Better Man

Well, the fact they want to break America on their field (Hollywood) makes me SOOO positive -seeing the team and Robbie himself very brave.

Out of routine and take the brakes is what you need if you want be relevant.

Nobody told and tell it's easy to like to them after 20 years of no activity.

Come on! It's difficult but very interesting goal :) But why not to try as Jack Nicholson told.

Again, my opinion is only fail here - is disaster in LA this week.

Robbie and Paramount specially back to USA (and changed SA concerts) for promo during these two weeks in LA.

And?

No premiere, no possibility to go at the TV to entertain the people when your house and your friends and Paramount guys think about families instead of that.

Again, it's really a factor of unluck for me.

It doesn't mean that the movie immediately would crash the box office - no.

But we could see the movie today much higher and without these headlines.

Very pity for a very good movie.

But!

12-13 millions WW will be by Monday. It's a long and winding road for the movie, so let's just wish the BM team more luck and a little bit more clever campaign since now - I hope Paramount exp could help now - it's their work.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainmen...ew/77553728007/

Robbie Williams talks new album

 

 

Robbie Williams performs live at the Telekom Street Gigs with a large orchestra, new songs, and the Beethoven AI at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany in 2022.

 

Williams is aware that despite the echelon of fame in his homeland that almost leveled him many times, America has always been a difficult market to conquer.

“Many people already know my story and lots of people are reviled by me, not many are indifferent and some really love me,” Williams says. “So (in the U.S.) it’s going to be incredibly interesting how we get this story across. People have been telling me there have been fights on TikTok about whether I’m allowed to join the pantheon of great artists who have never cracked America or not, which is exciting and bewildering at the same time.”

 

Along with gamely plowing through extensive promotion for “Better Man,” Williams is also finishing a new album – he declines to name a release date “because I haven’t got one yet” – that includes a high-octane rocker with legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Deep Purple alumnus Glenn Hughes.

 

And though he performed a well-received residency at Wynn Las Vegas in 2019, Williams is ambivalent about his next moves.

 

“I did those shows at the Wynn as a busman’s holiday and to scratch an itch. But the plan was to grow it and COVID came along and my concentration and other projects came up and off I went,” Williams says. “I’d love to show off for everybody in (the U.S.) to a greater extent than I’ve been able to. But if my movie is yet again met with indifference, then I will find it very difficult to have the enthusiasm to do anything.”

A few more interviews with Michael...

"Holding the Audience in the Palm of Your Hands": 'Better Man' Director Explains How Robbie Williams Saved 'The Greatest Showman'

 

It turns out we can thank Robbie Williams for more than just a killer discography. According to Better Man director Michael Gracey, the pop icon was instrumental in saving The Greatest Showman from being canned at the 11th hour. During a recent Q&A session at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Gracey shared the unbelievable story of how a last-minute intervention by Williams helped keep his debut feature alive. Gracey started by recalling his initial encounter with Williams at a Hollywood party hosted by his lawyer, but the real story began years later while working with Hugh Jackman on The Greatest Showman:

 

“So, I met Rob at a classy Hollywood party, briefly, at my lawyer's house. And then years later, when I was doing The Greatest Showman, Hugh Jackman kept referencing Robbie Williams, like, to the point of annoyance. So I’d play a song, and he’d say, ‘It should be more like a Robbie Williams tune.’ And we’d talk about entering the ring and holding the audience in the palm of your hands, like Robbie Williams. And I was like, what are you talking about? Like, you can choose any entertainer in the history of entertainment. And every reference was Robbie Williams.”

 

The project had been in development for nearly seven years when Jackman threw a wrench into the works. Just before filming was set to begin, he expressed serious doubts about the music, which he believed wasn’t strong enough to carry the film:

 

“Hugh was getting a lot of people in his ear about the music. And he called me on a Saturday and said, ‘Listen, I’ve been thinking about this. A musical lives and dies on this music, and the music isn’t good enough; we need to start again.’ And I thought, if the studio hears this, they’re going to shut us down. Like, they’re not going to go into production on their original musical with Hugh saying he wants to rework all the music.”

 

Faced with the potential collapse of his first film, Gracey took a bold leap and decided to reach out to Williams for help. “When [Hugh] said this, my only shot at getting this made was getting in touch with Robbie Williams," he said. "So I called my lawyer, and my lawyer’s daughter Casey is good friends with Ayda Fields, who is married to Robbie Williams. So that was my three degrees of separation. I told [my lawyer] I had to meet Robbie this weekend, or the movie won’t happen.”

 

The next day, Gracey knocked on Williams’ door. Though the pop star had just woken up, he quickly became intrigued as Gracey explained the situation and played the film’s songs for him. Williams, for his part, actually believed that Gracey was coming round to offer him the leading role in the movie, as he told BBC last month. Gracey continued:

 

“I knocked on Rob’s door the next day, he answers, he’s bleary-eyed and just woken up, and he’s like, ‘What is it exactly you want?’ I explained I was working on an original musical, the music is theatrical, and it’s quite pop. I told him the story and played the songs and asked to get his opinion. He was tapping his foot and enjoying it, and I said the only thing more bizarre than me showing up here is what I’ll ask you now.”

 

Gracey then made a bold request. He asked Williams to record a video message for Jackman, sharing his thoughts on the music. Williams delivered in spectacular fashion:

 

“I asked him to tell Hugh Jackman, and I asked if I could film him talking to the camera as if it was Hugh, telling him what he thought of the songs, and that video is better than anything I could have written. He said he’d spent the last year working on an album, and he would ditch that entire album to sing these songs, and if they were having a cup of tea, he’d bludgeon Hugh to death just to play P. T. Barnum in the movie.”

 

The message worked. Jackman called Gracey immediately and agreed to move forward with the original music: “I sent it to Hugh, and he called me immediately and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So Robbie is the saviour of my first movie.”

 

Better Man is in theaters now. The Greatest Showman is streaming on Disney+.

 

https://collider.com/better-man-robbie-will...eatest-showman/

Right comment:

Homefair

I have to say that while I hugely enjoyed The Greatest Showman & all its music, Gracey's new musical Better Man is miles above it! So creative, heartfelt, raw & risk taking. With all the critical acclaim, why it's not up for more awards is beyond me.

I think it's because the money came from independent sources, Rob himself and China.

Local 'mafia' doesn't want to support other players not from thier pool.

Well, this t-shirt in US I'm talking about!

VERY good response from on Better Man on this US UV channel Fox 2.

"It's not a movie, it's a film!"

More words and interview with Adam Tucker now.

 

=>

 

 

Exclusive: 'I sang with Robbie Williams on his Better Man biopic – here's what it was really like'

Robbie Williams' critically acclaimed biopic Better Man explored the true story behind the musical legend, now singer Adam Tucker, who sang on the movie as Williams has opened up about it

 

By Daniel Bird

Assistant Showbiz Editor

11 Jan 2025

 

With a voice that's so recognisable to millions – how hard could it be to sing Robbie Williams' tracks for his Better Man biopic?

 

Norfolk-born singer Adam Tucker took on the voice of Robbie on a string of tracks from his earlier days for the movie. The movie which came out on Boxing Day saw Robbie transformed into a CGI monkey, playing into his cheeky yet creative persona. But while the film has been a roaring success, parts of it were not easy for Williams, 50, who relived some of his darkest times, including his fall out with former Take That bandmate, Gary Barlow.

 

Stoke on Trent born Robbie dramatically left the band in 1995, sparking heartbreak and tears across the nation. But behind his decision, he had been secretly battling a drug addiction and rising tensions with his bandmates – Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange. It also explores his relationship with All Saint's singer, Nicole Appleton, who "wept" after watching hte movie. Williams said he felt "shame" over the way he treated the singer during their relationship after seeing it play out.

 

But just how involved was he in the movie? Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Adam, 30, revealed how he got the part. Thankfully, a friend of the singer lived next door to one of the casting agents working on Better Man. "It took a while," he said of his audition process. He went on to add: "Next thing, I'm having a phone call with these guys," before explaining he sent over a string of recordings of himself singing Angels, Feel and Let Me Entertain You. "When they said yes, I was straight in the studio on and off for maybe 18 months, we started in February 2023 and the film came out this Christmas. It's been in the works for a while but when you're doing CGI, it's quite complicated."

 

But how involved was Williams throughout the process? Adam explained: "He provided the stories and voiceovers and what needed to happen. The help that he gave us in the studio, there are some bits – there had never been a recording of Land of 1000 Dances, nobody has heard him sing Take That in terms of Relight My Fire, these versions.

 

"I know how he sounds in general but it was specifically on things, there are some voice notes that we'd had from him to guide ous on the right path of how it sounded, or how he would sing. He's from Stoke but he doesn't necessarily sound like he's from Stoke. It's his own voice, it's not an obvious voice, if you have an Elton John you can change your pronunciations, whereas Robbie is quite specific, his voice is really unique but not glaringly obviously different.

 

"He was able to give us references for singing." But away from the studio, Adam somewhat glued his headphones to his head as he delved into the Robbie archive, rewatching live footage from his early days as a solo artist, including THAT performance at Knebworth. "Let Me Entertain You is live, obviously it was recorded in the studio," Adam said before continuing: "But that was jumping around in the studio with a microphone – it was the only way you can capture the voice and microphone."

