Monkeying with Superstardom: Why 'Straight Gay Man' Robbie Williams Couldn't Pass Up 'Better Man'

EDGE: On my very first trip to London, in 2001, I was introduced to your music. There was something about your honesty, about how you always gave it your all – and still do – that really spoke to me.

Robbie Williams: Well, first of all, thank you very much. I am genuinely grateful that what I was beaming out, you picked up – as a very sensitive individual who needs people to recognize them and tell them they exist... When you say things like that, it touches me on a level that I'm very grateful for.

EDGE: Watching this batshit, crazy, brilliant biopic, it made me want to see you in an original film musical. Why hasn't that happened yet? And will it?

Robbie Williams: An original film musical. There are so many ideas that have yet to transpire, and yet to happen, and I suppose that I'm at the behest of the universe and people. I've got so many ideas of what I want to do that exist outside of the entertainment industry, because I kind of feel as though I've completed music, and now my attention is elsewhere. But that being said, I'm open to any idea, and who knows what this film is going to trigger for people, and who knows what this film is going to mean for me going forward. If one of those ideas is an original musical, then I am totally in.

EDGE: Let's discuss "Better Man," and how this wild collaboration with Michael Gracey first came about.

Robbie Williams: I became friends with Michael Gracey having met him at a party. My wife's best friend's father is Michael Gracey's lawyer... I met Michael, and we got on straight away, hit it off like a house on fire. And one thing led to another. The other thing that happened was that he asked me if I wanted to do a biopic about my life. And I am a professional attention seeker, and this was an opportunity too good to pass up. And here I am.