Robbie Williams biopic features chimp Robbie “doing coke with Oasis”

The trend of musical biopics hasn’t slowed down in recent years, but Better Man, the retelling of Robbie Williams’ success, has an animalistic twist.

The new movie, directed by Michael Gracey of The Greatest Showman fame, tackles the wild life of Robbie Williams. From his early Take That days to his success as a solo artist, Williams’ life makes for a great story, but that clearly wasn’t enough for those behind the film.

In fact, the movie avoids the tropes and cliches of biopics altogether in the strangest way possible: by using a CGI chimp in place of the singer. Yes, that’s correct – Better Man focuses on the emotional journey of a monkey, who’s the spiritual stand-in for Robbie Williams in his own life.

All this makes for some truly mind-boggling scenes, including one in which the chimp apparently does cocaine with (recently-reunited) Oasis.

Evidently, this unique concept made the biopic a harder sell.

“I felt like this would be a very hard pitch for any studio,” Gracey explained [via Deadline]. “And to be fair, the monkey of it all was almost a non-starter for so many of the financiers that we approached.

“At first, in their head, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, of course — the director of The Greatest Showman and Robbie Williams. Fantastic.’ And then I would have to say, just one thing: ‘Robbie’s going to be portrayed by a monkey.'”

However, the monkey-of-it-all wasn’t just for shock value. According to Gracey, there was a very simple reason for the primate stand-in.

“I was like, I just don’t want to do another Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman musical biopic, at least from the point of view in which they were approached,” he explained. “I just felt there was a more creative way of entering into this particular story.

“So I went back to those recordings, and when I was listening to them, I found Rob saying often that he was just dragged up to perform, like a monkey, or it didn’t really matter. He was just up the back performing like a monkey.

“And he said it enough times that I was like, ‘Oh, that’s how he sees himself. He literally sees himself as a performing monkey.’ And I thought, ‘That would be amazing; I would love to see that film.’ That’s where the idea came from. And then of course, I had to pitch it to him.”

Of course, using a chimp as an alternative to a young up-and-coming actor or celebrity lookalike avoids one of the biggest pitfalls of retelling the life of a legend. So often, the question of casting is scrutinized, with accusations of Oscar-baiting, miscasting, or lack of talent often coming into the conversation.

However, with a CGI chimp in the lead, it would be hard to argue any of the above.

Better Man premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, with a limited release to follow on December 25, 2024, and a wider release from January 17, 2024.

For more, check out our guides to all the best movies of 2024, the best TV shows of 2024, and all the new movies on streaming this month.