 

"He was involved but not load. It's very honest," Adam said when asked to what extent Robbie was involved. Since its release, Williams admits he's "almost the bad guy" in the movie due to his levels of honesty. This, however, is something Adam praises the legendary musician for.

 

"I think that's his biggest asset, being completely open about him and he way he thought at the time," he said, before continuing: "Times have changed, he's matured quite a lot and he thinks differently about certain people now in a more positive light. It's a really dark film, it's so raw and obviously a lot more emotional.

 

"People I've spoken to were like 'I was crying' at the end, when he's singing My Way, reuniting with his dad, people are in tears. It's very interesting, a lot of people are very shocked – obviously the monkey, people thought 'Why is a monkey?' they never address it in film, why is he a monkey? But it just works."

 

Despite taking on the role of Robbie, Adam joked that he'd never been a Robbie tribute act, despite dozens of people asking him. "You close your eyes and it sounds like Robbie Williams but you open them and it looks like Ed Sheeran," he laughed.

 

While many people question if he changed his voice to take on Robbie, he revealed that there had been slight changes – but almost everything was natural. At his audition, Adam was keen to not try and attempt to impersonate Robbie and instead showed off the real him.

 

"I never thought I sounded like him, maybe little bits because I'm singing a Robbie song or something," he said. He went on to add: "Obviously when I watched the film, I knew what bits I sang, I knew what bits Robbie sung, but I was like 'Oh wow that does sound like Robbie,' not that I should have been shocked because that's the reason I got hired, it's crazy."

 

Entering the audition room, Adam made the brave decision to sing Angels, one of Rob's most defining songs. "With Angels, I remember sitting there when I was four or five with the cassette player, playing Angels on repeat and pretending to sing as Robbie Williams," he proudly recalled.

 

"For me it was huge, it's weird, I've done this in the studio for the last 18 months with four people. You sort of forget that it's going out to the world because you're so engrossed in going the studio. It's sort of like going to the studio everyday with your mates, the whole thing was just fun – there was no pressure, I the only permission I felt was what I put on myself. I auditioned straight into singing Angels and I was like 'Oh my God, this is the biggest song, especially in Europe but one of the biggest songs ever.

 

"You just never like, feel like, the gravitas of what you're doing when you're in a studio, because you just don't know how It's going to be receptive, with people and you don't, I'd never thought about that." Six months after wrapping his parts of recording, Adam knew that people had been working behind the scenes on the movie but was secretly getting to grips with millions of people across the world hearing his voice – and seeing his name on the film credits.

 

 

He said: "I managed to camouflage myself in the role of singing, I was quite proud of that. I think it sort of makes that shock back to when people are turning around and going 'Oh now someone else is singing. There are some songs in the film that is me and him singing, it cuts between both of us, most people would not know, obviously there was a lot of work that's gone into it. That's how seamless I think our voices would have sit. Some of the songs are completely remade and different.

 

"Obviously he didn't write these songs with the intention that they were ever going to be in a film and they were going to be to a specific narrative. That's sort of why I was hired, to bring that narrative to life in the singing – when he's driving a car when he's just been fired from Take That, or Angels when his grandma dies. It's these emotionally charged scenes that are not specific in the original recording, so they had to re-record these and wanted me to come in.

 

"Obviously Rob's voice has changed, you get older, your voice changes, so they wanted someone who could play the younger versions of him." But Adam's not slowing down any time soon. Following the ongoing interest in Better Man, he's taking some time to work on his own music.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news...better-34460454

I really liked this article.

Adam made a good job with his singing and shared some interesting points of the process how the movie had developed.

I think I will use this interview for some of my project of Robbie...

More words and interview with Adam Tucker now.

=>

Exclusive: 'I sang with Robbie Williams on his Better Man biopic – here's what it was really like'

Robbie Williams' critically acclaimed biopic Better Man explored the true story behind the musical legend, now singer Adam Tucker, who sang on the movie as Williams has opened up about it

By Daniel Bird

Assistant Showbiz Editor

11 Jan 2025

With a voice that's so recognisable to millions – how hard could it be to sing Robbie Williams' tracks for his Better Man biopic?

Norfolk-born singer Adam Tucker took on the voice of Robbie on a string of tracks from his earlier days for the movie. The movie which came out on Boxing Day saw Robbie transformed into a CGI monkey, playing into his cheeky yet creative persona. But while the film has been a roaring success, parts of it were not easy for Williams, 50, who relived some of his darkest times, including his fall out with former Take That bandmate, Gary Barlow.

Stoke on Trent born Robbie dramatically left the band in 1995, sparking heartbreak and tears across the nation. But behind his decision, he had been secretly battling a drug addiction and rising tensions with his bandmates – Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange. It also explores his relationship with All Saint's singer, Nicole Appleton, who "wept" after watching hte movie. Williams said he felt "shame" over the way he treated the singer during their relationship after seeing it play out.

But just how involved was he in the movie? Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Adam, 30, revealed how he got the part. Thankfully, a friend of the singer lived next door to one of the casting agents working on Better Man. "It took a while," he said of his audition process. He went on to add: "Next thing, I'm having a phone call with these guys," before explaining he sent over a string of recordings of himself singing Angels, Feel and Let Me Entertain You. "When they said yes, I was straight in the studio on and off for maybe 18 months, we started in February 2023 and the film came out this Christmas. It's been in the works for a while but when you're doing CGI, it's quite complicated."

But how involved was Williams throughout the process? Adam explained: "He provided the stories and voiceovers and what needed to happen. The help that he gave us in the studio, there are some bits – there had never been a recording of Land of 1000 Dances, nobody has heard him sing Take That in terms of Relight My Fire, these versions.

"I know how he sounds in general but it was specifically on things, there are some voice notes that we'd had from him to guide ous on the right path of how it sounded, or how he would sing. He's from Stoke but he doesn't necessarily sound like he's from Stoke. It's his own voice, it's not an obvious voice, if you have an Elton John you can change your pronunciations, whereas Robbie is quite specific, his voice is really unique but not glaringly obviously different.

"He was able to give us references for singing." But away from the studio, Adam somewhat glued his headphones to his head as he delved into the Robbie archive, rewatching live footage from his early days as a solo artist, including THAT performance at Knebworth. "Let Me Entertain You is live, obviously it was recorded in the studio," Adam said before continuing: "But that was jumping around in the studio with a microphone – it was the only way you can capture the voice and microphone."

"He was involved but not load. It's very honest," Adam said when asked to what extent Robbie was involved. Since its release, Williams admits he's "almost the bad guy" in the movie due to his levels of honesty. This, however, is something Adam praises the legendary musician for.

"I think that's his biggest asset, being completely open about him and he way he thought at the time," he said, before continuing: "Times have changed, he's matured quite a lot and he thinks differently about certain people now in a more positive light. It's a really dark film, it's so raw and obviously a lot more emotional.

"People I've spoken to were like 'I was crying' at the end, when he's singing My Way, reuniting with his dad, people are in tears. It's very interesting, a lot of people are very shocked – obviously the monkey, people thought 'Why is a monkey?' they never address it in film, why is he a monkey? But it just works."

Despite taking on the role of Robbie, Adam joked that he'd never been a Robbie tribute act, despite dozens of people asking him. "You close your eyes and it sounds like Robbie Williams but you open them and it looks like Ed Sheeran," he laughed.

While many people question if he changed his voice to take on Robbie, he revealed that there had been slight changes – but almost everything was natural. At his audition, Adam was keen to not try and attempt to impersonate Robbie and instead showed off the real him.

"I never thought I sounded like him, maybe little bits because I'm singing a Robbie song or something," he said. He went on to add: "Obviously when I watched the film, I knew what bits I sang, I knew what bits Robbie sung, but I was like 'Oh wow that does sound like Robbie,' not that I should have been shocked because that's the reason I got hired, it's crazy."

Entering the audition room, Adam made the brave decision to sing Angels, one of Rob's most defining songs. "With Angels, I remember sitting there when I was four or five with the cassette player, playing Angels on repeat and pretending to sing as Robbie Williams," he proudly recalled.

"For me it was huge, it's weird, I've done this in the studio for the last 18 months with four people. You sort of forget that it's going out to the world because you're so engrossed in going the studio. It's sort of like going to the studio everyday with your mates, the whole thing was just fun – there was no pressure, I the only permission I felt was what I put on myself. I auditioned straight into singing Angels and I was like 'Oh my God, this is the biggest song, especially in Europe but one of the biggest songs ever.

"You just never like, feel like, the gravitas of what you're doing when you're in a studio, because you just don't know how It's going to be receptive, with people and you don't, I'd never thought about that." Six months after wrapping his parts of recording, Adam knew that people had been working behind the scenes on the movie but was secretly getting to grips with millions of people across the world hearing his voice – and seeing his name on the film credits.

He said: "I managed to camouflage myself in the role of singing, I was quite proud of that. I think it sort of makes that shock back to when people are turning around and going 'Oh now someone else is singing. There are some songs in the film that is me and him singing, it cuts between both of us, most people would not know, obviously there was a lot of work that's gone into it. That's how seamless I think our voices would have sit. Some of the songs are completely remade and different.

