A new film about the tumultuous career of UK boy-band sensation turned solo star Robbie Williams depicts him as an ape. Directed by the maker of The Greatest Showman, it’s a revelatory look at the highs and lows of pop stardom.

Fame is a relentlessly potent force in pop culture. Its pulse-racing allure – and its bone-crushing pitfalls – have continually inspired songs, from Bowie to Billie Eilish, and fuelled films from technicolour romance to gritty life stories and psych-horror. Better Man, a new big-budget biopic of British boyband sensation turned solo artist Robbie Williams, offers a first-hand view of the fame circus, with an unusual twist: its leading star is portrayed as a CGI chimp (played by actor Jonno Davies, using motion-capture VFX). Williams is not a household name everywhere – as he is in the UK – but nevertheless the film offers a fascinating insight into stardom either way. For Australian director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), this deeply surreal scenario remains natural territory: “Ultimately, the film seeks to tell the story I am always chasing: the pursuit of an impossible dream,” he says in the film’s production notes.