Robbie Williams and director Michael Gracey on their bananas, CGI monkey- featuring biopic ‘Better Man’: “It’s healing”

nme.com:

Robbie Williams and director Michael Gracey have spoken to NME about Better Man, the new Williams biopic featuring a CGI monkey (performed by actor Jonno Davies) in the lead role.The duo revealed the logic behind the unusual choice, the film’s no-holds-barred depiction of Williams’ drug and alcohol addictions and why we empathise more with animals than human beings in cinema.Williams also speculated on Liam Gallagher’s reaction to his role in the film and opened up about his forthcoming 13th studio album, which features Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and British hard-rock legend Glenn Hughes on one track.Robbie Williams: “Lion.

I was trying to get some self-worth for myself at the time – and still, every day. Chin out, chest out – lion. And Michael just went: [looks uncertain].

I went: ‘Monkey?’ He went, ‘Yeah, OK,’ and pitched me the idea and I was totally onboard.”“Because that’s it, innit? I’m a cheeky monkey, aren’t I?

If they said, on Family Fortunes, ‘We asked 100 people, “What animal is Robbie Williams?”’, the people that don’t hate me would probably go, ‘He’s a monkey.’”Michael Gracey: “There’s been a number of musical biopics and I was searching for something that would be, from an audience point of view, more interesting.