Not only is the spring a fun time for film fans excited about festivals, but it’s also a time when the industry prepares some major projects to sell at events focused on finding distributors. And while we’ve already seen packages featuring Ryan Gosling, Florence Pugh, and others already announced, perhaps the most interesting (and equally, the most batshit crazy) is a new biopic about singer Robbie Williams from the director of “The Greatest Showman.”
READ MORE: ‘The Actor’: Ryan Gosling Teaming Up With Director Duke Johnson On A ’50s Mystery Film
According to Deadline, director Michael Gracey is hoping to find a distributor for his proposed Robbie Williams biopic, titled “Better Man.” Now, we’ve seen rock star biopics become all the rage, with “Bohemian Rhapsody” earning nearly $1 billion at the box office and making studios rush out to purchase the life rights to any and all pop stars they can find. But you see, “Better Man” isn’t your typical biopic because Robbie Williams, the very human man at the center of the biopic, is said to be portrayed by a CGI monkey.
No, this is not a joke. It’s March 1, not April 1. The Robbie Williams biopic, which presumably will tell the story of the British singer that rose to fame decades ago and has become one of the biggest names in UK music, will feature a CGI monkey playing the role of the performer. And if you’re thinking, “Wow, not only is that bonkers, but also expensive!” you’re right. Deadline reports that the filmmakers are searching for a deal that would give them a budget of around $100 million for the production. CGI monkeys aren’t cheap, folks.
Interestingly, though Gracey is probably best known for his directorial debut, the musical “The Greatest Showman,” the filmmaker got his start in visual effects work well before then. So, if there’s someone that combines musicality in a film with strong visual effects, you would assume it would be Gracey. So, we can safely say that Gracey can make a monkey act like Robbie Williams. The only question remaining is, should he? That answer is probably also yes.