“So, I met Rob at a classy Hollywood party, briefly, at my lawyer's house. And then years later, when I was doing The Greatest Showman, Hugh Jackman kept referencing Robbie Williams, like, to the point of annoyance. So I’d play a song, and he’d say, ‘It should be more like a Robbie Williams tune.’ And we’d talk about entering the ring and holding the audience in the palm of your hands, like Robbie Williams. And I was like, what are you talking about? Like, you can choose any entertainer in the history of entertainment. And every reference was Robbie Williams.”
The project had been in development for nearly seven years when Jackman threw a wrench into the works. Just before filming was set to begin, he expressed serious doubts about the music, which he believed wasn’t strong enough to carry the film:
“Hugh was getting a lot of people in his ear about the music. And he called me on a Saturday and said, ‘Listen, I’ve been thinking about this. A musical lives and dies on this music, and the music isn’t good enough; we need to start again.’ And I thought, if the studio hears this, they’re going to shut us down. Like, they’re not going to go into production on their original musical with Hugh saying he wants to rework all the music.”
Faced with the potential collapse of his first film, Gracey took a bold leap and decided to reach out to Williams for help. “When [Hugh] said this, my only shot at getting this made was getting in touch with Robbie Williams," he said. "So I called my lawyer, and my lawyer’s daughter Casey is good friends with Ayda Fields, who is married to Robbie Williams. So that was my three degrees of separation. I told [my lawyer] I had to meet Robbie this weekend, or the movie won’t happen.”
The next day, Gracey knocked on Williams’ door. Though the pop star had just woken up, he quickly became intrigued as Gracey explained the situation and played the film’s songs for him. Williams, for his part, actually believed that Gracey was coming round to offer him the leading role in the movie, as he told BBC last month. Gracey continued:
“I knocked on Rob’s door the next day, he answers, he’s bleary-eyed and just woken up, and he’s like, ‘What is it exactly you want?’ I explained I was working on an original musical, the music is theatrical, and it’s quite pop. I told him the story and played the songs and asked to get his opinion. He was tapping his foot and enjoying it, and I said the only thing more bizarre than me showing up here is what I’ll ask you now.”
Robbie Williams Told Hugh Jackman That He'd Kill to Sing 'The Greatest Showman' Songs
Gracey then made a bold request. He asked Williams to record a video message for Jackman, sharing his thoughts on the music. Williams delivered in spectacular fashion:
“I asked him to tell Hugh Jackman, and I asked if I could film him talking to the camera as if it was Hugh, telling him what he thought of the songs, and that video is better than anything I could have written. He said he’d spent the last year working on an album, and he would ditch that entire album to sing these songs, and if they were having a cup of tea, he’d bludgeon Hugh to death just to play P. T. Barnum in the movie.”
The message worked. Jackman called Gracey immediately and agreed to move forward with the original music: “I sent it to Hugh, and he called me immediately and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So Robbie is the saviour of my first movie.”
Better Man is in theaters now. The Greatest Showman is streaming on Disney+.
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The Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman tells the incredible true story of P.T. Barnum and his famous circus. The film chronicles the rise of Barnum (Hugh Jackman) from a penniless dreamer to a wealthy and well-respected gentleman, establishing his circus with the help of playwright Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron). Telling Barnum's unbelievable story in a musical format, The Greatest Showman showcases all the highs and lows of the infamous character's professional life.
Runtime
1h 45m
Writers
Jenny Bicks
, Michael Arndt
, Bill Condon
Watch on Disney+
Custom Image by Zanda Rice
English (US) ·