Of all the titles announced this morning by TIFF, the most surprising news has Michael Gracey's “Better Man” — a biopic musical about musician Robbie Williams — headed to Venice, Telluride and Toronto. How did that happen?
Despite my initial skepticism, it does look as though Paramount is committed to turning this one into a major awards player. Of course, this could all just be for nothing, and the film turns out to be fluff, but it’s quite telling that the three major fall festivals have all taken a liking to it.
The film, starring Williams as himself, with Jonno Davies playing the younger version, and directed by Gracey (“The Greatest Showman”), was set up for a Christmas release by Paramount, months ago, but nobody paid much attention to it.