Critics Stunned: CGI Monkey Portrays Robbie Williams in New Biopic

Film critics were caught off guard upon discovering who portrays Robbie Williams in a new biopic about his life.

The spotlight is on the “Let Me Entertain You” and “Rock DJ” singer in the film titled Better Man, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on Monday, 2 September.

Nearly a year after the release of a Netflix documentary series about Williams’s life, the film, whose title is inspired by his 2000 single, delves into his rise to fame with the boyband Take That before embarking on a successful solo career.

However, audiences were taken aback when they realized that Williams is portrayed by a CGI monkey in the film.

“The other thing that sets Better Man apart from the rest of its ilk—and this might be too subtle for some people to notice—is that Williams is played by a computer-generated monkey for the entire film. Please feel free to read that sentence again if you need to,” David Ehrlich from IndieWire wrote in his review.

Gregory Ellwood from The Playlist added, “Williams is portrayed as a monkey. Everyone else in the movie is, effectively, real-life human beings. But yes, Williams is portrayed as a monkey like an actor who just walked off the digital set of any recent Planet of the Apes movie.”

The headline for Peter Debruge’s Variety review reads: “Robbie Williams Biopic Would Be a Snooze, but for the Wild Choice to Depict Him as a Chimp.”

Meanwhile, Hannah Strong from Little White Lies wrote on X/Twitter: “Another beautiful morning thinking about the Robbie Williams Biopic Where He Is Played By A CGI Chimp.”

Director Michael Gracey, known for The Greatest Showman, who previously hinted the biopic would be “out of the ordinary,” employed the same WETA FX artists who worked on the Planet of the Apes franchise to create the monkey character.

For the film, Jonno Davies donned the motion-capture suit—reminiscent of Andy Serkis’s style—to capture the monkey’s movements, while Williams himself provided the voice.

Gracey had expressed to Deadline when the film was first announced, “As for how we represent Robbie in the film, that bit is top secret. I want to do this in a really original way. I just want the audience to… think, ‘I’ve never seen this before’.”

It is said that the decision to depict him as a CGI primate stems from the singer’s belief that, when he steps on stage, he essentially feels like a performing monkey.

Better Man, an Australian-American production, does not yet have a UK release date. It co-stars Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, and Damon Herriman.

Source: IndieWire, The Playlist, Variety, Little White Lies