How Hugh Jackman Inspired the New Robbie Williams Biopic
Better Man filmmaker Michael Gracey knew it was time to shake up the musician biopic. The subgenre is often knocked for its formulaic, sanitized stories that preserve their subjects’ well-manicured reputations. And after spending six years developing Elton John’s biopic Rocketman only to be replaced by director Dexter Fletcher, the Australian had little desire to tell another performer’s life story -— -until he befriended U.K. pop sensation Robbie Williams, an inspiration for the 2017 smash hit musical The Greatest Showman, which he directed for Fox.
Williams regaled Gracey with evocative tales, and the English singer-songwriter eventually referred to viewing himself as a “performing monkey.” Inspiration struck, and the result is the refreshingly unconventional Better Man — which will open the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 2.
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So, Hugh Jackman initiated Better Man somewhat?
Williams was his point of reference during Showman. He’d say, “I can be that charismatic entertainer.” It became an in-joke how much Hugh would reference Robbie. I then played the music for Rob, and in a video to Hugh [during preproduction], he said, “I’ve spent the last year recording my latest album, and I’d ditch that to sing these songs. In fact, if we were having a cup of tea and nobody was looking, I’d bludgeon you to death to play P.T. Barnum.” What he said was better than anything I could’ve written to convince Hugh Jackman to move forward.
Did you get straight to work on Better Man, then?
The usual offers came in, and while it’s nice to have interest, I was adamant about pushing myself creatively. At the same time, I was enjoying Rob’s stories so much that I wanted recordings, but they weren’t originally intended for a film. After a year and a half, I thought, “Maybe there’s something here.” I’d worked on Rocketman for six years, and I didn’t end up getting to direct that, so I wasn’t looking to do another pop/rock star’s life story. But it came down to Rob’s engaging storytelling — and the monkey. If I hadn’t come up with the monkey as a creative way in, I never would’ve made Better Man.
Was presenting Robbie’s character as a CG monkey a response to the subgenre’s overused conventions?
I think so. With musical biopics, you deal with the star or their estate, and that gets hard. People want to protect their legacy and image, but Better Man has scenes where Robbie is highly unlikable. That’s way more relatable than a holier-than-thou star, so the monkey allows you to empathize in those uncomfortable moments. We feel more compassion watching animals suffer. Fortunately, Rob was on board. He said, “I’m not interested in the glorified, watered-down version of my life.”
Did the monkey prevent studio backing before production?
A monkey main character in an R-rated film by the Greatest Showman director — studio friends looked at it early on and said, “Michael, no one’s touching this film.” It was only going to get made independently, and even that was difficult, partly because Rob is unknown in the U.S. The monkey also meant almost tripling the budget of most musical biopics, so it took years to finance.
Is the sequence around Williams’ hit “Rock DJ” among your proudest filmmaking feats?
I wish I could’ve pulled off something like “Rock DJ” for Showman. As an independent film, I didn’t have the same fights I had with [Fox]. They were terrified about making a musical. The first trailer hid the musical [element], and I was told, “Not everyone likes musicals.” Funnily enough, the idea for the moment in “Rock DJ” where they dance atop gumballs goes back 15 years to when I was working on the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang remake with Barbara Broccoli. That didn’t get made, and they wouldn’t let me do it on Showman, so Better Man was my third attempt at that sequence.
This story appeared in the Jan. 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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