"Obviously he didn't write these songs with the intention that they were ever going to be in a film and they were going to be to a specific narrative. That's sort of why I was hired, to bring that narrative to life in the singing – when he's driving a car when he's just been fired from Take That, or Angels when his grandma dies. It's these emotionally charged scenes that are not specific in the original recording, so they had to re-record these and wanted me to come in.

"Obviously Rob's voice has changed, you get older, your voice changes, so they wanted someone who could play the younger versions of him." But Adam's not slowing down any time soon. Following the ongoing interest in Better Man, he's taking some time to work on his own music.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news...better-34460454

Talking about Oscars rules :lol:

Well, but having Star Wars with 6 of 9 nominations of Best Score is fine on other side =)))

Denis Villeneuve Criticizes Oscars Over 'Dune: Part Two' Disqualification

 

We haven't even got to the official ceremony, but the 2025 Oscars are already causing controversy. There has been an ongoing battle between The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Dune: Part Two over Hans Zimmer's phenomenal score for the 2024 sequel. According to The Academy, the score is ineligible for submission in the Best Original Score category, something which Zimmer himself disagrees with, though he is ultimately more focused on the quality of the score and movie than its awards potential. However, like Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) announcing himself as the Lisan al Gaib, Dune: Part Two's director, Denis Villeneuve, has come to the rescue, defending Zimmer's score, and questioning The Academy's decision.

 

During an interview with SlashFilm, Denis Villeneuve called out The Academy for excluding Zimmer's score. "I am absolutely against the decision of the Academy to exclude Hans, frankly, because I feel like his score is one of the best scores of the year," the director boldly claimed. Few would disagree with him, except for the judges at the Golden Globes. The 2025 Golden Globes awarded Challengers with Best Score, beating out Zimmer's Dune: Part Two score, which was in contention. Villeneuve didn't comment on the Globes loss, but he knows how powerful Zimmer's score was, saying:

 

"I don’t use the word genius often, but Hans is one."

 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ruled out Zimmer's score for the sequel because it featured too much similarity, and sampled too many sounds from the score for 2021's Dune. Villeneuve continued, saying that the sequel's score had to feature some continuity from the original, as he views them as "one big movie that is cut in half." According to him, Part Two's score is "rooted in Part One, of course, because there is a continuity." The director then confirmed that he's not taking the ruling as seriously as some people on the internet, saying, "I'm not here to complain. The soundtrack is really a continuity of Part One."

 

I've seen cool t-shirts in USA cinemas: Robbie Williams - Better Man - World Tour.

Very interesting, is it pre-advert or just a fictial t-shirts of super heroes as American like to wear everywhere?

----

Better Man

// 16 days since release

IMDB - 7.7 (6.5K marks)

vs.

The Brutalist (maybe the best movie of 2024)

// 21 days since release

IMDB - 8.1 (4.1K marks)

p.s. By the way, more correct number is 1 291 theaters (for 10 Jan in US).

Really don't remember this news (2006).

Anyway Gary did it first in the end! :) So now give up!

Still love this b-side so much but still don't know a good story behind this song... RW Rewind also haven't helped me...

Don't know how to find out the info about it without Robbie himself.

Well, again, it was a great b-side from Sin Sin Sin single.

Would be great to get this song in credits of any movies even.

And what's your opinion about One Love?

Just Like We Told Ya

Our Love Is Better Then Their Love

We Can Make You Famous

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

You Don't Need Anyone To Know

That You Exist

You Don't Want Anyone To Know

You Can't Resist

All This Time

All Those Breath

All This Hanging Around

All This Hopes

All This Fears

All This All This

Our Love Is Better Then Their Love

We Could Give You More Love

Just Not Enough Of

This Thing Called Love, Love

Do You Believe Their Love Will Make

Everything All Right?

Do You Believe Stars Disappear

When It Gets Light?

All This Dreams

All This Lies

All That Sleeping Around

More Receptions

Empty Rooms

All This

All This

Our Love Is Better Then Their Love

We Can Make You Famous

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Aren't We Cruel

Isn't It All So Cruel

The Things We Do With Love

And The Things We Do Without Love

You Don't Need Anyone To Know

That You Exist

You Don't Want Anyone To Know

You Can't Resist

Just Like We Told Ya

Our Love Is Better Then Their Love

We Can Make You Famous

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

Why Don't You Come And Join Us

You Want Love You Got It

You Got Love You Want It

Review: Robbie Williams Biopic 'Better Man' is a Wild Good Time

 

Jan 10

Kilian Melloy

 

"Greatest Showman" director Michael Gracey helms the new Robbie Williams biopic "Better Man," and his frothy visual style kicks the film into a colorful, kinetic stratosphere. In the previous film, Gracey synchronized laundry blowing back and forth on a line for a rooftop dance sequence; here, he mounts a show-stopping dance number filled with casual comic violence (car crashes, people clocked by doors and soccer balls) in which mobility scooters serve as dance partners in a flawlessly coordinated, and epically gonzo, set piece.

 

That's only one example of the wild abandon (and yet, precise execution) "Better Man" makes its brand. The film is already famous for depicting Williams as a CGI monkey (with actor Jonno Davies doing amazingly emotional work with the screen capture process, as well as providing the character of "Robbie Williams" with his speaking voice), but that's only the start of the movie's astounding visual achievements.

 

The closer you look, the more cleverness you see. The editing scheme alone is a marvel, reflecting Williams' restless ambition with sudden scene transitions that come out of nowhere and transport Williams from a fall down a stairwell to a collapse on stage during a concert, or from a lonely re-enactment of his father's performance of Sinatra's "My Way" to an imagined duet that's filled with yearning for some paternal affection.

 

That moment, and plenty of others focused on Williams' relationship with his absentee dad, is also a reminder of one of Williams' primary motivations. Not only does this kid – who shot to fame at the age of 15 when he became a member of the boy band Take That – have "a hole in [his] soul" that only fame can fill (as the film's first song tells us), but his dad (Steve Pemberton) looms large in his pantheon of all-time great singers. No matter how much he accomplishes (or how low he falls), Williams hungers to hear his father express a little pride in him.

 

The movie is so CGI-heavy that it sometimes looks like a cartoon. But it also portrays Williams-as-monkey so realistically (and Davies is so charismatic despite the CGI dress-up) that you often forget you're looking at a metaphorical depiction – the way Williams sees himself, as he explains in the film's opening moments – and you go along for the ride.

 

That's no mean feat, considering how exciting and emotionally stirring the movie is at its best moments. That includes episodes of intense self-doubt that forever pit the evolving Williams against an ever-growing catalogue of self-doubts. The character has a number of distinct looks throughout the movie, and the striking differences in clothing and hairstyles help us relate to the moments of failure in Williams' past that crop up to taunt him again and again, personified as earlier versions of himself. It's an effective shorthand for the deeply embedded fear of being "a nobody" that torments Williams.

 

"Better Man" is unapologetic about its hallucinogenic sensibilities. This film is, after all, showing us Williams' internal vision of himself and his life; not just his perspective on otherwise objective reality. We can't understand the depths of his ugliness, his shame, his love, or his drive without the sort of over-the-top energy that percolates in every scene. It's no surprise that, on top of everything else, this is a musical, featuring a number of Williams-written songs.

 

In another apt choice, the film's coarse, English-working-class language and sensibilities offset the essential elegance of Williams' true oeuvre. He calls it "cabaret," but it's rooted in a love of the American songbook and a tradition of singing and affect that goes along with it. There's a delicious frisson (and boundless energy) that springs from the film's dual nature when the slick elegance of a well-tailored tux or the bouncy, buoyant choreography of a big dance number collides with a grotty episode of dance club sex, a jealousy-driven domestic spat with wife and fellow pop star Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), or Williams' inflated ego being punctured by losses of family, friends, and career opportunities.

 

 

Review: Robbie Williams Biopic 'Better Man' is a Wild Good Time

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Jonno Davies in a scene from "Better Man" Source: Paramount Pictures via AP

 

Jan 10

Review: Robbie Williams Biopic 'Better Man' is a Wild Good Time

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.

 

"Greatest Showman" director Michael Gracey helms the new Robbie Williams biopic "Better Man," and his frothy visual style kicks the film into a colorful, kinetic stratosphere. In the previous film, Gracey synchronized laundry blowing back and forth on a line for a rooftop dance sequence; here, he mounts a show-stopping dance number filled with casual comic violence (car crashes, people clocked by doors and soccer balls) in which mobility scooters serve as dance partners in a flawlessly coordinated, and epically gonzo, set piece.

 

That's only one example of the wild abandon (and yet, precise execution) "Better Man" makes its brand. The film is already famous for depicting Williams as a CGI monkey (with actor Jonno Davies doing amazingly emotional work with the screen capture process, as well as providing the character of "Robbie Williams" with his speaking voice), but that's only the start of the movie's astounding visual achievements.

 

The closer you look, the more cleverness you see. The editing scheme alone is a marvel, reflecting Williams' restless ambition with sudden scene transitions that come out of nowhere and transport Williams from a fall down a stairwell to a collapse on stage during a concert, or from a lonely re-enactment of his father's performance of Sinatra's "My Way" to an imagined duet that's filled with yearning for some paternal affection.

 

That moment, and plenty of others focused on Williams' relationship with his absentee dad, is also a reminder of one of Williams' primary motivations. Not only does this kid – who shot to fame at the age of 15 when he became a member of the boy band Take That – have "a hole in [his] soul" that only fame can fill (as the film's first song tells us), but his dad (Steve Pemberton) looms large in his pantheon of all-time great singers. No matter how much he accomplishes (or how low he falls), Williams hungers to hear his father express a little pride in him.

