Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Crieff schoolboy to play Robbie Williams’ best friend in film about singer’s life

Leatham Bilsland's character is based on Robbie's real-life friend, Jonathan Wilkes.

Leatham Bilsland will appear in Better Man
Leatham Bilsland features in the Robbie Williams biopic. Image: Supplied

A Crieff schoolboy is to star in a film about the life and career of Robbie Williams.

Morrison’s Academy pupil Leatham Bilsland plays Nate in Better Man, which is released in UK cinemas on Boxing Day.

The film has a unique concept where the singer appears as a monkey, with everyone else in human form.

Leatham’s character is based on Robbie’s real-life friend, Jonathan Wilkes.

The 11-year-old’s mum Michele said: “There was a nationwide casting call and Leatham’s agent put him forward for it.

“He had to do an audition online and then we had to travel to London for a face-to-face audition. He was told there and then that he got the part.

Leatham plays Nate in the film. Image: Supplied

“They auditioned hundreds of boys and he got the part. He was really chuffed.”

Despite the majority of the film being shot in Australia, Leatham wasn’t so lucky.

Michele said: “Because Robbie Williams grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, and Leatham is just in the primary school scene, we had to go there.”

Crieff schoolboy stars in Robbie Williams film

Leatham attends the Rubber Chicken Theatre company in Dunblane and is set to appear as Kristoff in his school’s upcoming production of Frozen.

Michele said: “He did a short movie called The Letter for the Glasgow Film Festival earlier this year.

“He had literally just started acting when he got the part.

“They filmed Better Man not this April but the one before, so he’d only just started acting then.”

Nate is based on Robbie Williams’ friend Jonathan Wilkes. Image: PA

Although Leatham has a singing coach and takes dancing and acting lessons, he didn’t have to show his talents to the casting directors.

Michele said: “The boy who plays young Robbie, Leatham’s friend Carter, had to show he could sing and dance.

“Leatham’s character is more into football. Jonathan Wilkes is big into Soccer Aid. We had to make it clear that Leatham hadn’t played football in his life.

“A couple of the scenes revolved around playing football and, because it was apparent Leatham couldn’t play, a couple of parts had to be cut unfortunately.”

Robbie Williams with director Michael Gracey at the Better Man premiere. Image: Shutterstock

Better Man is hopefully going to be the start of a promising career for Leatham.

Michele said: “He’s been shortlisted for another feature film and he’s just auditioned for Les Miserables at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow and the Mary Poppins worldwide tour.

“We’ve also just found out that he’s been accepted into the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

“The opportunities are all there so he doesn’t have to leave school.”

Young actor delighted after earning Better Man role

Leatham was excited to learn he would be in the movie.

He said: “There’s not a feeling like it. We left (the audition) and went to the shops because we were going to stay in London for a bit.

“They phoned us to say that they needed to measure me so we went back and they told me that I’d got the part.”

Although Better Man will show in cinemas from December 26, Leatham will unfortunately have to wait to see himself on screen.

Michele said: “We have to wait because it’s a 15.

“He wasn’t allowed to go to the premiere so he’s going to have to wait to see himself in the movie.”

Conversation