Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man” will begin filming in Melbourne, Australia in early 2022 under the direction of Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman”).
Williams is one of the U.K.’s most prominent entertainers and one of the best-selling artists of all time. He first found fame with the group Take That, from 1989 to 1995, and then segued into a successful solo career. The film will offer an introspective look into the experiences that shaped Williams, both on and off stage.
Singer-actor, Williams is expected to appear as himself, with some of his songs re-interpreted and recontextualized in the film.
“Better Man” will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand by leading film distributor, Roadshow Films. International sales are handled by U.K.-based Rocket Science, which previously handled “Schumacher” and “The Trial of The Chicago 7.”
The project was confirmed Friday by Australia’s federal government and the Victoria state authorities. It will benefit from the federal producer offset scheme and Film Victoria’s incentive program.
Australia has been the location for numerous international productions since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, and multiple new studio building projects are underway in order to expand capacity. Things have looked less rosy since the Delta variant caused different states to adopt new restrictions and health precautions.
“I’m so excited I am making this movie in Victoria with my friend Michael Gracey,” said Williams.
The production is expected to create around 2,200 local jobs, including 14 local heads of department, 80 visual effects practitioners, and 220 crew. In addition, there will be more than 2,700 extras and casuals and work will be created for an estimated 300 local businesses and service providers.
“ ‘Better Man’ is shaping up to be become a major theatrical event and we couldn’t be more excited that it will shoot in Melbourne, which is also the hometown of director Michael Gracey,” said Joel Pearlman, Roadshow Films.
“To tell Robbie William’s beautiful, distinct story, back home, in my own city, is a dream come true. There is a creative energy that burns across the Melbourne film industry, and I know this movie will thrive here,” said Gracey.
After today’s Telluride premiere of Better Man, the cat will be out of the bag. Or, more appropriately, the monkey will be out of the barrel.
The film covers Robbie Williams’ larger-than-life ascension from the bad boy in the Brit boy band Take That to superstar solo artist – with all the drug and alcohol use, struggles with depression and anxiety – is captured in its decadent glory befitting a superstar who pushed every envelope. Directed by Michael Gracey, Better Man is as much a full-blown musical as his last hit, The Greatest Showman. Only here, all of the characters are depicted by humans, except for Williams. He appears throughout the film in the form of, as Williams says, “a cheeky chimpanzee.”
In this interview, Gracey discusses this massive creative swing he, Williams and the film’s financiers and the distributor Paramount Pictures have taken. I met Williams at a Telluride brunch this morning. He’s slim and has the healthy look of one who has put the bad boy days behind him — “still naughty, just sober.” He felt not only has the movie accurately captured his crazy journey, but that it might succeed enough that a receptive US audience might propel the kind of same that has been his reality since teens, in places like the UK and Australia, where he still cannot go to a mall or walk down the street without being mobbed. The film covers his excesses, and his craving for approval from his father, who got Robbie bit by the showbiz bug, then left the family to pursue his own dreams. It left a whole Williams filled in all the wrong ways.
“To say I was blown away wouldn’t do it justice,” Williams told me about seeing the whole film for the first time. “But then I go into this existential, well do I think it’s amazing because I’m narcissist, or is it actually amazing? Because it feels pretty ****ing mind-blowing.” There is a lot depicted that a narcissist would not love, particularly the drug use and mental health woes that are somehow easier to watch when a chimp going through it.
“I’ve had this problem that has sometimes been a strength, where I don’t know when to stop oversharing,” the singer said. “And this is a movie full of classic oversharing, whether I look good or look bad. But it’s got a fantastic portrayal of what happened in my life. It’s honest.”
Williams hopes a new audience in the U.S. will want to hear more from him. He lived in L.A. for many years, and could walk down the street or go to the mall like a normal person.
“I am completely anonymous, and I didn’t plan to change it until now,” he said. “And now I’m kind of desperate for that to change. I moved [to L.A.] so I could be Bruce Wayne in America and Batman everywhere else. It worked for me because there were periods in my life which were pretty risqué. I needed a place to retreat and not be known, and I got that. But now I’m old and wise enough to want the experience of incredible success again. And maybe that would be in America. I’d like to enjoy that kind of success as an adult now instead of a teenager that couldn’t experience any sort of joy because of what was happening mentally. I said to Michael yesterday, one-quarter joking, as we got off the chair lifts that took us over the mountain, and walked through the town here … I said, “Mate, I hope I can’t ****ing do this in 18 months time.” I know mentally what that invites into your life, but America’s a place that I’ve lived in for 24 years, and it’s a place that I’ve dreamed about all of my life. I’ve been happy being anonymous in America. But now I would like to show off for America, and I would like to be received with love. Maybe I can do that. But it all depends on the film.”
If the SNL movie's a hit, maybe Reitman will do one for him in that style.
I think it would be extraordinarily hard for the SNL movie to be a big hit worldwide, the show has never been seen by many people outside the US, at least AFAIK.
I just don't really get what they're going for here. Why the heck is Robbie Williams a chimpanzee? Were they high on drugs when they came up with this idea?
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Better Man (2024)
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