Robbie Williams Portrayed by a Monkey in His Biopic "Better Man" that recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival

In his biopic Better Man, which was recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, Robbie Williams is played by a CGI monkeyI

The first reviews of the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man have praised the film as "incredibly original" and confirmed that the star is portrayed by a Computer-Generated Imagery monkey. (CGI)

Today, the first reviews of the film confirm this and paint a picture similar to the one Williams himself described in an interview with Rolling Stone UK, saying it would be about "blood and guts, drugs, sex, drinking, and rock and roll, getting lost and finding oneself."

David Ehrlich from IndieWire wrote: "You’ll see a monkey bleach its hair. You’ll see a monkey party with Oasis. You’ll see a monkey take unreasonable amounts of cocaine, stick a heroin needle into the fur of its arm, and rush headlong into traffic while screaming a pop song at the top of its lungs."

A review from Deadline adds: "The concept from Gracey, the director of the hit musical The Greatest Showman, was born from a remark made by Williams, who said he felt like a 'stage monkey.' Gracey apparently took this remark literally, as in true Planet of the Apes style, Davies dives into a CGI frenzy, embodying the role of Williams while the star sings and narrates his own story, just to remind us that there’s indeed a human being represented here in this most original idea."

Note that this unique idea had previously been kept secret, with director Michael Gracey telling Deadline: "As for how we portray Robbie Williams, it’s top secret. I want to do it in a really original way. I just want the audience to say, ‘I’ve never seen that before.’"