 

The movie is so CGI-heavy that it sometimes looks like a cartoon. But it also portrays Williams-as-monkey so realistically (and Davies is so charismatic despite the CGI dress-up) that you often forget you're looking at a metaphorical depiction – the way Williams sees himself, as he explains in the film's opening moments – and you go along for the ride.

 

That's no mean feat, considering how exciting and emotionally stirring the movie is at its best moments. That includes episodes of intense self-doubt that forever pit the evolving Williams against an ever-growing catalogue of self-doubts. The character has a number of distinct looks throughout the movie, and the striking differences in clothing and hairstyles help us relate to the moments of failure in Williams' past that crop up to taunt him again and again, personified as earlier versions of himself. It's an effective shorthand for the deeply embedded fear of being "a nobody" that torments Williams.

 

"Better Man" is unapologetic about its hallucinogenic sensibilities. This film is, after all, showing us Williams' internal vision of himself and his life; not just his perspective on otherwise objective reality. We can't understand the depths of his ugliness, his shame, his love, or his drive without the sort of over-the-top energy that percolates in every scene. It's no surprise that, on top of everything else, this is a musical, featuring a number of Williams-written songs.

 

In another apt choice, the film's coarse, English-working-class language and sensibilities offset the essential elegance of Williams' true oeuvre. He calls it "cabaret," but it's rooted in a love of the American songbook and a tradition of singing and affect that goes along with it. There's a delicious frisson (and boundless energy) that springs from the film's dual nature when the slick elegance of a well-tailored tux or the bouncy, buoyant choreography of a big dance number collides with a grotty episode of dance club sex, a jealousy-driven domestic spat with wife and fellow pop star Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), or Williams' inflated ego being punctured by losses of family, friends, and career opportunities.

 

The man, the monkey, and the movie lean into everything – success and failure; joy and heartbreak; rapture and ugliness – in order to paint a full picture of what it means, and what it takes to be, an entertainer. As Williams hears at a crucial turning point, "A song is only good if it costs you something." A career as a singer, therefore, is liable to cost you everything. Even so, the film's Williams (and the real Williams, or so we hope) finds his way to happiness... and a final, fitting, and very working-class-English valediction.

 

https://www.edgemedianetwork.com/story/337321

Review Roundup: BETTER MAN - What Do Critics Think of the Robbie Williams Biopic?

 

Following a limited release, the film is now in theaters nationwide.

 

By: Josh Sharpe Jan. 10, 2025

 

Since its initial debut at the Telluride Film Festival, reviews have been trickling in for Better Man, the musical biopic of British superstar Robbie Williams. Following a limited release in December, audiences can now see the movie nationwide as it comes to more theaters.

 

Under the direction of The Greatest Showman's Michael Gracey, the film is told from Robbie’s perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie’s journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.

 

In the film, Williams is depicted as a monkey version of the musician. Jonno Davies performs the motion capture and voice, with Williams and Adam Tucker also lending their voices to the character. The movie also stars Steve Pemberton, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvaney, Frazer Hadfield, Tom Budge, and Anthony Hayes.

 

In addition to directing, Gracey wrote the screenplay with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson. Find out what critics think of the music-filled movie below!

 

Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter: "As you might expect from the helmer of The Greatest Showman, several of the musical sequences are exhilarating, even with a monkey at the microphone. Gracey and choreographer Ashley Wallen bring the dance sequences to life in a riot of color and movement. As he demonstrated in Showman, the director has a gift for putting large numbers of bodies in motion and exciting the audience."

 

Pete Hammond, Deadline: "A production on this scale requires top notch crafts mavens and Gracey has them, including superb cinematography from Erik A. Wilson, dazzling Production Design by Joel Chang, and colorful costumes from Cappi Ireland. The aforementioned tremendous Visual Effects were supervised by Luke Millar and viz effx producer Andy Taylor. Musically Better Man simply soars, and in fact this film could make Williams finally a household name in America just as he is in the UK and Europe. He himself says in the film “there is no one who does it better” and he may be right. I want the soundtrack asap."

 

Peter Debruge, Variety: "Gracey takes audiences through all the expected beats of Williams’ career, from his breakthrough as a member of Take That to his record-breaking solo concert at Knebworth, but does so with a CG chimpanzee standing in for the Britpop bad boy. Against all odds, the gimmick works, distinguishing the project from so many other cookie-cutter pop-star hagiographies. If you want to fawn over this boy-band backup singer turned solo superstar for four hours, check out the “Robbie Williams” doc series on Netflix. But if you want to see a chimp doing coke with Oasis, or getting a fateful hand job in front of manager Nigel Martin Smith (Damon Herriman), this is your movie."

 

David Erlich, IndieWire: "Stick it out through Williams’ long night of the soul, however, and “Better Man” rewards your patience with an ending that makes good on its gimmick, and — to a surprisingly moving degree — also on its choice of title song. Williams finds the beneficence required to share the spotlight with the one person who needs it more than he does. It might feel like a cop-out in a less vulnerable biopic, but here it’s a beautiful testament to a man who followed a familiar path in his own way, and the perfect ending to a film that does exactly the same."

 

Kristy Puchko, Mashable: "This poignant use of CGI animation is also surrounded by a terrific supporting cast. Whether it’s Steve Pemberton as Williams’ conniving deadbeat dad or Alison Steadman as his devoted grandmother, the actors bring a pulsing authenticity that makes this family, broken as it is, feel achingly real. This is all the more impressive considering they were acting opposite an actor wearing all that mo-cap gear. Together, cast and crew build a glorious complex look into the life a world-class entertainer whose arrogance and vulnerability are on balanced display."

 

Brian Truitt, USA Today: "'Better Man' isn’t perfect – as a straightforward effort, it doesn't hold a candle to, say, "A Complete Unknown." But it’s never boring, either. And the film is easily the most idiosyncratic of its kind, at least until that inevitable Barry Manilow biopic featuring a yeti."

 

Hanna Ines Flint, IGN: "With Better Man, Michael Gracey delivers an exhilarating jukebox musical biopic that demonstrates the cinematic fireworks that can happen when craft, performance, and music harmoniously come together. The bold risk of transforming Robbie Williams into an enjoyable CGI chimp pays off both emotionally and visually. Turning his back catalogue into epic musical numbers with stunning choreography and heart-wrenching storytelling, Better Man comes out swinging and winning."

 

Alex Godfrey, Empire: From start to finish, though, beats that huge heart. Gracey never forgets where he’s going, with cinematography (courtesy of Erik Wilson, who’s worked on all the Paddington films) that supports this wounded little ape, props him up, even when he’s his own worst enemy. There is great tenderness and sensitivity here. And a bleach-blond chimp in a red Adidas tracksuit. It’s a heady concoction.

 

Clint Worthington, RogerEbert: "You won’t see another music biopic quite like “Better Man,” regardless of your level of familiarity with its subject. There’s a surfeit of charm here that helps sell the nonsensical gimmick; Gracey moves us fast enough through the Cliff’s Notes of Williams’ life that you barely stop to process the image of a fully-dressed chimpanzee getting a handjob from a groupie in a nightclub. To say nothing of the curious sensation of welling up at a tuxedoed ape belting “My Way” as a spiritual reclamation of his own celebrity. It’s brash, in your face, and on the nose. But that’s Robbie Williams. Could a biopic of him play out any other way? C’mon. Let him entertain you."

 

Wendy Ide, The Guardian: "Better Man is a notable step up for Gracey. The synthetic, rather soulless panache of The Greatest Showman demonstrated his skills as a slick visual stylist, but here he directs from the heart, tapping into the rawness and vulnerability beneath the CGI monkey suit."

 

William Bibbiani, TheWrap: "'Better Man' takes full advantage of Gracey’s infectious musical zealotry, turning in a bravura, rapturous film with one of the best filmed and choreographed numbers of the 21st century as its centerpiece. (Or it’s one-thirderpiece. I’m not sure if a scene that plays around the 30-minute mark qualifies as the center of anything.) Williams’ music is varied enough that Gracey is able to transform his songs into graceful ballets, elaborate oners, tragic melodramas and a badass action sequence in which Williams violently murders the parts of himself that represent suicidal ideation."

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Revie...Biopic-20250110

What It Takes to Be the Better Man

 

By Armond White

January 10, 2025 6:30 AM

 

The ingenious Robbie Williams biopic is a showbiz landmark.

 

How brilliant is Better Man? Imagine all those ideas on identity, fate, talent, libido, and self-referential consciousness in the screwball comedy Being John Malkovich remade into a movie musical about British pop star Robbie Williams. It starts daringly, with Williams confessing, “How I really see myself: narcissistic, punchable.” And then we see that self-image: a hairy, big-eared chimpanzee with dagger-like incisors, a wiry torso, trim buttocks, and an intense stare, but who winks.

 

This high-concept auto-biopic, from a screenplay that Australian director Michael Gracey co-wrote with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, stirs more real feeling about evolution than even Charlie Kaufman’s Malkovich script. Young chimp Robbie awkwardly sings along with his pop-loving dad, eventually connecting primitive behavior to the problems of modern celebrity. We see the need for attention and affection, as well as fame’s misdirection into anarchic, destructive habits and deceptive egotism. At the height of Robbie’s fame, a concerned family member asks, “How can you not know who you are when thousands of people are screaming your name?” It’s a terrific screenplay.

