Robbie Williams attends the premiere of ‘Better Man[ at Cinedom on Dec. 8, 2024 in Cologne, Germany. Photo: Gerald Matzka Exclusives/Getty Images
When British pop star Robbie Williams’ semi-autobiographical musical Better Man was released in theaters at the end of 2024, film critics threw around words like “astonishing” and “demented” to describe the biopic.
Williams, for his part, recalls the conversation he had with director Michael Gracey on using CGI to portray him as a monkey. “When Michael came to the house and said, ‘Let’s have you be a monkey,’ instantly I felt that it was the biggest swing that could ever happen for this movie,” Williams says. “I loved the risk that he was taking so much, and I knew we had to go with it. It made perfect sense to me, and it’s so exciting and different. There is a surrender to the machinery of the industry that requires you to be a robot or a monkey. And I chose a monkey.”
The ”Rock DJ” hitmaker had previously been convinced of trusting Gracey with his life’s story based on hearing the music from the director’s 2017 musical The Greatest Showman (starring Hugh Jackman). “We got on like a house on fire straight away,” Williams admits.
The movie’s title came from the artist’s 2000 song “Better Man,” from the album Sing When You’re Winning. The plot follows plenty of pivotal moments, highs and lows in Williams’ journey—from his beginnings as an aspiring musician to joining the pop group Take That and eventually catapulting to global stardom as a solo artist with songs like “Let Me Entertain You,” “Feel,” “Candy” and “Angels,” among others.
Williams says with a laugh, “For this film, I’ve revealed way more than I should.” He adds, “But on a day-to-day basis, I also reveal way more than I should about exactly what’s going on in my life. My life always seems to be a tightrope act with no safety harness. I could fall off at any moment, and a lot of the time I do.”
Williams describes his life story as “very remarkable things happening to a particularly unremarkable person.” He continues, “But what I’ve managed to do, what I’ve managed to achieve, and what I’ve managed to overcome, is the equivalent of stretching an elastic band from Stoke-on-Trent to Mars. Hopefully, people will find that interesting.” There’s a universality that Williams hopes strikes in the minds and hearts of those watching Better Man. He says, “Everybody has a story in them. Everybody is interesting. Everybody has a hero’s journey. That’s part of being human. I just hope that mine, in particular, appeals to people. And musicals are powerful because of their transformative nature and the ethereal quality that music has. Music talks to you on a soul level, deeper than words alone can.”
From being the self-admitted “annoying runt” in Take That who got into trouble all the time, Williams says he was “getting a rise out of pressing people’s buttons because I wasn’t properly looked after.” He adds, “None of us were. But my reaction to not being looked after properly was to blow it up. Fame at that age was very corrosive and toxic so I exploded and imploded.”
Although Take That did reunite in 2005 and went on to release albums as a trio without Williams, the pop artist says his relationship these days with Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, and Mark Owen (and fellow former member Jason Orange) is a fairly positive one. Williams says, “If this was a movie about 2009 to present day Robbie Williams, it would be a love story to Gary Barlow.”
Better Man is now streaming in India on Lionsgate Play so you can judge for yourself.
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