Robbie Williams compared himself to Eminem working on ‘8 Mile’ when he worked on the ‘Better Man’ biopic.
Robbie Williams felt like Eminem when he worked on his biopic ‘Better Man’.
The 50-year-old singer worked closely with director Michael Gracey on his life story – in which Robbie is portrayed as a chimpanzee – but he has admitted he had frustrations with the filmmaker on what the end credits song should be.
Robbie didn’t understand why Gracey kept refusing the songs he was submitting, and it was akin to Eminem’s track ‘Lose Yourself’ initially being refused for inclusion in ‘8 Mile’.
Speaking to Collider, Robbie said: “I was sending these songs over that I’m like, ‘That’s a banger. That’s a banger. You are wrong.’
“And I’d heard this story about ‘Lose Yourself’ in 8 Mile and how the director had sent that back, and Eminem was right.
“I’m like, ‘I’m Eminem in this moment. That one’s the song, and you are wrong’.”
The former Take That star eventually understood why Gracey kept turning songs down and eventually put forward the ballad ‘Forbidden Road’ which the director thought was perfect to end the biopic on.
He added: “I was like, ‘I totally get why those songs weren’t the ones chosen, and I totally get what you need there’. What I was sending wasn’t a cuddle. What I was sending wasn’t soothing. What I was sending wasn’t healing.”
‘The Greatest Showman’ director Gracey previously explained his decision to have Robbie portrayed as a chimpanzee in ‘Better Man’, revealing it came from Robbie’s feeling of being a “performing monkey”.
The director explained that it was perfect because Robbie sees himself as a “performing monkey”.
Michael told IndieWire: “I wanted to find a creatively interesting way into the story, but not for the sake of having a gimmick. I wanted to honour the way Rob sees himself. In the recordings we did over the course of a year and a half, he mentioned himself as a performing monkey time and time again.
“There was also a statement he made: whatever age you get famous is the age you stop evolving. So, everything just pointed to the monkey.
“And on another level, I wanted to explore both his external and internal life.”
Robbie Williams felt like Eminem when working on Better Man
