The first trailer for Better Man , the musical biopic about pop star Robbie Williams has been released and got everyone asking the same question: “What’s with the monkey?” The British music icon’s story will be told in the ambitious film by The Greatest Showman director , Michael Gracey, which will be released on 26 December. However, instead of an actor playing Williams, he’ll be portrayed by a Planet of the Apes -style CGI monkey with actor J onno Davies playing the role , via motion capture. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 2 September, which appeared to blindside critics who saw it, calling it a “wild choice” but were mostly positive about the movie.
The only real explanation behind the decision that viewers get in the trailer is that Williams sees himself as a “little less evolved.” The first trailer was released on Wednesday 2 October, to a bemused reaction online after it quickly went viral, racking up more than 6 million views at the time of writing. The account for the opticians Specsavers, replied to a description of the film, asking: “Pardon?” The file-sharing system, Limewire , said: “Did they download the wrong file or something? It happens to the best of us.
” Another person wrote: “Even knowing the concept beforehand, nothing could’ve prepared me for watching this trailer.” A second joked: “It’s nice to see Hollywood taking the Planet of the Apes franchise in a bold new direction.” A third added: “Gotta.
