Robbie Williams’ biopic, Better Man, has suffered a tough hit after being disqualified from the best original song category at the Oscars.
The unconventional movie follows the Take That singer’s rise to fame through the lens of a monkey voiced by Jonno Davies and has received critical acclaim, landing an impressive 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
As we enter awards season, Better Man has already landed a Golden Globes nomination for best original song with Forbidden Road, credited to Robbie, Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek.
The same song was hoping to follow the same trajectory for the Academy Awards and had already secured a spot on the shortlist for the best original song category… until now.
In a brutal U-turn, the song has been disqualified from the shortlist, per Variety, meaning the category now only holds 14 songs rather than the expected 15.
According to insiders, the disqualification occurred because the song reportedly ‘incorporates material from an existing song that was not written for the film’.
This is despite the fact that the rules state the song must be ‘original and written specifically for the motion picture’.
The issue centres around the melody having similarities with I Got a Name, a 1973 song by Charles Fox-Norman Gimbel which Jim Croce performed for the movie, The Last American Hero.
Since then Fox-Norman Gimbel has come on board as one of three governors of the Academy’s music branch.
A letter announcing the decision was distributed to the over 400 members of the music branch earlier this week.
‘This is a decision that both honours our rules and protects the special nature of the Original Song and Score categories,’ it read.
It is unclear if the song will be replaced on the shortlist, which currently also features music from Emilia Perez, Piece By Piece, The Wild Robot and Challengers, among others.
Paramount Pictures, who distributed the movie, and Robbie himself are yet to respond to the sudden verdict.
Better Man still has another chance to land an Oscar as it is also shortlisted in the best visual effects category. The movie used a performance capture suit on Jonno to capture the lifelike monkey effect.
In an interview with Metro, the 50-year-old singer-songwriter reflected on the ‘unusual’ approach he took to bring his story to life,
‘I didn’t know that I’d have to explain it, but obviously [I do]!’ he said.
‘Cos it’s unusual, right? That’s the thing,’ he continued.
‘I’m on the spectrum, so things that are unusual to me, aren’t that unusual – I don’t pick up on those sorts of cues. I don’t know where I am on the spectrum, by the way, I just know I am.
‘It’s a monkey, get over it,’ he mockingly huffed, before musing: ‘I’m sure somewhere in the world… Bob Dylan, who’s got a biopic coming out right now, is going, “Why wasn’t that a monkey?”, or something.’
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(Timothee Chalamet stars as a decidedly human version of Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic, A Complete Unknown)
Robbie then added: ‘It shouldn’t work but it actually works better than if it was me. I don’t know why.’
Metro has reached out to Paramount Pictures for comment.
Book your ticket to see Wicked now!
Better Man comes out in UK cinemas on December 26.
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