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Queen Elizabeth’s 2022 death impacted the Royal Family and the world in numerous ways, but one complication that you probably didn’t see coming was how her passing disrupted a major movie—and cost one star “millions” in the process.
British pop icon Robbie Williams recently shared the details behind his new biopic, Better Man, with Hello!, and in the interview, he revealed how the Queen’s death derailed a huge—and pricey—scene in the film.
The movie, created by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, features Williams as a CGI monkey (more on that later), and one particular sequence relied on shutting down a busy London street—a feat that was made impossible after The Queen passed away at the age of 96.
“That was a year and a half in the making with 500 dancers. It’s the biggest dance number I’ve ever done,” Gracey told Hello! adding, “I always used to walk down Regent Street and think, this is such a great street to do a dance number on, like, Why has no one done it? And then it became very clear why no one’s done it.”
Williams performed for The Queen at her 2012 Diamond Jubilee concert.
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Gracey explained that “shutting down that street for four nights” was “a no go” because of the many buses traveling down Regent Street that would have to be redirected. However, after getting turned down “many times,” the director got lucky. He shared that “fortunately, the land is Crown Estate, and the royals like Robbie and so between Westminster Council and the Crown Estate and the most incredible amount of paperwork, we got to shut it down for four nights.”
The royals indeed “like Robbie,” as he’s been friends with Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie for years, and his daughter even served as a tiny bridesmaid in Eugenie’s 2018 royal wedding. The “Rock DJ” singer also performed for Queen Elizabeth during her 2012 Diamond Jubilee and has met Prince William, King Charles and Queen Camilla during Royal Variety Performances over the years.
Unfortunately, the weekend Williams was due to shoot the huge dance number, Queen Elizabeth passed away. Just two days before filming, Gracey shared that he “got a call from the Crown Estate to tell us that The Queen had just died and we wouldn’t be shooting because there’s 10 days of mourning.”
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“So we lost all of the money. There’s no insurance for the death of the Queen,” the director added. Unfortunately, “civil authority was capped at 250 grand payouts,” per Gracey, meaning the production “lost millions of dollars” because of the mourning shutdown.
The pop star looked on as Jessie J shook hands with The Queen after the concert.
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However, all’s well that ends well, because Williams and company were able to film the scene eventually. Gracey told Hello! “it took another five months to get back on that street, and we had to raise the money again,” adding, “every time I watch it, I think people have no idea how close we came to that not being in the film.”
As for Williams and his on-screen monkey, he told Hello! that Gracey pitched him the idea and it immediately clicked. “I’ve got this idea that everybody in the movie is human apart from you, and you’re a CGI monkey,” the director told the “Angels” singer.
“Before the sentence was finished, I was totally sold on it. And I’m like, ‘Yes, that’s genius—and I totally see it,” Williams shared. As for movie audiences’ reactions, watch this space.
