Better Man might be a fantastical take on a movie biopic, but for Robbie Williams, the emotional core of it was as grounded as it could be.
The new movie from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey is based on the rise, fall and resurgence of Robbie Williams. But while you'll hear Williams in the movie, he's portrayed by a chimpanzee, played in motion-capture by Jonno Davies.
Talking to Digital Spy about what he wants viewers to take from Better Man, Williams compared the biopic to his self-titled 2023 Netflix documentary series.
"I would like to tell you that I did this for altruistic reasons but I am a professional attention seeker and I really need this huge opportunity to facilitate the third act of my career," he joked.
Related: Robbie Williams biopic confirms UK release date
"Much like the documentary, I only realised after the documentary comes out that there are other reasons for this to exist too.
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"When I wake up the next day and there's 25 emails after people have seen my documentary [saying], 'Thank you for telling your story. I saw a lot about myself in it and it helped me'. I'm like, 'Oh wow, I've done this really kind thing by mistake'.
"People walk up to me after the screenings and there are floods of tears and they commend me on my bravery which I don't get at all, but thank you. I know that this is, separate to all of the commercial reasons, therapy.
"I also know because I've witnessed it in some sort of way. It does some sort of healing, which is also great."
In classic Robbie Williams fashion, he did also jokingly add: "But I'm on tour next year, buy tickets."
Related: Robbie Williams is a monkey in first trailer for his biopic Better Man
For Jonno Davies, who portrays Williams, he added that viewers will be "really surprised" – and not just because Better Man shows the iconic star as a chimpanzee.
"I think, especially over here, a lot of people think they know Robbie Williams, think they know his story, from the version that's been told over the last 30 years of being such a front page person of the press, and now they're gonna see a whole different side to it," he noted.
"I don't think they're gonna expect the honesty and I don't think they're gonna expect the vulnerability, how exposed he is as himself in the story and I think that will be a really nice surprise for people."
Raechelle Banno, who plays Nicole Appleton in the movie, added: "What Jonno's really done is capture the essence of Robbie. Watching it, I was really struck, as a fan, [that] this is how a film about Robbie is supposed to feel."
Better Man is released in UK cinemas on December 26.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
