STACK #245 March 2025

FEATURE MOVIE

Better Man is a major Australian production, filmed at Docklands Studios in Melbourne. With a reported budget of $110 million, it ranks

among the most expensive Australian films ever made. The film boasts an impressive ensemble cast, featuring acclaimed local talent such as Damon Herriman, Kate Mulvany, Rachelle Jasmine Banno, and Anthony Hayes. This ambitious project cements Australia’s growing reputation as a powerhouse for high-calibre filmmaking.

GENRE: Musical fantasy RUN TIME: 2h 16m

Damon Herriman (centre)

Pop superstar Robbie Williams has been making the rounds explaining why he’s depicted as a monkey in Michael Gracey’s fantasy musical biopic Better Man - but he hasn’t always been truthful. Until now. Words Gill Pringle ”H e’s a monkey, he’s in a boy band, he’s a solo artist.

The film also heart-achingly outlines how his relationship with former girlfriend, All Saints star Nicole Appleton, suffered during those difficult years. And since Williams is telling it all - naturally there were a few awkward phone calls to make ahead of the film’s release. ”The most difficult bit is watching Nicole Appleton and what we went through. With Nic, I did the wrong thing. I was an awful boyfriend, like, really awful, and I was at the height of my addiction and alcoholism. ”And it breaks my heart every time I watch it because she’s a complete angel, and there is still shame attached to who I was then - but, yeah, everybody else can go under the bus,” he says, still fiercely protective of Nicole. ”It’s such a sensitive topic to be portraying as a storyteller, and Rob was adamant that nothing about Nicole’s story be represented without her blessing,” adds Gracey. Then, of course, there was the conversation with his former Take That bandmate Gary Barlow after sending him the script. ”So, he phoned me up. We’re mates now, and I love him, and our relationship is 95% healed, and there’ll always be a scar, but he loves me. I love him. But the first script was different, right? And he phoned me up and he went, ’Rob, I can’t believe this script, I come off worse than Darth Vader in the first Star Wars ’. ”I was like, ’Just try to see from my point of

”And Michael looked at me, and kinda went, ’Monkey?’ And then he went, ’Yeah, so I’ve got this idea that everybody in the movie is human apart from you, and you’re a CGI monkey.’ Before the sentence was finished, I was totally in and sold on it. And I’m like, ’Yes, that’s genius - and I totally see it’,” he recalls.

But I also think that it’s a very, very human story about the human condition, and the lack of self-worth and the insecurities and the wanting to be loved and the wanting to be seen and wanting to be heard,” ventures the 50-year old former Take That star. But that still doesn’t fully explain why he is depicted as a monkey in the film.

Through this unusual concept, Better Man takes an unflinching look at the ups and downs of Williams's life, from his childhood growing up as an only child in Stoke-on-Trent with an absent father, through his joining Take That at 16 - the youngest member of the band - to his solo fame and subsequent spirals into alcoholism, substance abuse, mental illness, obesity, and self-esteem issues.

Robbie Williams with director Michael Gracey

”OK? So the truth is, Michael [Gracey] came over and said to me: ’Look, what is your spirit animal?’ And I was trying to find some self worth for myself at the time, and chin up and chest out, I said: I am a lion ,” admits Williams when we meet with him in Los Angeles.

view’. So we did curb a few things, but that’s the awkward thing about my life, and what I need to have the wind in the sails for the third act of my career, which is the same as everybody else, we end up doing books and documentaries, and if you’re lucky, get a biography.”

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• Better Man is out Mar 26

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