Michael Gracey’s feature directorial debut–The Greatest Showman, released in 2017–garnered assorted honors, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, followed shortly thereafter by an Oscar nod for Best Original Song (“This is Me”). During the making of that film, Gracey got a chance to connect with a real-life showman, British pop superstar Robbie Williams, who lent some musical support and morale boosting to its star, Hugh Jackman.
Gracey and Williams developed a rapport with one another on The Greatest Showman and kept in touch. They swapped life experiences and Gracey, who clearly knows a worthwhile story when he hears it, became intrigued by Williams–and how entertaining his tales were. Gracey found it remarkable that despite drug and alcohol abuse, Williams vividly remembered so many details of his life.
Given that Williams had a recording studio at his home, Gracey implored him to commit those memories to audio. With that, a routine was born. Whenever Gracey visited Los Angeles, he’d come to Williams’ home where they’d kibitz in the studio and Williams would talk into the microphone, recollecting different aspects and stages of his life. While the original intent was just to get Williams to share and preserve his story, Gracey began chronologically rearranging these audio clips collected over a year and a half, patching together an a spoken mosaic of William’s life. It was during that process that Gracey realized he had the framework for an engaging narrative film.
That narrative took a seemingly bizarre turn as Gracey sought a departure from the traditional musical biopic. What struck Gracey was Williams referring to himself repeatedly as “a performing monkey.” In essence, related Gracey, Williams’ “whole life was a performance”–not just “professionally” but for his dad who idolized Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, as well as for other kids who acted tough and bullied him around. So why not take this role literally with Williams being portrayed in the biopic as a monkey who’s seemingly always performing for–and in the midst of–humans. The chimp identity also underscored how different and nonconformist he is while perhaps somehow making his life more accessible to audiences–and in the process fostering a special brand of empathy for viewers to experience.
Gracey–who wrote the screenplay along with Simon Gleeson and Oliver Cole–observed that people can at times “strangely relate more” to animals than to humans. When you see an animal suffering, there’s an extra dimension of caring that can take hold. And taking the form of a monkey is in some ways more akin to what a famous person deals with–all eyes being on him, her or them when they walk into a room.
While the original audio recordings chronicling Williams’ life weren’t intended for public consumption, they were thoroughly entertaining while reflecting his unguarded candor. Gracey noted that Williams regularly uttered what others would never say. Williams too was adamant that he didn’t want a watered down or sanitized depiction of his life. As Gracey affirmed, “An audience can always really tell when they’re being fed the PG version of someone’s life.” And when you have someone willing to share “the darkness” of his existence, then you can really feel the “bright moments.”
You also feel the family dynamic–dysfunctional and functional, the former evident in Williams’ complicated relationship with a self-centered father who abandoned him in a haphazard pursuit of fame. Thankfully, though, young Robbie Williams had a stabilizing, nurturing force in his upbringing–a loving grandma who believed in his dreams and talent.
And these varied dynamics, chimpanzee and all, served as the philosophical and creative underpinning for Better Man (Paramount Pictures)–an unconventional hybrid that’s part musical, part bio, part fantastical yet foundationally realistic and thus, relatable. Gracey and his collaborators adroitly deployed music, choreography and visual effects yet the core strength is in the acting performances, the anchor being Jonno Davies who becomes Williams as a chimp thanks to the sophisticated motion capture technology of VFX studio Wētā. And of course, Williams has a hand in portraying himself–most notably narrating his own story. It’s Williams’ voice that drives the CGI chimp brought to life and movement by Davies. All this also figured in Gracey’s decision to go with the performing monkey protagonist in that this is how Williams saw himself–dovetailing well with his voice which too conveys who he is. Better Man does not dwell on the public’s perception of Williams but rather his POV about himself.
Better Man follows Williams’ journey from childhood to being the youngest member of the chart-topping boy band Take That, and eventually a breakthrough solo artist whose ascent has him grappling with the challenges and heartache that stratospheric success can bring.
Thus far Better Man has fared well on the awards show circuit, garnering a Critics Choice nomination for Best Visual Effects, and a Golden Globes nod for Best Original Song on the strength of Williams’ “Forbidden Road.” Upon news of the Golden Globe recognition, Williams shared, “I would like to thank my friend and director Michael Gracey, who put his absolute heart and soul into this project to tell my life story on the big screen. I also want to thank the Golden Globes for acknowledging this song–it’s very personal to me and was a labor of love to create with my wonderful co-writers Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek, who I’m also very grateful to. This really means the world to me and I’m humbled to be included among the other brilliant nominees.”
Gracey’s experience and collaborators served him well on Better Man. A prime example of an artisan with whom he felt simpatico was choreographer Ashley Wallen. Gracey and Wallen have a collaborative track record which includes both Better Man and The Greatest Showman as well as prior to that, music videos for the likes of Pink and Alesha Dixon.
Gracey has industry roots in animation and then visual effects, which helped him to team smoothly with Wētā FX in New Zealand. Wētā set up a studio in Melbourne, Australia, to help support Better Man from the initial pitch on. Wētā was integral in pre-vis and production, playing a major part, for example, in meshing digital effects with live action in visually ambitious dance sequences, perhaps most notably the Piccadilly Square “Rock DJ” number. That was set on Regent Street in London, a mammoth undertaking with cast and crew, some 500 dancers, vehicles and so on in a bustling area. The night before lensing on Regent Street was scheduled to start, Queen Elizabeth had died, meaning that filming was canceled. There are 10 days of mourning after the death of the Queen, a circumstance for which there is no insurance. So all of the money put into preparing for that turning point musical number had been lost. The financial wherewithal wasn’t there to just pick up and re-start. While losing the pivotal musical sequence altogether was considered, ultimately it was resurrected–only much later in that the time was needed to raise the necessary funds. Crucial, said Gracey, were the dedication and commitment of the crew, leading artists and Wētā, as well as in the big budget picture, substantive rebate revenue from the Australian government which are essential to an indie film. Also on the Wētā front, Gracey noted for example that the VFX plate work was tremendously impressive technologically and creatively. Better Man became “a passion project” for Wētā,” said Gracey, translating into innovative problem solving and breaking new ground creatively and technologically.
Also invaluable for Gracey was the dynamic of how one experience informs another. The director noted that his work on The Greatest Showman–lessons learned from that musical–helped him tremendously in tackling Better Man. Furthermore, Gracey credited his extensive experience in commercialmaking. “There’s no way I could have done The Greatest Showman without a career of doing spectacle commercials. It gave me a lot of confidence.” Whereas major movie studios generally have trepidation about ambitious complex musical numbers, Gracey felt “supremely comfortable” given his experience in short form spanning spots and music videos, replete with musical numbers and sophisticated choreography. (Gracey continues to be handled in the ad arena by production company Partizan.)
This is the eighth installment of our weekly 16-part The Road To Oscar Series of feature stories. Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on Friday, January 17, 2025. The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