 

By never breaking the anthropoid conceit — keeping Williams a chimp from working-class childhood obscurity to adult pop-stardom — Better Man evolves into the most honest and exploratory showbiz movie ever made. Through the figure of Robbie Williams, who always shows a glint of dark Celtic mischief, Gracey explores the same combination of instincts and insecurities that distinguished the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy and avoids sentimental mythologizing. Williams says, “My DNA is cabaret — Sinatra’s ‘My Way.’” He refers to Sinatra, Sammy Davis, and Dean Martin as “the gods” and says, “They make other people’s problems go away.” His own problems get complicated with his debut in the boy-band phenomenon Take That.

 

Gracey traces Robbie’s history with behind-the-scenes wit (Williams singing backup to his golden-boy rival Gary Barlow) and irrepressible monkey shines (“Always appear attainable,” Take That’s manager encourages, whether performing at gay clubs or for adolescent girls.) Elton John’s Rocket Man and Freddie Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody were never this sharp or cheeky. George Michael’s travails deserve to be seen so clearly.

 

“These are my people! I felt like Elvis!” grins simian Williams, and when he gets his first solo hit, Gracey outdoes Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, from 2022. The original music video for Williams’s “Rock DJ” was a macabre fantasy where the audience-pleasing star stripped naked, then skinned himself down, revealing his muscular and skeletal systems — a wry, sci-fi comment on pop sacrifice. Here, Gracey stages an epic, one-take street extravaganza that celebrates Williams’s success. The elaborate choreography and colorful vision match Vincente Minnelli’s style but underneath carry a delirious energy equal to Ken Russell’s maddest visions of neurotic excess. This could be the insight Gracey aimed for and missed in his P. T. Barnum film The Greatest Showman. But watching Better Man’s meta conceit, we become doubly aware of the icon’s desperation.

 

At the heart of this Darwinian joke, Williams experiences deep ambivalence. Leaving Barlow’s mansion in a fit of envy, he drives away into red-tinted road rage, plunges off the road, then underwater and under ice — another Russell-worthy vision of self-destruction by which the film shows Williams’s psyche. The subsequent plot turn toward Williams’s fling with All Saints singer Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) perfectly balances romantic melodrama and the shock of adulthood: Appleton’s abortion fuels Williams’s dejection, triggering the unresolved filial relationship with his distant, showbiz-loving father (Steve Pemberton) whose humor he learned and borrowed. Gracey steadily checks Williams’s sarcasm and self-pity with comments from family and friends that are often rude or just piercing vernacular.

 

Throughout the film’s ape act (performed by actor Jonno Davies), musical numbers convey everything Williams learns — about self-expression (“songs only matter if they cost you something”) and the awareness he put into the compositions “She’s the One” and his biggest hit, “Angels,” about the confidence instilled by his grandmother (Alison Steadman, from Mike Leigh’s heartfelt-strivers universe). During his career highpoint — signing an 80-million-pound contract with EMI, singing “Let Me Entertain You” before 125, 000 fans at Knebworth stadium — Williams is haunted by images of himself at his monkey-worst. He is more dangerous and emotionally naked than in that “Rock DJ” video.

 

Better Man illuminates the illusion of fame. But it also explores the definition of character that has become so politicized, falsified, and misunderstood lately. Robbie Williams Primate observes, “They say your life freezes when you become famous. So I’m 15: Stunted, unevolved.” Such a confession sheds every sense of vanity and keeps Better Man true to a pop star’s real charm.

 

The only thing to be improved about Better Man is the title (not to be confused with A Different Man, the repugnant indie film about deformity). This amazingly non-narcissistic auto-biopic deserves the title of Williams’s 1998 album The Ego Has Landed.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/01/what...the-better-man/

Making Of the Better Man is the reason why we can wait for Blu-Ray release sooner but... better do not see its release for a while ;)

@1877811722087510126

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REVIEW: Robbie Williams' ‘Better Man’ successfully turns pop star into a chimp

 

Washington Post

Published Jan 10, 2025

 

The last time this reviewer was the target market for Robbie Williams, it didn’t go so well.

 

In December of 1997, the British pop singer and former boy band sensation released his breakthrough hit “Angels,” or so I’m told. Like much of my generational cohort in the States, I hadn’t the foggiest idea who Williams was.

 

Though his lean croon and good looks had earned him incandescent fame overseas; and though he was redefining himself after years of pelvis-pumping partial stardom as one-fifth of Take That; and though his solo star was only just beginning to rise with “Angels,” launching what would become one of the most storied careers in British music, my floor of the dorm was too busy bumping Wu-Tang Clan and the Foo Fighters to care. Robbie who?

 

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“Better Man,” a delightfully unhinged musical biopic from director Michael Gracey, chronicles the singer’s tumultuous rise, celebrates his effervescent body of Brit-pop hits, and gives the project of ensconcing Williams in the hearts and minds of the global masses another go. American audiences might be shocked at how well it works on all fronts. Especially considering that Williams is rendered throughout as a CGI chimpanzee.

 

That might feel like burying the lead – the chimp thing. At first glance, it feels very important that Williams – who narrates his tale – is visually present only as a monkey. But it takes only a few moments of trailing Williams through the trials of his boyhood in 1980s Stoke-on-Trent – where he’s taunted by bullies, doted over by his fading Nan (Alison Steadman) and abandoned by his spotlight-hungry dad (Steve Pemberton) – for one’s disbelief to hang itself on a hook, and for this simian form to fit the bill with uncanny precision.

 

Voiced and portrayed through motion capture by Jonno Davies, this monkey manifestation of Williams (developed by the New Zealand-based Weta FX) is astonishingly expressive and strangely disarming. Davies feels at all times present just under the fur, and Williams feels just as present in Davies’s portrayal. Several times, Gracey has us gaze directly into eyes that sure feel like human eyes. By the end of the film, I wondered if I would have given a hoot about Williams if he *weren’t* a monkey.

 

Then again, it’s more than momentarily unsettling to watch a monkey drilling sloppily carded lines of coke, splayed on a bed surrounded by groupies, dancing and romancing his very human future fiancée Nicole Appleton of All Saints (Raechelle Banno), or (later) shooting up in their locked bathroom.

 

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If the monkey bit, which is neither explicitly addressed by Williams nor perceived by anybody around him, is to be understood as how Williams sees himself – both as a singing, dancing source of mindless entertainment and as a man who has struggled to “evolve,” as he briefly hints – the roiling, raucous flow of the film itself can be understood as how Williams remembers himself. Gracey, who directed 2017’s “The Greatest Showman,” lends nearly every transition the seamless sweep and molten logic of a dream.

 

For those well versed in Williams’s work, “Better Man” retrofits pieces of his oeuvre into a surprisingly coherent narrative. His 2002 hit “Feel” becomes an anthem of his childhood alienation. The 2000 stomper “Rock DJ” fuels one of the most eye-popping dance sequences I’ve seen in years. His ouster from Take That and his drowning in dejection is beautifully set to “Come Undone,” another track from 2002’s “Escapology.”

 

And when Williams finally in 2003 makes it to the stage of Knebworth, where 375,000 fans converged for “the biggest music event in British history” (as we are repeatedly reminded), he dips back in his catalogue to 1997’s “Let Me Entertain You” – as close to a mission statement as one could hope for from Williams, here inspiring a gory battle scene between the singer and his own insecurities: i.e., the proverbial monkeys on his back.

 

“You can’t manufacture a miracle,” as Williams sings in “Something Beautiful” – the song that launched his long collaboration with producer Guy Chambers (Tom Budge). But there’s nothing miraculous about Williams’s career – if anything, “Better Man” reveals the singer’s sometimes frightening singularity of purpose, the unbroken vector of his ambition, the wide-screen scale of his ego.

 

If any miracles are performed here, they belong to Gracey, who in one swoop has managed to reinvent the biopic, up the ante on the ongoing revival of movie musicals and raise the legacy of Robbie Williams to a level that feels fully earned – especially if you ask Robbie Williams.

 

RATING: 3.5 stars out of 4

 

https://torontosun.com/entertainment/movies..._source=twitter

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Robbie Williams biopic ‘Better Man’ feels like an evolution of the form

 

For many Americans, director Michael Gracey’s kaleidoscopic portrait of the Brit-pop sensation’s career will double as an overdue introduction.

 

Review by Michael Andor Brodeur

(3.5 stars of 4)

 

The last time this reviewer was the target market for Robbie Williams, it didn’t go so well.

 

In December of 1997, the British pop singer and former boy band sensation released his breakthrough hit “Angels,” or so I’m told. Like much of my generational cohort in the States, I hadn’t the foggiest idea who Williams was.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...s-movie-review/

Rob's reaction on TIFF ovation

Well, waiting for first eight numbers in a few days =)

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'I'm in Robbie film Better Man but can't see it'

 

It is a moment a budding young actor will cherish forever – his first appearance on the big screen – but it could be a little while yet before he can see it for himself.

 

Thirteen-year-old Alex was selected as an extra in the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man – which sees the Rock DJ star portrayed as a monkey throughout.

