Any film buff will tell you that a Boxing Day release is a big deal, signalling a cinematic gem and promising massive box office returns. It’s the slot saved for the crème de la crème of movies, right before the dreaded “dump months” of January and February when ticket sales typically dip.
This year, the UK is buzzing with an unexpected entry: Robbie Williams’ semi-autobiographical flick, Better Man. The pop legend is depicted by a CGI chimp but features his own voice, diving into the gritty details of his journey from childhood to chart-topping fame. In a chat with OK!, Robbie couldn’t contain his excitement about the film and what it means to be at the centre of a $110m project helmed by none other than The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey. Robbie gushed, “I’m buzzing, I’m absolutely buzzing.”
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
“I am immensely proud and immensely grateful for this opportunity. The amount of warmth, empathy and genuine goodwill that this whole project has fostered has been warming for the soul – and I love that I’m now in a place to receive it without pushing it away and belittling it. In many ways, it already feels like a win before the movie’s even come out,” reports the Mirror.
As of press time, Better Man hadn’t received its official age rating, but the most recent trailer was classified as PG in the UK. Robbie describes it as an unflinching look at his life so far, including the highs and lows (no pun intended). It doesn’t shy away from his experiences with addiction and mental health, which, according to Robbie, is what makes it such a “human story”. “Of course my story isn’t unique,” he shares during a media panel at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
“Everybody that experiences a bright amount of fame, an omnipresence… nobody comes out of it the other side going, ‘And I’m still a well-rounded individual.’ Something happens. The world warps you, and you warp it, across the board, you don’t get to escape it. If you’re lucky enough – through self-examination, help and the right people around you – you can come out the other end, like I have, right now, as a 50-year-old.”
(Image: Redferns)
Following the devastating loss of Liam Payne, Robbie Williams has shown his support for a campaign pushing for laws to safeguard the mental wellbeing of entertainers. This tragic event may cast Robbie’s upcoming film in a more sensitive light, highlighting the struggles he faced during his younger years.
In the ’90s, Robbie was often seen as the rebellious Take That member, a label that wasn’t entirely misplaced. In his revealing 2023 four-part docuseries, Robbie opened up about his past substance abuse, admitting to “ingesting everything he could get his hands on” which included a mix of ecstasy and cocaine, and downing a bottle of vodka every single night before rehearsals.
He’s now been sober for around 25 years – and married with four children – and has clearly spent a lot of that time reflecting. “So, there’s the allure and the glamour and the idea that fame is going to fix you, because I think that’s what 90% of people are subconsciously thinking when they come to it. It’s, ‘If I get all of these things, I will be whole and I will be fixed.’ And what it does is it actually gives you an existential crisis that is unbelievable. “Like I say, through self-examination and help, you can come through it.
What I’m currently experiencing as a 50 year old at the other end of that arc is what the glamour and the applause and the excitement should have meant. I am on my journey in the most namaste way – and I make no apologies – healed, healing. I’m in a separate place to where I was. “
(Image: Getty Images)
The new documentary Better Man delves deep into Robbie Williams’ personal connections, shining a light on his interactions with former bandmates, relatives, and notably, his well-known ex-fiancée. Robbie holds nothing back, except for opting to remain faceless during the doc. The film brings to the fore challenging aspects of his engagement to Nicole Appleton from All Saints, where Robbie acknowledges he played the “villain.
“She had the worst version of me, but she is a good person,” he says. “I struggle every single time [I think about it] because there’s still some shame about those relationships you have in addiction; mine, not hers, because she wasn’t an addict or an alcoholic. That’s the most difficult bit.”
His relationship with his dad, stand-up comic and singer Peter Williams (aka Pete Conway) also plays out on screen. Interestingly, Robbie says the only part of the final cut that makes him uncomfortable is the “unsympathetic” role his dad plays. “It’s about how it was and what it felt like, but the version you get in the movie is my mum’s version of what happened,” he shares. “My father has my father’s version of what happened and I feel sad that there are things I haven’t talked about with my dad that are going to be seen on screen. It’s a really odd feeling.
“Everybody that experiences a bright amount of fame, an omnipresence… nobody comes out of it the other side going, ‘And I’m still a well-rounded individual.’ Something happens. The world warps you, and you warp it, across the board, you don’t get to escape it. If you’re lucky enough – through self-examination, help and the right people around you – you can come out the other end, like I have, right now, as a 50-year-old.”
(Image: PR)
In many ways, I don’t want him to see it. In other ways, I want people to know this about my dad: he is the most charming person you’ll meet and nobody that’s met him has not fallen in love with him. And that’s the truth about my father.”
Robbie Williams also touched on his infamous feud with Liam Gallagher from the 90s. Although there’s been a thawing of their relationship in recent years, with Liam sending “love n light” to Robbie on Twitter in 2020 when Robbie revealed his dad had Parkinson’s disease, it remains an intriguing part of this story. Speaking about Liam’s role in the film, Robbie said, “Liam is an 11 and the way that Liam is portrayed is a 10,” but it’s what he goes on to say about Gary Barlow that really intrigued us.
Describing their current relationship as “fixed”, he pondered whether the past should stay in the past and not be displayed on a cinema screen. “You know, books, films and documentaries… they sort of rip open scars again,” he reflected. “There’s no pointing of fingers because we’re both grown-ups and we both love each other, but when Gaz received the script, he said to me, ‘Rob, I come off worse than Darth Vader in the first Star Wars,’ which made me laugh.
“Everybody that experiences a bright amount of fame, an omnipresence… nobody comes out of it the other side going, ‘And I’m still a well-rounded individual.’ Something happens. The world warps you, and you warp it, across the board, you don’t get to escape it. If you’re lucky enough – through self-examination, help and the right people around you – you can come out the other end, like I have, right now, as a 50-year-old.”
There are so many difficult aspects about this for me. I know what happened when Rocketman [Elton John’s 2019 biopic film] came out and the subsequent news articles from family members – but I’m just going to put my head in the sand. “Look, good things are coming from this already and I know there’s more in store.”
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
His optimism and hope is no doubt in part due to the impressive reviews from film festival screenings, and also because, he admits, he still “dramatically needs to be loved”. While he’s not as brittle as he once was, he says he isn’t, and will never be, “properly fixed”.
However, one thing that has undoubtedly given him the strength, confidence and, quite frankly, the professionalism to be part of such a major release is the presence of his wife Ayda Field, 45, and their four children, Theodora (Teddy), 12, Charlie, 10, Coco, six, and four year old Beau. “Did the gift of grounding and sense of perspective arrive once I got married and had children?
“Yes,” he says. “Without them, I don’t know who or what I would have been, or whether I would be here. “As soon as Teddy arrived – the first one – it was not about me. And for a raving narcissist like myself, this was startling news. We all want to be seen, we all want to be heard, we all want to be loved and we all want nice things to happen for us. Where I am on that scale is a lot better now. “Where I came from was a deficit of brokenness. It’s better now. And it’s getting better and better every day thanks to the grounding of my children and my wife.”
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