Better Man Movie Featurette - Directing Regent Street
In select US theaters: December 25, 2024
Everywhere in the US: January 17, 2025
Starring: Robbie Williams, Michael Gracey, Jonno Davies
Director : Michael Gracey
Synopsis: Better Man is based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams, one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Under the visionary direction of Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), the film is uniquely told from Robbie's perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie's journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist -- all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.
In select US theaters: December 25, 2024
Everywhere in the US: January 17, 2025
Starring: Robbie Williams, Michael Gracey, Jonno Davies
Director : Michael Gracey
Synopsis: Better Man is based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams, one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Under the visionary direction of Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), the film is uniquely told from Robbie's perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie's journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist -- all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I'm Michael Gracie, I'm the director of Better Man.
00:03Shutting down Regent Street and dancing down Regent Street with 500 people
00:07was one of the best moments of my life.
00:10It was an incredible thing to shoot.
00:12We really got to take this up a notch.
00:14Because it takes you from coming out on the street and nobody knows who they are
00:17to, by the end of the musical number, people are chasing them down the street
00:20because take that is now the biggest thing in Europe.
00:23We do this costume change where the boys jump through these racks of clothes.
00:27As they ride the clothing racks, they hit a gumball machine outside Hamley's.
00:32The idea of dancing on top of gumballs is actually something I originally pitched
00:37in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that didn't happen.
00:40I pitched it a second time in The Greatest Showman that didn't happen.
00:43And this is the third time me trying to do a musical number of dancing on top of gumballs
00:48and we finally achieved it.
00:50We would go down to Regent Street just with an iPhone in the middle of the night
00:54and dance down the street with people yelling at us. Is that for TikTok?
00:57Another element was the mobility scooters.
01:00And the mobility scooters broke down so often during rehearsal that I was terrified
01:05we were never going to make it through the night.
01:07We had two mobility scooter engineers on standby.
01:11Entirely worthwhile, but an incredible amount of work.
01:14And in this breakdown sequence in the music store, obviously this is highly choreographed.
01:19It took I think like 38 takes because it's all one camera move.
01:24It was a lot of takes.
01:26This sequence obviously was 500 dances.
01:29There's no CG except for the monkey.
01:31All of the people in the street are real.
01:33The joy that people had doing it, even though it was 3 in the morning,
01:36people were having the time of their life.
01:38Even in between takes, the ripple, the laughter, the energy,
01:42you got a sense that this was something special.
01:45And I think everyone who was a part of that number really felt it.
01:49♪♪