 

The teen, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, said he had found it "massively exciting" to step out onto a movie set for the first time, but as the film is rated 15 he is not yet allowed to go to the cinema to watch it.

 

Despite this, he said it had given him a taste for life as an actor, and a determination to pursue a career in the industry.

 

Alex was cast as one of the kids playing football in Stoke-on-Trent near the beginning of the movie, in a scene which follows the early years of Robbie Williams' life.

 

"On the first day they picked out costumes from the time period for us and took photos so they could recreate them exactly the next day," Alex said.

 

His scene took two days of filming, and Alex said he was thrilled to have been able to meet director Michael Gracey and learn more about how a film is made.

 

"The kid playing young Robbie was wearing a motion capture suit which was so interesting to see in real life," Alex said.

 

Alex is a member of Midlands Screen Acting School, and put his name forward after a call went out for youngsters who would like to be in the film.

 

"I wasn't nervous at all, I was just excited for the opportunity for him," said his mum Hannah.

 

"He's always wanted to be an actor, his whole life, for as long as I can remember."

 

Hannah said she had been to see the film herself, adding she had wanted to stand up in the cinema and shout "that's my son!".

 

She added: "It was just such a great opportunity for him to be involved in something so huge, and also something so local at the same time."

 

Williams' connection with Stoke has endured throughout his career with Take That and as a solo artist, and in 2022 he played a special homecoming gig at Port Vale Football Club.

 

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy8yzp7w8yo

Boy meets Robbie Williams after starring in biopic

16 December 2024

 

A 10-year-old boy who has made his screen debut as a young version of Robbie Williams has said meeting the singer on the red carpet was "amazing".

 

Carter-J Murphy from Failsworth in Oldham, plays the former Take That star in the newly-released biopic Better Man, directed by The Greatest Showman filmmaker, Michael Gracey.

 

The young actor also joined the cast of Coronation Street earlier this year in the role of Harry Platt, the son of Sarah Platt and Callum Logan.

 

His mother Abbie said her son's rise to fame in the last year had been "mental" and she was "really, really proud of him".

 

The young actor met Williams on the red carpet during the film's European premiere in London, and said he was "really nice" and supportive.

 

Carter-J told BBC Radio Manchester he had started his acting career through a dance school at the age of three, before deciding he "might as well just carry on with this as a career" after falling in love with the craft.

 

"I then just started getting auditions after auditions," he said.

 

'Just crazy'

 

Carter-J said he was shocked to be offered the part of Harry Plat in Coronation Street earlier this year, and said people around his hometown had started recognising him in the street.

 

His mother Abbie said: "Being from Manchester anyway, you grow up watching Coronation Street, so when your child gets cast as one of the Platts, it's just crazy.

 

"I am really, really proud of him."

 

Carter-J said he enjoyed playing the younger Williams as "I am more like him", adding the experience of attending the premiere was great as there was "loads and loads of famous people".

 

When it comes to acting, he said he aimed to "just think what I would feel if I was Robbie, what would he feel like, will he feel this way in this situation."

 

The 10-year-old said he now had two weeks off filming Coronation Street for Christmas, and was looking forward to enjoying some downtime after a busy year.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp832p45g2ro

'How I became Robbie Williams' chimpanzee'

27 December 2024

 

It's 2001 and nine-year-old Jonno Davies is standing in the crowd as Robbie Williams entertains 65,000 people at the Milton Keynes Bowl.

 

"He was just this symbol of cool, and that stuck with me for a long time... He was like the rock star of the day for me," he recalls.

 

Now 32, Davies is appearing in cinemas around the world in Better Man, a musical biopic in which he plays his childhood hero.

 

But he is far from recognisable, partly because of his hard work studying and recreating William's voice and mannerisms, but mostly because he's represented on screen as a computer-generated chimpanzee.

 

"I am the lead. I am Rob. Rob is me. Just with a monkey layering on top," he explains.

 

Director Michael Gracey, who previously made The Greatest Showman, says the decision was inspired by conversations with Robbie Williams where he described himself as a performing monkey.

 

On set, Davies was dressed in a performance capture suit, and later he was transformed into a primate by Weta FX - the same company behind Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

 

Davies says: "I play Rob from the age of 15 right the way through to the end of the film... It's full body, voice, dancing - the whole shebang."

 

He adds: "I feel the audience aren't watching it going: Do I believe that's him? Does that look enough like Robbie? Does that sound like Robbie? Because there's a monkey, we've already gone beyond that idea of comparison.

 

"It meant I didn't have to be vain. I wasn't looking at the monitor going 'Oh god, the double chin'... It was just about being truthful to the storyline."

 

That said the actor says his face can be seen for a "tiny split second" at the very end of the film: "Kudos to anyone that actually sees that."

 

The Chesterfield-born actor was cast as the Angels singer about a week before production was due to begin.

 

Actor Kate Mulvany, who plays Williams' mother Jane, suggested Davies after having worked with him on the Amazon Prime series Hunters.

 

When The Greatest Showman director phoned Davies inviting him to audition, the actor was working a "side hustle" performing at children's parties as PT Barnum - Hugh Jackman's character from the film.

 

He recalls: "I was kind of going 'Okay, this is a weird but wonderful turn of events'".

 

Auditions took place in Australia, where he ran scenes with Raechelle Banno who plays All Saints singer Nicole Appleton in the film.

 

He recalls: "I thought I mucked it up. Then a few hours later [Gracey] called me into his office and he said 'look we'd love you to play Robbie'.

 

 

"You know, you dream of these roles. You dream to lead productions like this, to be in such huge scale films. But as soon as that penny drops, and you know that you are actually the one to do it, there's a sense of pressure.

 

"They're gonna actually find out that I'm rubbish. And all this time I've just been sort of lucking through it. And that's actually something that Rob feels a lot. And so, it was a really useful connection for me to have."

 

In 2022, Davies is rehearsing for a scene on stage at the Royal Albert Hall when Williams, who he has not met yet, is in the audience.

 

"I was about to sing and in he steps, plonks himself in the middle of the front row," the actor says.

 

"Wow that's Robbie Williams, that's who I'm playing, don't mess it up. I probably did because voice was going and knees were buckling."

 

He didn't mess it up. Not according to Williams himself who describes the performer as a "fantastic human being".

 

The musician says: "He's such a lovely person, and he's immensely talented. Watching him do his thing – which is my thing – was very interesting, confusing, wonderful, and a weird thing to watch. He's amazing."

 

Davies, who grew up in Milton Keynes, attended Bedford School between 2001 and 2010.

 

While attending he took part in musical productions of Bugsy Malone, Fiddler on the Roof and History Boys.

 

He says: "If it wasn't for Bedford School, I don't think I would've become an actor.

 

"I was applying for university and our head of drama approached me and said 'I don't think this is what you want to be, you want to be an actor'.

 

"Having somebody say that really made me think it might be a possibility... I think a lot of people had that support, it wasn't just a one off."

 

 

Now the actor's name is on one of the seats at the school's theatre and he likes to return to visit the pupils.

 

"Anything I feel that I can learn I'd love to pass on to them," he says.

 

"Maybe we can do like a motion capture day somehow. Do some animal studies, as it were."

 

In the same year he started at Bedford School he went with his parents to watch Robbie Williams play at Milton Keynes Bowl.

 

"I was just looking at the epitome of cool strutting about, giving it large," he recalls.

 

"I just thought that is someone that exudes confidence and I kind of want to be a bit like that.

 

"So, then meeting him, working with him on this piece, and then being the one to have the privilege of playing him- it's nuts how life can kind of come around in weird circles."

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrw0qnvl1go

The Bedford boy playing Robbie Williams as a chimp

 

Jonno Davies stars in Better Man, the movie about the rock star’s life. Now 32, he reflects that, “if it wasn’t for Bedford School, I don’t think I'd have become an actor.” Interview by Danny Fullbrook.

 

Listen to:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kds5jx

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I translated the lyrics in Russian

View this post on Instagram

So, US TV tells about BM since today.

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Some US popular blogger (over 2M subs) reviewed the movie as perfect one - AWESOMETACULAR status

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Interview what was broadcasted on some US TV

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Same interviewer wrote the review.

Better Man Review: Robbie Williams played by a CGI Chimp?

The craziest thing about this movie isn’t that Robbie Williams is played by a CGI chimp – but that it works so well.

By Chris Bumbray

January 10th 2025, 10:17am

PLOT: The life of international pop star Robbie Williams, from his early days as a member of Take That to his breakthrough as a solo artist and his struggles with addiction.

REVIEW: There’s one way that Better Man is completely different from any music-based biopic you’ve ever seen. The director, Michael Gracey, depicts Robbie Williams as a CGI chimpanzee, with cutting-edge VFX from WETA, with actor Jonno Davies playing him in a mo-cap performance (although they use Williams’s distinctive eyes). The singer himself provides the narration. It’s risky and a big swing, but here’s the thing. The craziest thing about Better Man isn’t the fact that Robbie Williams is presented as a CGI chimpanzee but rather that this risky conceit works quite well.

Here’s the thing – when an iconic person is impersonated in a biopic, we get caught up over various surface-level things, with the biggest being whether or not the actor looks like the person they’re playing. By having Williams represented as a monkey, you get over that aspect much quicker than you would otherwise. Strangely, it helps you invest more in the character.

