleasure. Yeah, just wishing
16:40
everybody the best 2025, mate. Be the best one you've ever had
16:46
Go out, pick a dream, and then go towards it. Boom. Words to live by. Thank you so much
16:52
Robbie. Thank you. That's very sweet. It is hot
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