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Associated Press

It was after one particularly emotional premiere of the new biopic about his life that Robbie Williams resolved he could not be “the crying guy” at every screening.
Better Man, which chronicles the life of the British pop star and former Take That singer, can hit him differently at different times. Jet lag is a factor. So is who is in the building.
One screening with his band, he says, was “healing”. But he is self-conscious enough about all the emotion that he can be defensive about it.
“In real life I don’t cry that much,” Williams says and then smiles. “You have a biography about you and have the world go, ‘I’ve seen you and heard you’ and come tell me how you deal with it.’”


One twist? The Williams heard in Better Man is Williams, himself. But the Williams seen in the movie is a computer-generated chimpanzee.
Michael Gracey, who directed the 2017 musical hit The Greatest Showman, had the novel idea that Williams should get the big-screen biopic treatment, but with a monkey.
Relying on motion capture technology, the actor Jonno Davies stands in for Williams. In Better Man, that makes for a compelling spin on the music biopic, partly because it is still a quite R-rated journey through the ups and downs of mega pop stardom.
Williams also hopes it will expand his footprint in America, where he is famously less famous than he is in Europe.
“If I want to phone [French President Emmanuel] Macron, I phone Macron. If I want to phone [British Prime Minister] Keir Starmer, I phone Keir Starmer. If I want to phone [US president-elect Donald] Trump, he’s not taking my call,” Williams says with a laugh. “Maybe he would, I don’t know.”
“Maybe this film moves the needle for me,” Williams, 50, adds. “Or if it doesn’t, I’ll do something else.”

What both a conversation with Williams and Better Man have in common is a frankness about the experience of fame. More than a litany of chart-topping successes, Better Man is a chronicle of fame-induced trauma, complete with drug addiction and mental breakdown.
Williams, now, though, is a reformed bad boy – a family man with four kids with all kinds of plans, like building hotels and buying sports teams.
“At the moment,” he says, “I have the wide-optimism of a new artist.”
Did your identification with monkeys predate Better Man?
Did this predate? I guess so, subconsciously. My MO has been cheeky. What’s more cheeky than a cheeky monkey? I’ve been a cheeky monkey all my life. There’s no more cheekier monkey than the [cocaine]-snorting, sex-addict monkey that we find in the movie.

Do you think it is easier for audiences to empathise with a monkey than for you?
We care for animals more than we care for humans, most of us. I guess there is a removal, as well. It’s very much a human story but if you’re watching it and someone’s playing Robbie Williams, you’re thinking: does he look like him? Does he act like him? Does he talk like him?
As someone who has been open about difficulties in life, you are not new to the idea that people do not have a lot of sympathy for wealthy pop stars. You were probably suffering very human things at a time when people did not see you as human.
I think they have sympathy once you come through the other side and you’re talking about something in the past. Everybody loves a story of redemption. The redemption is: I was this guy who experienced this thing but I’ve endured and overcome it.
You throw in a word like “endure”, and I can already hear British people going “(Expletive) you! What did you endure? Knickers being thrown at you.” Dude, I was mentally ill. I still am, but I’m in a good place. I couldn’t derive joy from anything because I was mentally ill. I won a sprinting race with two broken legs.

It was that bad?
Yeah. My story’s not unusual. There’s a boy band documentary that’s going to be on [television] in Britain that I’ve taken part in, and everyone’s story is the same. They’ve got the bends. They experienced this thing that warped them and gave them mental breakdowns.
I can’t apologise for the truth, and the truth is there’s something about this matrix-bending, washing-machine fame that’s deeply unhealthy.
No matter what job you have or what path you choose in life, you spend the second 20 years of your life sorting out the first 20 years. It just so happens I did it in public and told people exactly what was going as it was going on. And still do.
When One Direction singer Liam Payne died, you seemed to understand what he might have been going through.
Here’s the thing: I’m always astonished – may he rest in peace, bless him, beautiful boy – that the entertainment industry isn’t littered with those types of cases, that we can’t point to 30 of them.

Fame, as you describe it, would seem clearly unhealthy. But does some part of you need it?
It’s different now. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m 50 and I’m incredibly grateful for fame. It facilitates everything that I need and want to do with my life.
I was just too young to receive it, and I wasn’t surrounded by good people. And I wasn’t good people. But now I can’t speak highly enough of it. (Laughs)
Part of your appeal has always been your candour. In your experience, though, does show business work against remaining authentic?
It depends who you are. Most people I meet in the industry, they’re nice folk. But a lot of the people that I meet also are narcissists and they understand on some level that it’s best to cover up their true nature. So they do. Now there’s cancellation, so you’ve got a lot of people terrified of saying the wrong thing.

So how did you turn your life around? You have often credited your wife.
Ayda [Field] was credited with saving my life before she saved my life. I was like: I’ve done a lot of work on myself here. Don’t give her all the credit. But now I can give her way more credit than I was giving her because I’ve realise how much she’s done.
Without that grounding, my life would be a lot different. I probably wouldn’t be here. Because I have somebody in my life that’s worth me being the best version of myself 24 hours out of the day, I’m better.
And because there’s four young souls that need looking after, my purpose is a lot different.
When you go on a worldwide tour next year, do you do things differently to help you stay sane?
Yeah and no. The no bit is: it’s OK. I’ve come to realise, I didn’t die. There’s a bit more wisdom now. The lunatic that was in the car is still in the car, but he doesn’t drive any more.


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Robbie Williams arrives for the 82nd Golden Globes in California. Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Jonno Davies as a computer-generated chimpanzee in a scene from Better Man, a biopic of British singer Robbie Williams. Photo: Paramount Pictures via AP

Robbie Williams in a scene from Better Man. Photo: Paramount Pictures via AP

Jonno Davies as a computer-generated chimpanzee in a scene from Better Man. Photo: Paramount Pictures via AP

Williams at the Royal Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia, where Better Man was filmed. Photo: EPA-EFE

Williams and his wife, Ayda Field, at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in California. Photo: Reuters

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Demi Moore poses with the award for best actress in a musical or comedy, for The Substance, at the Golden Globes. Photo: Reuters

Demi Moore in a scene from The Substance. Photo: Mubi via AP

Coralie Fargeat, director of The Substance, arrives for the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. Photo: EPA-EFE

Margaret Qualley in a scene from The Substance. Photo: Mubi via AP

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Kang Ha-neul as Kang Dae-ho, or player #388, in a still from Squid Game season 2. The actor is among those in the new series with impressive portfolios. Photo: Netflix

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Donnie Yen as Monkey King in a still from The Monkey King (2014).

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A screenshot from the Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong. Photo: Game Science

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Lifestyle

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Film & TV

‘My MO has been cheeky. What’s more cheeky than a cheeky monkey?’ asks Robbie Williams – who in biopic Better Man is a CG chimpanzee


‘My MO has been cheeky. What’s more cheeky than a cheeky monkey?’ asks Robbie Williams – who in biopic Better Man is a CG chimpanzee.


American cinema

European cinema