Robbie Williams is one of the UK’s best-selling male artists, having originally made a name for himself in boy band Take That. While he isn’t hugely known as a solo artist outside of the UK, he seems to have made quite an impression on Hugh Jackman. According to director Michael Gracey, Williams is one of the reasons that The Greatest Showman film came to be.

Before filming began, Jackman started to question the film’s music and almost walked away from the production. Gracey got Williams’ number, played him the film’s songs, and asked him to convince Jackman to do the film. Now years later, director Michael Gracey is back with his latest musical — the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man.

Hugh Jackman Had His Doubts About ‘The Greatest Showman’

While making The Greatest Showman, director Michael Gracey faced a difficult moment when his colleagues, including lead actor Hugh Jackman, started questioning the quality of the film’s music. In a desperate but brilliant move, Gracey tracked down British pop star Robbie Williams to get his thoughts on the music. "He was clapping after some of the numbers. He was tapping his foot," Gracey recalls in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

After Williams enjoyed the songs and even had a fleeting hope of being asked to play the lead role of P.T. Barnum himself, the singer was happy to help get The Greatest Showman’s production up and running any way he could. “He literally said that he’d been working on an album, and he would ditch that album to sing these songs — that’s how good these songs were,” says Gracey in an interview with Vanity Fair. “He then went on to say that if Hugh wasn’t going to play the part, he would play the part,” he continues. Gracey sent Jackman a video of Williams' enthusiastic reaction to the music in order to convince him to do the role.

Hugh Jackman Was Largely Inspired By Robbie Williams

Obviously, Robbie Williams managed to convince Hugh Jackman to stick with it and make The Greatest Showman, a film that became a massive global hit, earning Jackman a lot of praise for his performance. Williams’ influence over Jackman continued throughout the production, as the actor regarded Williams as the 'actual greatest showman.' “During all of production, his reference time and time again was Robbie Williams,” says Gracey of Jackman.

The feelings of admiration seem to be mutual, with Williams saying about Jackman, “There’s that leading man charisma, mixed with jazz hands; it’s a real potent force." After The Greatest Showman, Jackman and Williams went on to become friends, with Williams even joining Jackman on stage during his “The Man. The Music. The Show.” tour. There have also been rumors that Williams would have a role in a sequel to The Greatest Showman.

After ‘The Greatest Showman’, Director Michael Gracey Made Robbie Williams’ Biopic ‘Better Man’

Hugh Jackman wasn’t the only one to befriend Robbie Williams after that initial meeting. The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey also formed a friendship with the singer that would eventually lead to the making of his latest musical film, Better Man. After his conversations with Williams, Gracey realized that the singer not only has led a fascinating life, but that he's also an amazing storyteller. “Rob has the art of storytelling in spades, and I also couldn’t believe that he remembered so many details about a life that was so fueled by drugs and alcohol,” says Gracey. The director asked if he could record his chats with Williams and ended up recording about 18 hours worth of interviews.

Speaking to Williams about his path to fame, his struggles, and his insecurities, Gracey came up with the concept for Better Man. Most interestingly, he took Williams at his word whenever he referenced himself as a “performing monkey," deciding to have a CGI monkey play the singer in the film. It’s a bold, interesting choice for a biopic, and it only came to be because of Gracey’s long friendship with Williams, that goes all the way back to that initial consultation about The Greatest Showman.

When director Michael Gracey first contacted Robbie Williams about Hugh Jackman, he probably had no idea how much of his own career would be affected by the meeting. That initial phone call arguably allowed for two of the most interesting modern musicals to exist. Without Robbie Williams, there would be no Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman. And without The Greatest Showman, there would be no Better Man.

Better Man is now playing in theatres across the U.S.

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