Robbie Williams has revealed the response that Gary Barlow had to his new biopic, Better Man.
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The semi-autobiographical film, directed and co-writtten by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), is due for release in the UK on Boxing Day (December 26) and in select US cinemas on Christmas Day (December 25). In it, the singer is depicted as a CGI monkey, and the film tells the story of his life and career – from his early days in childhood to his first taste of success with boyband Take That.
Now, Williams has opened up about his past feud with former bandmate Gary Barlow, and shared his blunt response to how he is depicted in Better Man.
After the Take That frontman got an early look at the biopic, Williams recalled how he got a phone call from Barlow, saying that the project made him look like a Hollywood supervillain.
“We had a fractious relationship. In the script, I speak how I thought back then, which wasn’t complimentary to Gaz, and we sent him the script,” Williams said (via Daily Mail). “He rang me and, he’s a grown-up and there was no effing or pointing fingers, and he was like, ‘Rob, I come off worse than Darth Vader in the first half.’”
According to the outlet, the phone call referring to the iconic Star Wars villain forced Williams to mellow out the portrayal of Barlow in the final edits.
Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange and Howard Donald of Take That. CREDIT: L. Busacca/WireImage/Getty Images
He also spoke at the Deadline press screening for the film in Los Angeles and said that he was intended to be the main villain in the film.
“I’m quite happy to be the main villain in this movie,” he said (via Daily Mail). “There were many villains in this movie until we legally couldn’t have many villains in this movie. And now the only villain in this movie is me.”
The past feud between the two stems back to their time in Take That in the ‘90s, and saw Williams brand his bandmate a “clueless wanker” before quitting the band in 1995.
Williams went on to embark on a hugely successful solo career, before they made peace in 2009 and had a Take That comeback in 2010.
Speaking in a recent BBC Two documentary, Boyband Forever, Williams also reflected on the reunion, and said that while they’re both “mates now and I love him, and our relationship is 95 per cent healed”, there will “always be a scar”.
The comments also follow Williams’ discussion of Barlow in his 2023 Netflix documentary, Robbie Williams, which saw him admit he felt “resentful” towards his bandmate in Take That’s early career.
“It seemed like there was one person being managed in Take That, and it was Gary Barlow. It was all geared around him and, as young person, I would have been jealous of that. I suppose a lot of me resented him,” he said.
At the time, Williams also revealed the reasons why he didn’t consult Barlow about the documentary, saying: “Legally I didn’t have to.”
More recently, Williams wrote an open letter to Take That’s ex-manager Nigel Martin-Smith, objecting to claims Martin-Smith made about his drug addiction in the aforementioned BBC Two documentary.
“My response to the warped world that surrounded me is solely my own. How I chose to self-medicate is and was something that I will be monitoring and dealing with for the whole of my life,” he said. “I just got there quicker due to having the finances while trying in vain to counteract the turbulence of pop stardom’s matrix-bending washing machine.”
In other Robbie Williams news, ahead of the Better Man release, he opened up about his past relationship with Nicole Appleton, admitting he feels a “sense of shame” for being an “idiot boyfriend”, and also shared the soundtrack for Better Man alongside a new single, ‘Forbidden Road’.
He has also announced details of a huge tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe in 2025. The announcement came after he hinted to fans that he would be hitting the road again “soon” the week prior. Visit here to buy tickets.
As for Gary Barlow, the singer-songwriter recently shared details of a new ‘Songbook’ tour, set to head to the UK and Ireland next year. Visit here for tickets.
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