Robbie Williams explains why he's being played by CGI monkey in bizarre new biopic

Robbie Williams is the latest in a long line of famous musicians to have a biopic made about him, but his is going to be serving up something a little different.

The role of Robbie Williams in the biopic Better Man will be played by a CGI monkey, a movie which is likely to leave many scratching their heads in confusion.

Sitting down with Michael Gracey, the director and writer of his biopic, Williams wanted to know 'what gives' about him being a CGI monkey now.

Fortunately, Gracey had a pretty detailed explanation for the monkey business and it turns out it all comes from something Robbie Williams had said himself.

The director said: "I asked you 'if you were an animal how would you see yourself?'.

"In your own words you would refer to being dragged up on stage to perform like a monkey.

Robbie Williams has got a biopic coming out, and the part of Robbie Williams will be played by a CGI monkey. (Paramount Pictures)

"I immediately thought portraying you not as we see you but how you see yourself, it immediately clicked in a way that I was like 'with your voice and that monkey I am going to see you and relate to you in a way that is gonna be more engaging than yet another musical biopic'."

Yes, it turns out that it's all because Williams said he felt like a performing monkey at times, so in his biopic he's exactly that.

Save for a few scenes with a very young Robbie, the part of Robbie Williams in Better Man will be played by Jonno Davies who has done the motion capture for the CGI monkey, though the singing will be left to others.

It's certainly a bold decision for the biopic, though 'Robbie Williams is a CGI monkey now' isn't the most bizarre or outlandish change that's ever been made in a musician's biopic.

"And through it all, trees offer me protection..." (Paramount Pictures)

So yes, if you've ever thought you'd like to know Robbie Williams life story but it's all gone a bit Planet of the Apes then it sounds like the perfect movie for you.

The film is meant to be a satirical take on his life that will 'reinterpret and recontextualise' some of the songs he's sung over the course of his career.

With so many musical biopics either made or mooted you might as well do something that gets people talking and makes you stick out from the crowd.

Of course, you could just go the Weird Al route and accept that a lot of these biopics are packed with a bunch of bunkum, so you might as well just cram in all sorts of stuff that didn't happen for the fun of it.

Better Man is available in select cinemas on 25 December, and more generally from 17 January, 2025.