Entertainment
Robbie Williams to play himself in biopic after struggling to find actor ‘confident enough’Meghna Amin
Robbie Williams will be playing the present-day himself after struggling to find someone to portray him in his biopic (Pictures: Getty)
Robbie Williams will play himself in his biopic Better Man, after ‘struggling’ to find an actor who is ‘confident enough’ to play him.
The project is set to follow the 48-year-old Take That singer on his rise to fame, and tackling his on and off stage demons.
The team behind the upcoming film, directed by The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey, have been holding auditions to try and find a younger Robbie, and after struggling to find the perfect man, the Let Me Entertain You singer confirmed they won’t need to find an actor to portray him in the present day.
Speaking to fans at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, he said: ‘The thing is about films is that it is a wonder anything gets made.
‘Everything gets held up in a bottleneck. It is always, “This person says no and this person says yes and this person is offended and this person is not offended enough.” It is agents and lawyers.
‘I am 97% sure it will happen. I don’t know who will play me when I am younger but I know who will play me when I am older.
“’You are looking at him.’
Robbie still doesn’t know who will be playing the younger him (Picture: Redferns)
From Harry Styles to Jack O’Connell, its uncertain who will be portraying him in his younger years, but Robbie admitted he has an idea of who he’d like, without actually revealing the mystery man.
He added: ‘If I had my way, who would play me in the Nineties?
‘I daren’t say, just in case the person I say is not the person (who gets the part).’
It was previously claimed Robbie and Michael hadn’t been able to cast anyone when they held auditions for the role.
It’s going to be a tall order to find someone to embody Robbie (Picture: WireImage)
Speaking to The Mirror, an insider said: ‘Michael and Robbie held top-secret auditions to find a star to play the young Robbie recently.
‘They didn’t meet anyone they were confident could pull it off.
‘Robbie is stunned at how difficult the project has been to get made. And now he’s starting to worry it’s never going to make it to the big screen and he’ll look foolish for hyping it up.’
More: Robbie Williams
It was announced in December that the producers behind the forthcoming release would begin filming at Docklands Studios in Melbourne in early 2022.
In a statement, they said: ‘To tell Robbie William’s beautiful, distinct story, back home, in my own city, is a dream come true.
‘There is a creative energy that burns across the Melbourne film industry, and I know this movie will thrive here.’
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