How do you top “The Greatest Showman”? Well, for writer/director Michael Gracey, that meant turning to the monkeys… literally.

Gracey directs the musical biopic ‘Better Man’, based on British pop star Robbie Williams. The only catch? Williams is played by a computer-generated monkey. The Paramount film is being billed as an “extraordinary visual spectacle” that embraces Gracey’s “expansive vision.” Gracey enlisted Weta FX and Jonno Davies in a motion-capture suit to bring Williams to life as a monkey.

Jonno Davies voices the monkey as Williams. Steve Pemberton and Raechelle Banno also appear in the feature film.

Gracey co-wrote the film with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson. “Better Man” debuted at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, where IndieWire critic David Ehrlich wrote in the review that “Better Man” becomes a better movie if Williams is played by a computer-generated monkey.

“You will see a monkey bleach his hair. You will see a monkey party with Oasis. You will see a monkey doing unreasonable amounts of cocaine, sticking a heroin needle in the fur of his arm, and driving headlong into traffic while screaming a pop song at the top of his lungs,” Ehrlich wrote. “Before the film was shown in Telluride, (writer/director) Gracey told the audience that he simply hoped to literally realize Williams’ self-image as a performing monkey, but the film itself offers no direct explanation, largely because all the other characters see Williams not in the same way he sees himself: undeveloped.”

The review continues: “You never forget that Williams is different, and that he is at the mercy of his own wounded ambition; you can’t help but stare at him like the star he is, share in his embarrassment when he becomes the most troubled member of the boy band Take That, or appreciate his instinct that a normal life was never in the cards. By the end of the film you see him as a person, even though Gracey never dares to drop the bit.

And “Better Man” isn’t the only alternative take on the standard musical biopic: Pharrell Williams chose to be turned into a LEGO character for his life story, “Piece by Piece.”

“Better Man” premieres December 25 in select Paramount theaters. Watch the teaser below.