Director Michael Gracey’s latest musical, Better Man, is many things. But if you can put the whole CGI monkey thing aside, you’ll realize that it is, first and foremost, a love story. And for stars Raechelle Banno and Jonno Davies, the best things really do happen when you’re dancing.
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Better Man—a.k.a. that one movie with the singing chimpanzee—tells the true story of British pop artist Robbie Williams’ rise to fame, from his time in the ’90s boyband Take That to his wildly successful career as a solo act. But despite Williams being the subject of this particular biopic, he’s not actually the man in front of the camera for most of its runtime; that honor instead goes to Jonno Davies, who handles the more physical elements of the character, which, yes, include those now-viral dance sequences—something he and co-star Raechelle Banno had quite a memorable (and violent?) experience of while filming.
“Emotion and romance”: Jonno Davies and Raechelle Banno get the appeal of an old school love story
The cast of Better Man recently sat down with The Mary Sue to break down that elaborate yacht scene choreography, which, according to Davies, acts as not-so-subtle foreshadowing for Robbie and Nicole’s (Banno) future. “There’s so much scene work that’s cut into that dance sequence, and that provides this kind of clairvoyant vision into their future,” Davies said. “Seeing that juxtaposition of the pain that they eventually go through together compared to this beautiful feeling of love and warmth and light that they have when they first meet is such a joyous yet heart-wrenching thing to watch.”
In terms of the actual dance moves, Davies had nothing but kind things to say about Banno, who supposedly “did not have one moment where a dance double was needed.” According to Davies, things got rather … violent(?) during filming, particularly when his mocap suit was involved. “I look back at the bruises that [Banno] had, I look at back at the time when I head buttered her with the face cam, and yet, she’s still this kind of vision of beauty and light,” he admitted. “I’m always just so proud of it when I watch it back.”
Bruises and face cam-related oopsies aside, there is a very real chemistry between Robbie and Nicole in Better Man, as it was crucial for Banno and Davies to capture their characters’ dynamic. Given the real-life couple’s tumultuous relationship, audiences had to really buy into this romance; an already tall order made taller by the fact that Robbie is, again, a literal ape in the film. Still, the duo (with some help from the CGI gods) certainly pulled it off, making for an emotional scene that left Banno “swept away” by the final product.
“It was our last week of filming in Australia and there was a real joy on set that day. We’d finally made it, they’d built this yacht and we just got to play and sort of have these two people fall in love and I … there was a real sense of something that week while we were filming, but then to see all the layers that go into that, the sky the stars, I didn’t think it could get any bigger in terms of its emotion and romance, and yet, there it all is. So I was really swept away.”
With chart-topping love songs like “No Regrets” and “Angels,” it’s no wonder that a Robbie Williams biopic had to ham it up for that initial meet-cute scene. Not only is it wildly fun to watch the sparks fly between Robbie and Nicole, but it also serves as a very human moment for a character that is, in many, more obvious ways, anything but. Clearly, the pair have a lot of respect for each other, making for one of Better Man’s most memorable (and heartwarming) sequences. And if Banno had to deal with some mild workplace injuries as a result of all that choreography, well … I’d say it was well worth it.
Better Man is currently playing in theaters worldwide.
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