UK pop sensation Robbie Williams is the topic of a brand new biopic, however quite a lot of People have completely no concept 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 largest pop stars on the planet.
(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 likely one of the largest pop stars on the planet. 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 shouldn’t be good, and the music, y’all preserve taking part in 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 People for not figuring out 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 in regards to the time Robin Williams was filming “The Birdcage.”
DAISY JONES: They really initially grew to become well-known for being type of barely homoerotic. There was one thing a bit tacky about them.
SIMON: That is tradition author Daisy Jones, who’s bought a bit on this month’s British Vogue – “America Does not Want To Get Robbie Williams.”
JONES: He does not conceal his Britishisms. I do know quite a lot of U.Okay. artists attraction to U.S. viewers. I really feel like Harry Kinds is an ideal instance of that. He might 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, “Children” – his duet with Kylie Minogue – he says he does not need some chicken that appears like Billy Connolly. I do not assume People use the phrase chicken, perhaps.
SIMON: Yeah, besides to speak about, , a chicken like a pigeon or an eagle. Even a terrific 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 got an enormous downside – 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 feel there’s a feeling that simply ‘trigger somebody’s not well-known within the U.S. doesn’t suggest he is not well-known worldwide.
SIMON: And Robbie Williams is known worldwide. He is had No. 1 songs in Argentina, Brazil and Australia. His track “Angels” has been in comparison with “Piano Man” and “Candy Caroline.” Individuals everywhere in the world simply comprehend it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANGELS”)
WILLIAMS: (Singing) There’s an angel…
JONES: He is at all times been all over the place to such a level that you do not even discover if his track comes on. I can assure that if you happen to enter any karaoke evening within the U.Okay. on any given evening, somebody can be singing “Angels.”
SIMON: Robbie Williams has struggled brazenly with dependancy. 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 virtually, 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 change 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 will communicate to that one fan. Hello, Linda. You all proper? Good to see you. Sorry I have never been again to America for the reason that final century, but it surely’s good that you just, , nonetheless try 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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