British pop star Robbie Williams is doing loads of monkeying round within the new trailer for his upcoming biopic, Higher Man. The movie from Paramount Pictures, which debuted on the Telluride Film Festival again in August, is a novel depiction of the “Angels” and “Really feel” singer’s rise, fall, and rise once more within the music business, laying naked his demons and insecurities within the course of. Nevertheless, as a substitute of the traditional exploration of a musician with a human actor reliving their life story, Williams is portrayed by, sure, a CGI monkey that he supplies the voice for. It is billed as a extra satirical, grandiose tour by way of his three many years of stardom which is able to go vast in theaters within the U.S. early subsequent 12 months.
The footage solely offers a small tease of the journey Higher Man goals to take viewers on, one which begins together with his rise aboard the boy band Take That and charts his evolution into the unhealthy boy of British pop. Williams loved historic success as a solo act with 18 Brit Awards to his identify, seven U.Ok. #1 hits, and record-breaking ticket and album gross sales, making him one of many bestselling artists on the planet. That success, nonetheless, has been paired with a tumultuous life-style stuffed with substance abuse and shallowness points, all of which might be explored within the biopic. Bombastic musical moments and visuals with twists on Williams’s iconic songs will function the backdrop for the susceptible, messy story, showcasing the spectacle of his profession.
OK, However Why the CGI Monkey for ‘Higher Man’?
Helming the challenge is The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey who brings his show-stopping tendencies to Williams’s story. It was Gracey’s thought to make Higher Man visually distinct by way of its use of a monkey rather than the pop star, however he was impressed by Williams’s expression that he felt at instances like a monkey performing for everybody. The director has proven previously that he isn’t afraid to take big, stylistic swings, for better or worse, to make his movies stand out, and he once more went all out to make sure the simian spin matched the standard of different film chimps like from the Planet of the Apes franchise. Jonno Davies performs Williams’s monkey kind with movement seize know-how, whereas members of the team at WETA FX guarantee the results are spot on.
Whereas it nonetheless follows the music biopic formulation, Higher Man earned excessive reward on the pageant circuit for its distinctive strategy to that formulation. The movie at the moment holds an 86% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes with Collider’s Matthew Donato amongst these lauding it in his 7/10 review, saying “Even when the movie is simply Williams’ ego challenge, the performances and music interludes are sufficient to promote Higher Man as a must-see instance of how to boost your private historical past with unexpected ambitions.” Williams is surrounded by a powerful supporting forged together with Good Omens alum Steve Pemberton as his father alongside Alison Steadman, Damon Herriman, Jake Simmance, Liam Head, Jesse Hyde, and Chase Vollenweider.
Higher Man will premiere in the US on January 17 after a restricted run in theaters on Christmas Day. Try the trailer within the participant above and study extra concerning the monkey beneath.
