In Robbie Williams's new biopic about his rollercoaster life, he is being depicted as a monkey. However unusual this may seem, it was hardly the biggest barrier to making Better Man.
Robbie's computer-generated character is not only voiced by him, but his piercing blue-green eyes were scanned into every image to convey his yearning and emotion. As we sit down to chat in Los Angels Robbie, 50, recalls how director Michael Gracey – the man behind The Greatest Showman and Rocketman – pitched the concept to him, reasoning that a monkey would have more of an emotional impact than merely casting an actor.
"He said, '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 sold on it. And I'm like, 'Yes, that's genius - and I totally see it," says Robbie who immediately consulted with his American actress wife Ayda Field, with whom he has four children.
"And then I went into the next room, where my wife was - she is the Minister of Finance and Opinions - and said, 'Look, I'm gonna be a f***ing monkey.' And she said: 'What the f***?'. And that was the first time that I realized that it was unusual."
As director Michael explains: "I think we're very cinematically numb to seeing human suffering, but when we see an animal hurting, there is something very uncomfortable about that."
Adds Robbie: "And also you don't spend the whole movie, constantly going: He's doing a good Robbie Williams there - the monkey takes that aspect away."
The death of Queen Elizabeth II almost threatened to derail his film Better Man after the producers spent a small fortune on one spectacular fantasy dance routine set on London’s Regent Street at Christmas.
“That was a year and a half in the making with 500 dancers. It's the biggest dance number I've ever done,” says Michael Gracey.
It’s no understatement from the man who directed Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman and produced Rocketman.
“I always used to walk down Regent Street and think, this is such a great street to do a dance number on, like, Why has no one done it? And then it became very clear why no one's done it. Because shutting down that street for four nights - complete lock off - when it's a bus route as well, so you need to redirect the busses, which apparently in London, is just a no go."
"So we got told no so many times, but fortunately, the land is Crown Estate, and the Royals like Robbie and so between Westminster Council and the Crown Estate and the most incredible amount of paperwork, we got to shut it down for four nights,” he says describing the huge amount of effort and preparation that went into preparing for that big scene.
"And on the Friday we were feeling feeling very buoyant, because the first night of filming was Sunday night, and we got a call from the Crown Estate to tell us that the Queen had just died and we wouldn't be shooting because there's 10 days of mourning. So we lost all of the money. There's no insurance for the death of the Queen.
"People will say to you: No, there is, because it's force majeure, and you say; No, it's not. It's civil authority that shuts you down with the death of the Queen, and after COVID, civil authority was capped at 250 grand payouts. So we lost millions of dollars, and it took another five months to get back on that street, and we had to raise the money again. And every time I watch it, I think people have no idea how close we came to that not being in the film,” he recalls.
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.