Robbie Williams choked up onstage after his outlandish upcoming movie Better Man was warmly received at its premiere.
The new biopic has grabbed headlines recently – and confused fans – over ongoing reports that the chart-topping singer would be played by a CGI monkey, naturally.
Now that the film has been shown to its first audiences at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) too, that can be fully confirmed.
And critics are apparently loving the unusual choice and movie, as 50-year-old Robbie got to see (and hear) for himself while promoting it with director Michael Gracey.
When asked if he felt he was ‘reliving’ difficult parts of his life after seeing them on screen in an onstage Q&A at the gala premiere, the former Take That star – dressed in a trendy pinstripe suit – revealed that he was ‘currently experiencing it right now’.
‘I’m in the middle of having an overwhelming feeling,’ he told audience members in a video shared by Brandon Lewis on X.
‘This is the fourth time I’ve watched it and it’s a different experience…’ the Angels singer went on, before pausing as he was overcome with emotion and held his hand to his mouth.
As Robbie took a moment to compose himself, the audience cheered and clapped and shared their love for him.
‘That’s the thing about crying is that you feel as if it’s never going to stop once it starts,’ he confessed, before cheekily adding as he wiped his eyes: ‘And I’ve got a film to sell!’
After he quipped that Paramount would be pleased with how he was publicising the film, words seemed to fail a teary Robbie again, leading to more claps and whoops of encouragement.
The Millennium hitmaker then reassured fans it was ‘alright’ because he was ‘enjoying the overwhelming experience’.
‘I know I’ve got to say words,’ he added, before asking for the question to be passed on to The Greatest Showman filmmaker Gracey or actor Jonno Davies – who portrays the monkey Robbie – instead.
Better Man has proven a hot ticket at the festival so far, with The Guardian describing it as ‘a bananas gamble that pays off’ in a four-star review.
‘It’s a film that exists on the precipice of falling apart but you’ll be surprised how well it stays together,’ critic Benjamin Lee added.
‘This is the equivalent to casting Lassie to play Frank Sinatra. OK, maybe not that crazy, but close enough,’ observed Deadline. ‘So guess what? It really works.’
Elsewhere, Better Man’s musical numbers were subbed ‘masterful’, while The Hollywood Reporter called it ‘a wild, energetic head-scratcher’ with the potential to become ‘a camp classic’.
‘This was utter insanity in every sense and I’m still processing it. Better Man is a mix of Billy Elliot, Rocketman and Planet of The Apes if you can imagine that,’ tweeted film programmer Federica Pugliese.
Even Williams himself acknowledged that the central conceit of his monkey casting was ‘weird’ in a clip on social media as he performed at the screening’s afterparty.
‘The monkey, right? You can be honest with me, this is my focus group right now. First 10 minutes, hands up if it was weird?’ he asked the crowd as he made a show of counting people.
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The pop star also revealed that he was sold by Gracey’s plan almost immediately.
‘Before he’d finished the sentence I was onboard, totally onboard. Yes, was the answer.’
‘It works, right? Not everything has to make sense now, does it?’ he added.
Book your ticket to see Wicked now!
Better Man is scheduled to hit UK cinemas on Thursday, December 26.
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