Robbie Williams biopic Better Man is due to begin filming in Melbourne, Australia, in early 2022.
Directed and co-written by Australian filmmaker Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), the film will look into the experiences that shaped UK pop star Williams, both on and off stage. As we first reported earlier this year, Williams will be portrayed by a CGI monkey in the film.
The large-scale feature will film at Docklands Studios Melbourne, Victoria, and will include an estimated 14 local Heads of Departments, 80 visual effects practitioners, 220 crew and 2,700 extras and casuals.
Williams said: “I’m so excited I am making this movie in Victoria with my friend Michael Gracey.”
Pic will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Roadshow Films in a deal inked with Rocket Science which pre-sold the film widely earlier this year.
Joel Pearlman, Roadshow Films CEO said: “Better Man is shaping up to be become a major theatrical event and we couldn’t be more excited that it will shoot in Melbourne, which is also the hometown of director Michael Gracey. We are beyond excited to be distributing Better Man in Australia and New Zealand”.
Director Michael Gracey said Melbourne was the perfect place to make the film: “To tell Robbie William’s beautiful, distinct story, back home, in my own city, is a dream come true. There is a creative energy that burns across the Melbourne film industry, and I know this movie will thrive here with the support of the Australian Government’s Producer Offset and Film Victoria’s incentive program.”
Williams is well known from his time as a cheeky teenager in boy band sensation Take That, but the singer hit stride as a solo artist, with 11 out of 12 of his studio albums charting number one in the UK. His tours continue to be a big draw and he made the Guinness Book of Records for selling 1.6 million tickets for a tour in a day.
