Superstar singer Robbie Williams displayed his signature cheekiness at the world premiere screening of Michael Gracey‘s musical biography Better Man when he asked members of the audience at the Telluride Film Festival to “suspend your absolute bigotry” over a word that most Americans find offensive.
Williams joined Gracey to introduce the electrifying musical extravaganza at the festival’s Chuck Jones Theater.
Smiling as he took the microphone, Williams offered “a word of warning” on what “may be a trigger warning for you all, especially the ladies.”
Pleading — begging even — for their understanding, he continued to caution that “there’s a word that comes up in this movie several times,” and begged to be allowed to explain “culturally” why the word is used in the film.
He explained that there are “70 million people in the U.K., there are 26 million Australians, there are five million Irish people. We all don’t understand why you find the word,” then pausing for dramatic effect, “that sounds like count, so disapproving. What I would ask for you is to see it culturally through our lens … and to suspend your absolute bigotry and please enjoy it just for what it is.”
It was a smart move to introduce a touch of very British down-to-earth humor to explain why a word that many Americans find unacceptable was being used in the movie.
Robbie Williams at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. (Baz Bamigboye/Deadline)
The term that sounds like count is often used with abandon in the UK, its ubiquity is such that it long ago ceased to cause deep offence. That said, it’s not a phrase that I myself would use in everyday conversation. Definitely not. I have admonished other men if the four-letter word was very hurled at a woman in my hearing.
Am I guilty of having uttered it? Yes.
But only my two dogs and the TV set were present during the World Cup and European football championships. My dogs often growled at me when, if a goal had been missed or disallowed, that certain word escaped my lips.
With Better Man though, it didn’t feel that Americans in the audience had been offended by its use; importantly, they appeared to have comprehended the context in which it was used.
Also, the film is such an emotional rollercoaster, that folks weren’t sitting there clutching their pearls over how many times they might’ve heard count.
Michael Gracey directs Raechelle Banno on the set of Better Man.
They were more invested in following the story of the rise, fall and rise again of Williams’ career which started with the Take That boy band. He’s an internationally known balladeer with a sideline in patter that’s reminiscent of the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. combined with the humor of British comic legends Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
Better Man, which follows Gracey’s acclaimed The Greatest Showman, uses an extraordinary cinematic concept to tell Williams’ tale.
Judging from the sounds of people around me bawling their eyes out, his artistic choices have found favour.