2025-01-25
37 分钟You know, there were a series of recordings that I did with Robbie Williams that he referred to himself as a performing monkey.
But the more I thought about it, the more I was like, he's not just performing as a pop star, he's sort of, you know, he's performing when he's with the kids, you know, in Stoke on Trent, and he's not as tough as them.
And I just love this idea of this, this little performing monkey, you know, who.
Whose whole life is a performance.
Hello and welcome back to the Director's Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
In this episode, the rise, fall and resurgence of pop singer Robbie Williams is recounted in director Michael Grace's musical biopic, Better Man.
Narrated by Williams, the film follows the singer from childhood outcast to music sensation, battling the demons of fame while finding his true voice as an artist.
Soaring to new heights, Williams reaches stardom, but never feels truly evolved from his younger self.
In addition to Better Man, Gracie's other directorial credits include the feature film the Greatest Showman, the documentary the Pink All I Know so Far, and episodes of the Playboy Club.
Following a screening of the film at the DGA theater in Los Angeles, Gracie spoke with director Jason Reitman about filming Better Man.
Listen on for their spoiler filled conversation.
There is not a simple shot in this movie.
I love this movie.
I just watched it for the second time and I think it's absolutely extraordinary and I'm honored to be here because for these DGA screenings you always ask a fellow director to do it and it's an honor when someone asked me and I'm very honored that you asked me.
And I'm particularly honored because usually I think as a filmmaker and probably anyone in this room, you watch a movie and you go, well, there's a few of these things that I think I could do.
And then you watch this movie, you realize there's nothing in this movie that I'd be able to do.
It's extraordinary in every way.
It's extraordinary as a film, as a musical, and also as a technical achievement.
And I, I think the first thing I'd love to ask, I already know the answer to this, but I think it probably to the benefit of the audience, the way in as far as this high concept idea of rather than having an actor, a human being, perform at the center of this, portray Robbie as Robbie himself or an actor, to do this with a CGI creature, raising the level of difficulty into the stratosphere and somehow you got over this.
I don't know how you did it?