THE BETTER MAN STORY

How Michael Gracey’s bold vision triggered the biggest movie ever made in Melbourne, Victoria. 

When director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) approached major studios with his concept for a Robbie Williams biopic featuring a CGI chimp as its central character, he was met with a healthy degree of skepticism.  

The lauded director returned to Melbourne, his hometown, with a steadfast pitch that the most unique and engaging way to communicate Williams’ story was through a VFX-engineered character in the form of a man-sized chimpanzee. He managed to capture the attention of both state and federal screen agencies at VicScreen and Screen Australia respectively. 

“I think the fact that VicScreen saw that high concept idea – and it's a bold idea – and they backed it, is something I'm incredibly grateful for,” Gracey said.

Michael Gracey behind the scenes with actor Raechelle Banno on the set of Better Man 

Fast forward three years and Better Man is now the largest film ever made in Melbourne, Victoria creating almost 3000 jobs and injecting $142 million in direct Victorian expenditure into the local economy. 

Alongside his childhood friends and fellow screenwriters, Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, Gracey set out to draft a script with universal themes of self-love and self-acceptance. The CGI chimp helped, in a paradoxical way, to access the humanity of these themes, Gracey explains. “I feel like you see more of Rob because of the monkey than you would if it was just an actor playing him. And it's not just a visual thing; it's the license that the monkey allows you to explore that interior life without it feeling jarring, because you're already in this heightened reality.” 

Michael Gracey needs no excuse to return home and create major motion feature films in his own backyard, he says. “As a filmmaker, that's all you can ever hope for. You can have these very bold ideas, but you're never going to realise them unless you can convince an entire group of people to invest in them to the same degree that you do. And that's what I find about the crews here in Melbourne. They went all in on Better Man. And I think the real remuneration they have is the film itself. It brings me so much joy to know how proud they are of the fact that they were a part of Better Man.” 

Better Man is the largest feature film ever made in Victoria, and here's why: the film created almost 3000 jobs for local Victorians, provided seven hands-on skills development opportunities, worked with 841 Victorian businesses, employed 428 Regional Victorians and injected $142 million in direct Victorian expenditure. 

Melbourne Costume Designer Cappi Ireland needed no convincing to join Gracey’s creative team on Better Man. Having dressed the cast on VicScreen-supported productions like Lion, The Dry and Animal Kingdom, Ireland relished the opportunity to design costumes based on real and iconic references from Take That and Robbie Williams’ heyday as a 90s popstar. Dressing a digital charact was a brand-new experience, however, and one that required a new lens of technology and collaboration. “Working on a film of Better Man’s scale in Melbourne was amazing from the beginning because we got to set up manufacturing department and art finishing department,” Cappi says. “It's always a joy to have all of those teams around you to furnish what you want to do. That makes a big difference.” 

Melbourne costume designer Cappi Ireland lifts the curtain on dressing the cast of Better Man, detailing how her costume department and Wētā FX created lifelike outfits for a digital character. 

Casting directors Kate Leonard and Alison Telford were equally thrilled to join Gracey’s team and cast Better Man with predominantly local actors from across Melbourne and Victoria. “I think we had over 80 Victorian based cast members in this film,” Leonard explains, “And we love that because we know all of the actors in Melbourne, and we've been Melbourne casting directors for a really long time.”  

Robbie Williams performed a free concert at Melbourne’s Federation Square to ring in 2025 and promote his new film Better Man.

Better Man is currently playing at cinemas across the country and is being distributed by Roadshow Films in Australia and Paramount Pictures overseas as one of their offerings for the 2025 awards season.