It’s an inspired choice for Gracey, who has a comprehensive background in VFX and directed one of the more popular recent musicals, The Greatest Showman. It also may help the movie attract a larger North American audience than it would otherwise. Despite being a European household name, Robbie Williams is still largely unknown in the United States.

This all adds up to a highly unique musical biopic that tells a story many readers of this site may not be familiar with. The movie charts Williams’s rise to fame, with him initially the bad boy in a band called Take That, which was gigantic in the nineties all throughout Europe. He was a household name, but as the movie shows, he was kicked out due to his growing substance abuse issues and tensions with the rest of the group. He re-emerged as a solo artist, with his fame eventually dwarfing that of the group he left, but his demons did not let up on him as he continued to struggle mightily with addiction.

The film depicts Williams’s life in a pretty unsparring way, with him often coming off as a brat burning bridges relentlessly. Yet, the film also has empathy for the fact that his greatest enemy was himself, visualizing his demons as other versions of himself mock him from the audience.

Gracey depicts this all in a bold, energetic way. The movie climaxes with a major action sequence where Williams literally battles different versions of himself in a moment I didn’t see coming. Through it all, Gracey often dazzles the audience with set pieces, such as an amazing musical number where Williams and the rest of Take Take dance down Regent Street performing “Rock DJ.”

Gracey throws in everything but the iamspamspamamisink to entertain his audience. While Williams may not be so well known in North America, the movie does feel like it has the potential to be a solid hit, even if the hard-R rating may keep it from the audience that made The Greatest Showman such a hit. Then again, given Williams’s struggles, could you do a watered-down PG-13 version? Who’d want to see that?

While the visual spectacle aspect of the movie will probably be what sells this as a potential blockbuster, it also has a lot of heart, with a lot of it revolving around his fractured relationship with his father, played here by Steve Pemberton, who’s a frustrated, wannabe performer who imparts his love of showbiz on Robbie.

While I went into Better Man with a raised eyebrow, wary of the chimpanzee aspect, to my delight, it worked wonderfully. As far as big-screen biopics go, this is a pretty deliriously entertaining one, and I had a blast watching it. It’s definitely one to keep an eye out for.

9/10

https://www.joblo.com/better-man-tiff-review/

Thanks Tess.

Wow! TIME interview. I will read later, of course.

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One more interview at SPIN looks fresh and fine.

Robbie Williams on His Touching Reception as a Pan Troglodyte

A fabled entertainer appreciates being humanized in fur

Written by Karen Bliss | January 10, 2025

Better Man, chronicling the warts-and-all rise-and-fall — and rise again — career of UK pop phenom and self-described self-loather Robbie Williams is unlike any other biopic. While Williams, now 50, narrates the story, he is portrayed by actor Jonno Davies as a chimpanzee. Better Man is directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), and if it sounds odd that’s because it is, but somehow this CGI-primate with the singer’s facial expressions and mannerisms is both endearing and an ass. We accept him, root for him, laugh with his cockiness, gasp at his self-destruction. “I don’t want to be a nobody,” he says as the adorable kid chimpanzee, a desire that dominates his life — probably to this day.

For the unfamiliar, Williams got his break at age 16 as a member of ’90s boy band Take That, before his quitting the group led to a phenomenal solo career in which he played to a record-setting 375,000 people over three nights at the Knebworth Festival in 2003, and sold over 75 million albums thanks to hits like “Angels,” “Old Before I Die,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “Come Undone,” “Rock DJ,” “Kids” and “Millennium.”

His success was accompanied by a shitstorm of depression and mental illness intertwined with booze and drug habits. All this is told with a mix of grit and sensitivity in a multi-layered film that dazzles by its sheer technological achievement and storytelling that covers his complicated relationship with his entertainer dad, his loving encouraging nan, the ego-driven band rivalry, and tumultuous whirlwind romance with Nicole Appleton.

Better Man opens January 10, and might spur a menagerie category at a future Oscars: Swift as a giraffe; Madonna as a Panther…

SPIN spoke to Williams about the film.

[Publicist on Zoom call] Please say your name and outlet and you can begin.

SPIN: My name is Karen Bliss. My outlet is SPIN. Hi Robbie. How are you?

Robbie Williams: Hi Karen. My outlet is self-sabotage and sugar.

That’s a nice combo. I’ve seen the film twice. The first time was during TIFF [Toronto International Film Festival], so I went in cold and I was like, “What the f***? He’s a monkey?” And then like 10 minutes in, I’m like, “Sure, he’s a monkey.” You go with it. I even got a little teary in certain parts. You got very emotional after the screening. Why?

I wasn’t expecting to get emotional after because I’d seen the scenes as they were being stitched together and I’d done my crying then. No spoilers, but it’s the greatest hits of my grief. And then I watched the movie for the first time, hoping and praying that it was good, and it was. And then I get to TIFF and I’m just incensed on soaking in the moment. And I sit with Jonno, who plays me, and Michael Gracey, who directed it, and I feel very proud that I’m sat in Canada; there’s 2000 people watching my story, and I get to soak it all in and be grateful of the moment. And then what happened was at the end of it, having me expose all of my demons and all the worst aspects of myself, 2000 strangers turned around and clapped me and Jono and Michael that were on a balcony. And in that moment, something unexpected happened, but I completely understood that I was being seen and heard and forgiven and loved, all in one, by a bunch of strangers that know nothing about me. And that touched me on such a profound level.

Has that changed over the months since? Is it as healing, as cathartic or re-traumatizing or are you like, “Oh, there’s me as a monkey. Aren’t I cute?”

What is great is I don’t have to worry about the film being good or touching people because I know the magic that I have felt is being felt by the people that actually see it too. So now I’m comfortable [with] the aspect that the movie is better than shit; it’s actually something that I can be really proud of. I mean, look at the Rotten Tomatoes; there is 91% journalists and 98% audience reaction. This is not lost on me, but there’s so many aspects that this movie in particular has wrapped up and what it means to me as a fat 11-year-old with no self-worth at all. It’s very easy to get wrapped up with the expectation train, get on that train and be led into oblivion yet again, and what that means for my psyche if I pull all the levers and the machine doesn’t work.

It is extraordinary because the film could’ve been crap. The whole concept is wacky.

It could have been Howard the Duck.

I don’t cry watching Planet of the Apes but I did in this. I’m sure there’s people that go in to Better Man and they’re completely lost. I think you have to have a self-deprecating kind of humor to get it and not walk out going, “Why the f*** is he a monkey? I don’t get it.” Has there been a different response in US versus UK?

The “what the f***, I don’t get it “ happens to the people that haven’t seen it. If I go with general reaction, it seems that 98% of people leave the movie not only getting it, but completely embracing it and being completely moved by it.

Let me ask you about the language in the script. The C-word [c**t] is widely used over in the UK, but it can get you cancelled in America, I think. You use the work “twat” a lot too. Also, a great word for certain occasions. Was using it in the script ever questioned?

No, if you’re going to take a huge swing and have your movie be R-rated, you better make it worth it. Otherwise, if we were going to cut that out, why wouldn’t we cut out lots of other things too? We could have made this a whole lot easier and more commercial for ourselves if we’d have made it PG. As it happens, to tell my story authentically, I didn’t live a PG life. And I don’t have PG verbiage. This is how I speak. That is how I was. This is a representation of me. It may not have happened in that order, but everything was how it felt.

How did you end up writing a new song for the film?

There needed to be a hug at the end of this movie, a hug in the form of a musical hug. I’d sent a bunch of songs to Michael Gracey having not seen the movie and he kept sending them back saying, “No, this is not right.” And I’m sensitive. So, I was upset that he was telling me it wasn’t right. Then, I saw the movie and I completely understood that what was needed was not what I was sending. And the song that we wrote — me, Freddy [Wexler] and Sacha [skarbek] — was a musical hug to let you know that I know I’ve just put you through an awful lot, but we’re all okay.

Let me ask you about fame. Now there’s kids that think they just want to be famous. There’s TikTok, Instagram and OnlyFans. In retrospect, do you think you can enjoy fame without the pitfalls of drug addiction, being an asshole, self-isolating, being arrogant, all those things?

No, because you’re contracting mental illness. That’s what you’re doing. And how you act and behave towards it is how you act and behave towards it; you can’t contract fame and not be bemused, affected by it on such a profound unconscious level that you spend the life trying to figure out how to put it in its right box. Now, what I will say, for most people that I meet in the entertainment industry that are forward-facing, that are on camera, most people aren’t egoic and twats, but the people with the ego and the twats really stand out and give the entertainment industry a bad name. But I’ve also met people in the energy industry; I’ve met people in the clothing industry that are huge — forgive my language — c**ts. They just don’t get the attention that people in the entertainment industry do because people in the entertainment industry, their bread and butter is attention. And the worst aspects of every part of society will make the most noise. The world’s worst 2% make 98% of the noise.

You say in the film that you thought the fame would solve everything. When did you come to the realization that it doesn’t? Was it in sobriety? Was it in advanced adulthood — you’re still young [50], but you know what I’m saying [laughs]?

I’m good. I’m an old pop star now. It’s okay. It’s fine. It’s reality. When did it happen? When did it? So, I remember I had this house on a lake. It had its own lake. And I remember as this [enormous fame] was happening, there was these patio doors onto this giant veranda that overlooked this lake. And like a scene from a movie, I was on my knees sobbing, looking at what I’d acquired and feeling how f***ed up and how unhappy I was. And I could see it, like a camera from above coming in at this moment. It was very cinematic. But I suppose that you only realize, consciously, what you’re seeking consciously when it breaks you. And in that moment, I was broken. I realized that I’d got to the top of the mountain and it was desolate and I was lonely and my subconscious came to the front and went ‘Hahahahahaaaa, it didn’t do it.’ [laughs].

Well, we are all rooting for you. What are your plans for this year? We want new music. We want to see you in concert over here. What is happening?

I want to come to North America. Hopefully, if the success makes an indent, I will do that. I will be touring. Tickets have gone on sale already in the rest of the world [uK, Europe]. They’re doing great, thank you. And, yeah, I’ve got so many things that exist outside of the entertainment industry that happened because I’m in the entertainment industry. I’ve got loads of aspects of business that I want to do. So I need to exist in the public’s attention for me to facilitate everything else that I want to do.

You also have a solo art exhibit [Confessions of a Crowded Mind].

In Barcelona, Amsterdam, and one’s gonna happen in London, too. I also want to build a university of entertainment and create the syllabus. I want to build hotels with their entertainment venues in them. I have entertainment venues separate to that that I’m doing. I want to buy a soccer team. I also have drinks coming out and I have clothes coming out.

I’m very busy.

Wow, that is a lot. In the film, without giving too much away, there are the “nasty monkeys” in the audience, that negative inner voice, kind of imposter syndrome. Do you still get that?

Yeah. For example, I did a live 30 minutes on TV in Australia on New Year’s Eve. And I got a cold that’s kicking my ass on top of jetlag, and then getting up in front of 11 million people that are watching, and then however many millions of people that could dissect a viral moment if I let my crazy out. So, while I’m on stage, I’m enjoying myself, while also at the same time thinking about Twitter, and the sewage that is on there, and how they must be responding to my performance, whilst also at the same time having a left nostril that is dripping because of the cold, whilst thinking that people will think that I’m on cocaine, whilst having a good time at the same time [laughs].

That’s a lot of inner voices. I do love your humor though; when you’re walking through Hyde Park in your pink suit, trying to see if anyone would recognize you [laughs].

And no one was recognizing me. It was scary.

So, are you a big deal now, again?

Yeah, yeah, I am. I am. I’m trying to put everything in the right box and have everything be the right size. And I can only guess at what my future is. And if Rod Stewart is anything to go by — I’ve had a Rod Stewart style career, and he still gets to be Rod Stewart. I hope that the general public allows me to be Robbie Williams when I’m Rod Stewart’s age.

https://www.spin.com/2025/01/robbie-williams-on-better-man/

Better Man: Inside Michael Gracey’s Apeshit Robbie Williams Musical

The Greatest Showman director on the influence of Bob Fosse, Terry Gilliam, and the thrill of acting on a crazy gamble.

by Prabhjot Bains

Published on January 10, 2025

In a cinematic slate inundated with music biopics, precious few leave a mark as exhilarating and as purely insane as Michael Gracey’s Better Man. Visually ambitious, oozing with style, and boasting some of the most frenetically seamless editing in recent memory, the rise-and-fall tale of British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams tightly grips the tired biopic formula and makes it shine beyond our wildest dreams. Oh, and then there’s the matter of him being portrayed by a computer-generated ape.

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Better Man brims with such madcap decisions that in any other film would amass eye rolls, but like Williams himself, it keeps us hooked to the limelight. Like its subject, it’s a musical that exists on the edge of coming apart, and it’s only in embracing that precarious fine line that the real wonder, charm, and beauty of the experience wash over audiences. For Gracey, the thrill of acting on that gamble informs every facet of his bonkers vision.

“A musical already has a heightened reality… you add a monkey on top of that and now you’re in a very heightened reality,” Gracey tells RANGE. “And the great thing about it is you can step between that and pure imagination pretty seamlessly. That is what I enjoy about the fact that it is a musical and the lead is a monkey: it allows you to step between the two worlds without being jarring for the audience.” It’s a feat that somehow makes the sight of a monkey doing lines and getting a hand job in a nightclub the least ludicrous of its many outrageous sequences.

Better Man tracks Williams’ childhood in the shabby town of Stoke-on-Trent, to his stint in the boy band Take That, to his meteoric rise as a solo pop star—and all the drugs, infidelity, and crushing fame that came with it. But in doing so, Gracey maintains “a want to explore Rob’s internal and external life.” Each precisely crafted musical number is armed with a surreal timbre, plunking us into Williams’ amorphous, drug-addled mindscape with verve, vigour, and dizzying panache. Whether it be a record-breaking performance at Knebworth transforming into a medieval battle royale or Williams submerged in a frozen lake surrounded by a school of shark-like paparazzi, our overloaded senses are gloriously thrown into the gauntlet of pop superstardom.

“In a number like ‘Come Undone’… as Williams is driving away into the fog, is it at that point he’s going into the fog of his mind? I don’t know.” Gracey continues. “At a certain point… we are 100% in this guy’s mind…but somewhere in between we transition from the external life and into the internal life.” The wonder of making sense of those shifts is where the true ecstasy of Better Man takes hold. To see it is the only way to believe it.

These sonic dives into the psyche of its subject, including Better Man’s Broadway-styled titling, draw directly from the musicals of Bob Fosse. “I was very inspired by films like All That Jazz…for me, it’s like Fosse meets Terry Gilliam,” Gracey says. “I love the way Fosse choreographs the camera and his rhythmic editing, he’s such a masterful creative force and the same goes for Gilliam… the design work in something like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen [stands] as the most beautiful art-directed film of all time. These are the sort of films I grew in awe of and when you get older you lean into those points of inspiration.” When RANGE suggested a double feature of Better Man and Gilliam’s own simian-centric Twelve Monkeys, Gracey was all in on the idea: “Ha ha ha! That’s very funny.”

While Better Man serves as a snapshot of the late 90s Britpop scene, full of MTV red carpets and run-ins with the (in)famous Liam Gallagher, its delirious lens remains firmly fixed on Williams’ personal journey. “The time plays a big part in the style, art direction, hairdos, and costuming because you are going through those distinct eras, but for as much that front-facing side is there, I favoured the personal story,” Gracey notes. “I don’t relate to standing in front of 150,000 people, but I do relate to the voices in my head, to looking in the mirror and finding faults in myself, the love of a nan, and the acceptance of a father—these parts of Rob are universal.”

Williams’ significant involvement in the project renders Better Man a more intimate and, surprisingly, self-effacing experience. In a cinematic climate full of sanitized stories, as Gracey says, “Rob is fortunately an over-sharer and was adamant it be a warts-and-all experience.” He continues, “We did a year-and-a-half of interviews that formed the basis of the script, which is why you really do hear Rob’s voice in the film.”

“When I tried to recreate them, they never sounded as good, they sounded like a performance… that’s why you feel the hand of Rob throughout, because it is him telling you the story from a spontaneous recording,” Gracey says. “I was sure when Rob watched it back he was going to take out some of the scenes, but he did not change one single shot of the film.” It all culminates in an experience that is as emotionally resonant and vulnerable as it is completely mad. While Robbie Williams’ fame didn’t quite translate across the pond, it’s time we all go bananas for his apeshit musical.

https://readrange.com/better-man-michael-gracey-interview/

10.01.25 update

Awards Nominations (39) for Better Man by far:

The Slovenian distributer for Better man posted today on Instagram that the movie will be available only for a limited time and we should catch it while it is still available. The audience outside Ljubljana was unfortunately non existent and this post kinda confirms that.

Let's hope they will catch some additional vibe from next 2-3 days (it should be!) and go to the cinema.

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Well, I'm not sure Australian figures have been calculated correctly before.

At least based on this message about box office for BM there.

In the first figures for 2025 ‘Better Man’ debuted at number 7 for Weekend screenings.

 

‘Better Man’ generated $1,103,900 in box office revenues across the weekend and $2,885,148 over 11 days of activity compared to ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3’ with $4,102,209 for the weekend and $15,718,772 in revenue for the same 11 day period.

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Well, still 7.7 at IMDB but interesting point that within this week an average mark in USA shifted from 6.3 to 7.0 right now.

Looking for more! :P

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14260836/ratin...?ref_=tt_ov_rat

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Robbie's feelings on the movie reaction at TIFF in Canada since weeks

Let's give our credits to these great singers in the movie!

She's The One. Very very beautiful singing.

https://www.tiktok.com/@ohhkaeli/video/7456721489048456481

Come Undone

https://www.tiktok.com/@_adamtucker/video/7...405980995898656

Angels

Some process in the making

https://www.tiktok.com/@_adamtucker/video/7...899739909459233

https://www.tiktok.com/@ohhkaeli/video/7456504640515935521

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Norfolk singer the ‘Better Man’ in biopic

A Norfolk singer has a starring role in a new biopic – but you might not see him.

Adam Tucker from King’s Lynn provides the voice of Robbie Williams in the film Better Man.

He tells Chris Goreham about the role of a lifetime.

Listen here (4-minutes interview):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0khc2gw

Thanks, Laura.

Please keep it going with that data!

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The latest videos for tomorow - too late!

A lovely message about bad situation in LA