How do you top “The Greatest Showman”? Well, for writer/director Michael Gracey, that meant turning to the apes…literally.
Gracey directs the musical biopic “Better Man” based on British pop star Robbie Williams. The only catch? Williams is portrayed by a computer-generated monkey. The Paramount film is billed as being an “extraordinary visual spectacle” that embraces Gracey’s “expansive vision.” Gracey enlisted Weta FX and Jonno Davies in motion-capture suit to bring Williams as a monkey to life.
Williams himself does star, to a certain extent, as he voices the monkey playing himself. Steve Pemberton and Raechelle Banno also appear in the feature.
Gracey co-wrote the film with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson. “Better Man” debuted at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, where IndieWire critic David Ehrlich wrote in the review that having Williams portrayed by a computer-generated monkey makes “Better Man” a better film.
“You will see a monkey bleach its hair. You will see a monkey party with Oasis. You will see a monkey do unreasonable amounts of cocaine, stick a heroin needle in between the fur of its arm, and drive headlong into opposing traffic while shouting a pop song at the top of its monkey lungs,” Ehrlich wrote. “Before the film screened at Telluride, [writer/director] Gracey told the audience that he was simply hoping to literalize Williams’ self-image as a performing monkey, but the movie itself offers no direct explanation, in large part because all the other characters don’t see Williams the same way he sees himself: unevolved.”
The review continues, “It never lets you forget that Williams is different, and that he’s at the mercy of his own wounded ambition; you can’t help but gawk at him like the star that he is, share in his embarrassment when he becomes the most troubled member of boy band Take That, or to appreciate his instinct that a normal life was never in the cards. By the end of the movie, you see him as human all the same, even if Gracey never dares to drop the bit.”
And “Better Man” isn’t the only alternative take on the standard musical biopic: Pharrell Williams opted to be turned into a LEGO character for his life story, “Piece by Piece.”
“Better Man” premieres December 25 in select theaters from Paramount. Check out the teaser below.
