Anyone looking for the upcoming Robbie Williams biopic Better Man is probably especially excited for two particular aspects of the film.
First of all, there’s the prospect of seeing the CGI monkey helping tell the chart-topping singer’s story in action. And then, there’s a much-hyped dance number set on one of London’s busiest streets.
In an interview with Deadline over the summer, Better Man director Michael Gracey spoke of his pride at one musical sequence featuring 500 dancers, for which he had to shut down Regent Street.
“I always used to walk down Regent Street and think, ‘this is such a great street to do a dance number on, like, Why has no one done it?’,” he told Hello! Magazine.
“And then it became very clear why no one’s done it. Because shutting down that street for four nights – complete lock off – when it’s a bus route as well, so you need to redirect the buses, which apparently in London, is just a no go.”
“So we got told no so many times, but fortunately, the land is Crown Estate, and the Royals like Robbie, and so between Westminster Council and the Crown Estate, and the most incredible amount of paperwork, we got to shut it down for four nights.”
But even once permission was acquired, shooting hit an unfortunate snag. You see, the scene was filmed in September 2022 when… in fact, let’s just let Michael tell the story himself, shall we?
“On the Friday we were feeling very buoyant, because the first night of filming was Sunday night,” he recalled. “And we got a call from the Crown Estate to tell us that the Queen had just died and we wouldn’t be shooting, because there’s 10 days of mourning.
“So we lost all of the money.”
“There’s no insurance for the death of the Queen,” he continued. “People will say to you, ‘No, there is, because it’s force majeure’, and you say, ‘No, it’s not. It’s civil authority that shuts you down with the death of the Queen’, and after Covid, civil authority was capped at 250 grand payouts.
“So, we lost millions of dollars, and it took another five months to get back on that street, and we had to raise the money again. And every time I watch it, I think people have no idea how close we came to that not being in the film.”
Better Man hits UK cinemas on 26 December.
As well as Jonno Davies as a younger, simian version of Robbie, the film also features Steve Pemberton and Alison Steadman as the singer’s parents.
Watch the trailer below:
