Yahoo Movies Robbie Williams' brutally honest response to Better Man scene that lost him millions
Robbie Williams and Michael Gracey spoke about the Better Man scene in an exclusive interview with Yahoo.
Better Man's Robbie Williams tells Yahoo how he truly feels after losing millions of dollars when production was disrupted by the Queen's death.
The singing super star hopes fans love the Regent Street scene in the movie because it had "huge financial repercussions" after filming for it had to be postponed when Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022.
All in good humour, the music legend told Yahoo: "If there isn't uproarious clapping and cheering in the cinema, I'm like you b*****s."
Musical biopic Better Man tells the extraordinary story of the singer's life from his rise to fame and struggle with addiction as we've never seen it before (especially because Williams is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee).
The Regent Street dancing scene is quite magnificent — it's a show-stopping sequence that plays out at the heart of London's West End featuring a CGI chimpanzee and 500 extras. No expense is spared. Filmed over four days, London's Regent Street was shutdown for the event.
Watch how the Better Man Regent Street plays out below.
If that wasn't complicated enough, Queen Elizabeth II died two days before filming and they had to halt filming — losing millions of dollars.
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Losing millions of dollars
Despite the filming disaster, real-life Williams remained quite the entertainer and he playfully put up his hand on the video to say that it was his millions. His reaction to seeing the scene on-screen is brutally honest.
He said: "Yeah [would do it again]. I've been to see nine screenings now and at the end of that, if there isn't uproarious clapping and cheering in the cinema, I'm like, you b*******.
"What we went through to do that for you. You haven't even paid to be here. Clap, you f***ers."
Better Man director Michael Gracey — also the mastermind behind The Greatest Showman — explained the huge implications this had on the film. However, the director remained confident it really adds to the film.
"Yeah, that literally delayed the delivery of the film and there were huge repercussions financially to the film as a result," he said.
"The bank got involved but it is, every time I watch it, it is worth all of it."
Filming in Regent Street
Previously, Gracey said he had always envisioned staging a dance sequence in Regent Street but now realises why no one has done it before. The director explained how the disaster unfolded behind the scenes of filming the Better Man movie.
He told Hello! magazine: "On the Friday we were feeling feeling very buoyant, because the first night of filming was Sunday night, and we got a call from the Crown Estate to tell us that the Queen had just died and we wouldn't be shooting because there's 10 days of mourning. So we lost all of the money. There's no insurance for the death of the Queen.
"People will say to you: No, there is, because it's force majeure, and you say; No, it's not. It's civil authority that shuts you down with the death of the Queen, and after Covid, civil authority was capped at 250 grand payouts.
"So we lost millions of dollars, and it took another five months to get back on that street, and we had to raise the money again."
Better Man is in UK cinemas from 26 December.
