UK pop sensation Robbie Williams is the topic of a brand new biopic, however quite a lot of Individuals have completely no thought who he’s.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The biopic “Higher Man” opens in theaters throughout the nation this weekend.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “BETTER MAN”)
ROBBIE WILLIAMS: I am Robbie Williams. I am one of many greatest pop stars on the earth.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROBBIE WILLIAMS SONG, “ROCK DJ”)
WILLIAMS: That is my story.
SIMON: The movie launched right here in restricted launch final month, and critics preferred it, but it surely grossed lower than $92,000. Paramount, which acquired “Higher Man” for $25 million tells Selection they hope for two million from this weekend’s wider launch. However this would possibly simply be a biopic for a bio not so well-known.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Y’all, we’re not making an attempt to place a wool over your eyes. We actually do not know who Robbie Williams is.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I preserve coming throughout movies about Robbie Williams. Who’s Robbie Williams? Why does it matter?
(SOUNDBITE OF ROBBIE WILLIAMS SONG, “ROCK DJ”)
SIMON: Now, Robbie Williams is without doubt one of the greatest pop stars on the earth. He is bought greater than 75 million information and holds 40 No.1 albums. However right here within the U.S., he could also be much less well-known than B. J. Leiderman, who writes our theme music.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: There is a purpose Robbie Williams by no means made it large in America. It is ‘trigger we do not like him. The music is just not good, and the music, y’all preserve enjoying to inform us that he is good, we do not prefer it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: The U.Okay. is mad at us Individuals for not understanding who Robbie Williams is. Am I the one one which thought they have been talking about Robin Williams for a second?
SIMON: When Robin Williams starred in “Awakenings,” Robbie Williams simply began his profession within the boy band Take That when he was 16.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAKE THAT SONG, “COULD IT BE MAGIC”)
SIMON: He left the band in the midst of a 1995 world tour, simply concerning the time Robin Williams was filming “The Birdcage.”
DAISY JONES: They really initially grew to become well-known for being kind of barely homoerotic. There was one thing a bit tacky about them.
SIMON: That is tradition author Daisy Jones, who’s bought a chunk on this month’s British Vogue – “America Would not Want To Get Robbie Williams.”
JONES: He does not conceal his Britishisms. I do know quite a lot of U.Okay. artists enchantment to U.S. viewers. I really feel like Harry Types is an ideal instance of that. He could possibly be American. He does not, like, sing with a extremely robust accent. He does not actually use, like, British slang and his music, and Robbie Williams undoubtedly does. He says issues that simply would not make sense within the U.S. In one among his songs, “Youngsters” – his duet with Kylie Minogue – he says he does not need some chook that appears like Billy Connolly. I do not assume Individuals use the phrase chook, possibly.
SIMON: Yeah, besides to speak about, you recognize, a chook like a pigeon or an eagle. Even an incredible thoughts like Ted Lasso does not learn about Robbie Williams.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “TED LASSO”)
JEREMY SWIFT: (As Leslie Higgins) Good afternoon. We’ve an enormous drawback – our musical visitor, Robbie Williams, has canceled.
HANNAH WADDINGHAM: (As Rebecca Welton) God.
JASON SUDEIKIS: (As Ted Lasso) Oh, no. Who’s that?
JONES: I believe there’s a feeling that simply ‘trigger somebody’s not well-known within the U.S. does not imply he is not well-known worldwide.
SIMON: And Robbie Williams is legendary worldwide. He is had No. 1 songs in Argentina, Brazil and Australia. His tune “Angels” has been in comparison with “Piano Man” and “Candy Caroline.” Folks everywhere in the world simply realize it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANGELS”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) There’s an angel…
JONES: He is at all times been in every single place to such a level that you do not even discover if his tune comes on. I can assure that in case you enter any karaoke evening within the U.Okay. on any given evening, somebody can be singing “Angels.”
SIMON: Robbie Williams has struggled overtly with habit. He is had very public feuds. He is suffered from anxiousness onstage, and all of that’s captured in “Higher Man,” and all of that has endeared him to his followers.
JONES: We have grown up with him, and he is grown up with us. He is nearly, like, the nation’s brother or one thing or, like, the nation’s son or…
SIMON: However not but America’s son, like, say, Prince Harry has turn into, which is not misplaced on Robbie Williams, who was requested to handle his American followers when “Higher Man” was proven to the Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition in September.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WILLIAMS: Yeah, I am going to communicate to that one fan. Hello, Linda. You all proper? Good to see you. Sorry I have never been again to America because the final century, but it surely’s good that you just, you recognize, nonetheless take a look at my stuff on-line. And the way are the household? Are they good?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANGELS”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) And thru all of it, she presents me safety.
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