Hey, Pharrell told his life story with Legos — anything’s possible. Even reimagining yourself as a CGI monkey. Okay, okay, before the primate experts start coming for us in the comments, we should clarify that the upcoming Robbie Williams biopic Better Man stars a chimpanzee. (You can tell that he’s an ape because he doesn’t have a tail.) So if you really wanna get as specific as possible with your puns, then you should probably say that this R-rated musical film is about Williams going apeshit, and not about him monkeying around. On the other hand, people are definitely going to call this a monkey movie, because Williams himself has been doing that on the press tour. “I’ve been a cheeky monkey all my life,†the singer told the Associated Press. “There’s no more cheekier monkey than the coke-snorting, sex-addict monkey that we find in the movie.†Below, a primer on what to know about this primate pic for Paramount from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey.
What is Better Man about?
Probably about what you’d expect when you hear “Robbie Williams biopic.†Better Man charts the rise, fall, and resurgence of the British pop star. As 2e follow him from his childhood to his time in the boy band Take That to his subsequent success as a solo artist, the film delves into his experience with substance abuse issues, rocky relationships, and the challenges of fame and success. Williams sings, does coke, gets a handjob … oh, and by the way, is also a monkey the whole time. Everyone else is human.
Uh, what? Why is Robbie Williams a monkey?
It just felt right. In the trailer, Williams explains that he’s personally always viewed himself as “less evolved.†And director Michael Gracey knew he wanted to take an approach that would set the project apart from the many other musical biopics out there. “Quite often Rob will say, ‘I’m just like a performing monkey’ or ‘I’m up the back like a performing monkey,’†Gracey recalled to the BBC. “It just sparked this idea of, we’ve got this chance to tell this story, not from the perspective of how we see Rob, but how he sees himself.â€
What happens in the Better Man trailer?
We are introduced to the chimpanzee version of Williams, created by Weta ( the same special effects studio that gave us Caesar from Planet of the Apes and Gollum from Lord of the Rings) and played via motion capture by Jonno Davies. “For the next two hours, your ass is mine!†Chimpanzilliams yells to a screaming crowd. We see him grow up, from taking baths as a child to celebrating that he’s gotten into a boy band to feeling the need to prove himself on his own. “So, the story starts,†he teases.
Why was one of its songs disqualified from the Oscars?
“Forbidden Road,†written and recorded by Willams for Better Man, made the Oscars shortlist for Best Original Song this year. But it didn’t sound so original to the Academy. A representative for the Academy confirmed that it was disqualified from the category because it incorporates material from the existin 1973 Jim Croce song “I Got a Name.â€
When is it coming out?
Better Man swings into select US theaters on December 25, and arrives everywhere else in the US on January 10.