After directing the incredibly successful The Greatest Showman – his directional debut –director/co-writer Michael Gracey is now back with an equally emotional, musical and unique feature. This time, he opted to bring the personal and musical life of multi-award-winning musician Robbie Williams to the big screen. Don’t expect your usual biopic, as a CGI chimpanzee is portraying the lead this time. It might have been a risky choice, but it pays off as the movie is described as ‘a cracking celebration of one of British pop music’s greatest showmen.’
While Williams himself voices the chimpanzee, it’s actor Jonno Davies who, via performance capture, embodies the chimp version with a lot of flair, emotions and charisma. Ahead of the release of Better Man, Geek Vibes Nation spoke to Davies and Raechelle Banno, who portrays Nicole Appleton (Williams’ ex-girlfriend and All Saints singer). We had a chat about their beautiful first scene together, what it was like to portray real-life people, and the performance capture process.
Geek Vibes Nation (Liselotte Vanophem): First of all, congratulations on the film. While all your scenes were amazing, the very first one, during which your characters meet, was even more moving. Could you tell us more about how that scene was filmed, the choreography and the usage of “She’s the One” during that moment?
Actor Jonno Davies: Well, obviously, the song comes first, and I think Michael, even when he was writing the script, wanted give new context to pre-established songs. It was interesting for him to take source material and give it a whole new life. And then in terms of the filming, we shot all the cutaway scenes regarding Nicole and Robbie’s future first. Once established, we returned to the boat, and the dancing commenced. It was an intricate part of the filmmaking process because the spins that Raechelle did on the boat had to match the spin on the catwalk or the one by the crib. That was a massive feat for the whole team, and they pull together incredibly.
We had grips working on choreography, and our choreographer handled the camera at times, so it was very much a collaborative effort. This one [Raechelle] was just insane. She nailed the dancing take after take, no matter how many cuts or bruises she had. She was like an absolute Trojan warrior. You could have slept for a week afterwards, right?
Actress Raechelle Banno: I would go home and put my feet in a little ice bath every night because I was in heels, and we danced a lot. But that last week of filming was the last week we did all the yacht stuff, and it was just such a joyous way to finish. We just got to make each other laugh for a whole week. It was a really beautiful way to end the shoot.
GVN: Do you think that because it was the last scene you filmed, the emotions were lifted even more because you knew each other so well?
RB: I think so. We’d spent four months together by then, and we’d already done all the quite tricky, traumatic parts of their relationship and we had gone on this massive journey with Rob’s whole story. So then to be able to go and try to woo someone was such a nice way to finish. Then this euphoria came when we finally got through the shoot. So it was just a joy.
JD: That’s a good point because Nicole in our story is very much the shining light for Rob. It’s that kind of release, the breath of air he needed, and Raechelle was very much that in her own right. And so, as you said, having this gorgeous scene to finish off with, felt like the whole crew came together one final time, and we just got to enjoy it.
GVN: When filming those emotional, personal and heartbreaking scenes, did you work extra closely with Robbie and Nicole, or did you base your performances purely on the script?
JD: Both Robbie and Nicole ensured they told their story early on, so the script was pretty locked down. The script had gone through many stages to ensure the pitch and tone were perfect. Then it was about trusting us as actors and Michael as the director just letting us take the lead. The way that Michael works as the director is him saying ‘here are the goalposts, here’s the foundation, here’s the structure’, but I do want you to play. When I mean play, I don’t change that line a little bit here and there. We really tested each other and took each other as far as we could go. That was refreshing and creative and stimulating to do.
RB: It was the first time on a job I understood the term ‘play’ because Jonno, you’d been on set for quite a while before I started filming with you, and you just were such a good leader. You would do things that would genuinely surprise me and then I realised no one was coming in saying, ‘You didn’t do that on the last take’. And I was like, ‘Oh, we can genuinely play’. Your liberation and your openness just gave me permission to do the same, and I think that added to the spark of their relationship as well. They kept each other on their toes.
GVN: Throughout the making of this feature, performance capture was used to bring the chimpanzee version of Robbie fully to life. Could you tell us a bit more about that filming process?
JD: We filmed this with performance capture as that’s about the voice, the movement, the dancing, etc, whilst motion capture just gives an idea of the body. One of our benefits was that we never played him as a monkey. Only Robbie sees himself that way. There was no point where I was on my knuckles or anything like that. So I let Wētā FX, the VFX team, do their things once I handed the baton onto them at the end. This meant we could portray those dynamics and those relationships as truthful and grounded as possible.
But as Raechelle said, having that technique was very liberating for me because it meant that even if the hero camera wasn’t on me, there’d be a hundred different witness cams capturing my performance. So it meant that every take was usable, and it allowed me to play and explore what these scenes could be. Michael was very encouraging with that as well. And it was very freeing, very liberating. You’re not worried about your appearance or whether it’s right angle. It was just really about honouring the story.
RB: Everything you see on screen and feel is all this guy [Jonno] over here.
GVN: Was Robbie choosing a monkey as his character an advantage for your performance because the animal resembles humans and human emotions so much? Much more like, for example, a cat or a dog.
JD: Yeah. Absolutely. We decided early on that we wouldn’t give any monkey attributes to the character. We felt it was too gimmicky; it was too wink-wink. Instead, we would play him like a human and let the audience see the similarities. There are things that we do as humans where we might go on our haunches, we might hit our chest for something, and as soon as you see a monkey do it, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a monkey movement’, and there’s such a parallel universe between the two.
But yeah, there’s the ferocity, the unpredictability, the fun, the kind of idiocy that you sometimes see with monkeys that’s so mischievous, which just, you know, it personifies him so well. It’s the only animal that it could have been.
Better Man will debut in select theatres on December 25, 2024, and expand nationwide on January 17, 2025, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Subtitle translator by day. Film journalist by night.
