Michael Gracey’s wildly inventive musical biopic of superstar British entertainer Robbie Williams rolls the dice on a unique star casting decision to play Williams that separates it from every showbiz biopic that has come before. A CGI monkey (actor Jonno Davies) plays the singer in what is otherwise a recognizable cradle-to-comeback story so familiar to those who rise to the top, only to fall and rise again. This is the equivalent to casting Lassie to play Frank Sinatra.
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OK, maybe not that crazy, but close enough. So guess what? It really works, even if in America the subject of this major studio film (Paramount picked up the independently produced production) is not widely known, but an icon who has sold over 80 million albums across the rest of the globe, and was recently the subject of a four-part Netflix docu series. It had its world premiere this weekend at the Telluride Film Festival.
The casting concept by Gracey, director of breakout musical hit The Greatest Showman, came from an off-hand remark by Williams that he felt like a “performing monkey.” Gracey took it literally, apparently, because in pure Planet of the Apes style Davies goes apeshit CGI, inhabiting the role of Williams as the star voices it and narrates his own story just to remind us there is actually a human being portrayed here in this most blazingly original idea. Otherwise it is business as usual for this genre, starting with childhood where Robbie is something of an outcast who discovers his talent for performing in school, perhaps inherited from his dad Peter (Steve Pemberton), also a performer who left home to pursue his showbiz dreams when Robbie was very young. It seems like in no time Robbie hits his stride, landing a spot as the youngest member of a boy band, Take That, who despite being told boy bands are over, breaks out to become British pop sensations.
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This is evidenced in no less than one of the most dazzling musical numbers to ever be put on screen where the group performs “Rock DJ” across London’s Regent Street background merged with other locales to appear seamless, ending with a mass choreographed dance finale with hundreds crowding the street. Ashley Wallen is the choreographer and it rivals the freeway opening of La La Land for pure musical bliss. Williams’ solo career is also well represented after the poignant ouster by his band members, notably his rocking appearance at Knebworth and onward.
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Gracey says he was inspired by Bob Fosse and Terry Gilliam, two one-of-a-kind visualist filmmakers, and Fosse’s dark autobiographical dreamy All That Jazz seems to be a key influence. In other hands a Williams biopic might have been as sterile as say an Andy Williams biopic, except the star had very dark periods in his life and it is all shown here, as Better Man’s middle portion seems a real downer with him falling into the rabbit hole of addictions, cocaine, sexual escapades, depression, failure. It almost gets too dark but Gracey knows how to stage those familiar biopic tropes, particularly in a very Fosse-like “Come Undone” number that ends with his car crashing into an ocean like no other. The Visual Effects team deliver one ace sequence after another, all at the same time having a CGI Monkey as the star attraction at its center.
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The use of Williams narrating, expletives and all, his own story never gets in the way and actually seems necessary so that after a while you forget the monkey gimmick and accept it willingly. Much of the credit here has to go to Davies, who may be CGI’d in the final product, but had to be convincing working opposite the humans in all the song and dance to dramatic moments. He doesn’t miss a beat. Gracey plays a lot of it in close-ups of his eyes, a haunting effect itself. Andy Serkis would approve. The large supporting cast is also quite fine, including a superb Pemberton in a key role as his father, and notably Rochelle Banno as a pop star romantically involved with Williams until a decision to have an abortion changes things. Veteran British actress Allison Steadman lends much needed warmth as Williams’ beloved Grandmother Betty, and Damon Herriman seems just right as manager Nigel Martin Smith.
A production on this scale requires top notch crafts mavens and Gracey has them, including superb cinematography from Erik A. Wilson, dazzling Production Design by Joel Chang, and colorful costumes from Cappi Ireland. The aforementioned tremendous Visual Effects were supervised by Luke Millar and viz effx producer Andy Taylor. Musically Better Man simply soars, and in fact this film could make Williams finally a household name in America just as he is in the UK and Europe. He himself says in the film “there is no one who does it better” and he may be right. I want the soundtrack asap.
Right from the start we learn the very young Williams was devoted to Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin, emulating that Rat Pack energy, and the film ends as he sings (and later is joined by his father, Peter) in a poignant version of a later Sinatra anthem “My Way”. Clearly that also applies to Robbie Williams who has always done it his way as this winning biopic confirms.
I have been a lifelong fan of British pop stars and the biopics or films they spawned, right from Richard Lester’s wonderfully off the wall Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, to Cliff Richards musicals like Summer Holiday , the Oscar-winning Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, to Elton John’s Rocketman (which Gracey Executive Produced) to even this year’s underrated Back To Black with a great Marisa Abela portrayal of Amy Winehouse. I am glad Gracey has now put his stamp squarely on the genre and, dark as it does get, takes it to new heights.
Producers are Paul Currie, Gracey, Coco Xiaolu Ma, Jules Daly, Craig McMahon. I also counted 21 Executive Producers including Williams himself. It takes a village.
Title: Better Man
Festival: Telluride
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: December 25, 2024 (limited); January 17, 2024 (wide)
Director: Michael Gracey
Screenplay: Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole, Michael Gracey
Cast: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Damon Herriman, Rachelle Banno, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvany, Tom Budge, Anthony Hayes
Running Time: 2 hr 15 mins
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