Wētā FX visual effects supervisor Luke Millar and motion capture performer Jonno Davies discuss bringing Robbie Williams to life.
Wētā FX is well-known for its close collaborations on projects with motion capture performers—think Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell and a long line of other actors who don motion capture suits and HMCs for a role, with the VFX team translating that performance into a CG creature.
It’s a task Wētā FX carried out once again for Michael Gracey’s Better Man, this time taking the original on-set performance of actor Jonno Davies through to an ape version of Robbie Williams.
Here, visual effects supervisor Luke Millar and Jonno Davies tell befores & afters what that partnership was like, the toughest scenes from on-set and in post, and how they crafted the more intimate sequences in the movie.
b&a: Luke, certainly Weta FX has such a vast experience in performance capture, but what kinds of conversations did you have early on about the best way on set to bring Robbie to life as a digital ape?
Luke Millar: Before we started shooting principal photography, I arranged to sit down with Michael Gracey and all of the film’s department heads to provide an overview on what would be involved in the VFX process and how it might influence everyone else’s job. Wētā FX has very robust systems that we can setup pretty much anywhere and capture performance data on set, on location – even during live concerts! However, most of the other departments on this film had never worked with it before. From hair and makeup applying dots to Jonno’s face each day to costumes providing proxy mesh clothing that Jonno could interact with but that we could still capture through. We don’t work in isolation and so having the collaboration of all involved really helped with bringing Robbie to life!
b&a: Jonno, how did you actually come on board Better Man? And, what was your first memory of seeing what you had done on set be translated to a digital Robbie ape, even if something very early?
Jonno Davies: Kate Mulvany, who plays my Mum in the film, recommended me to Michael. We’d worked together on the Amazon series ‘Hunters’ a few years back, no actual scenes together but just got on really well. Production were struggling to find their ‘Rob’ and she showed them my Instagram which had some videos from when I played Alexander DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange on stage in New York. It was a vastly different interpretation to the Kubrick film, sort of physical theatre meets Gladitorial peacocking, which thankfully piqued Michael’s interest. From there, MG pitched the film and showed me some pre-vis including Feel, Let Me Entertain You and My Way, and even from those basic renderings I knew that he and Wētā FX were onto something special. I then auditioned over zoom with him and co-writer Simon Gleeson over the next few days, basically workshopping ideas and thankfully the role ended up being mine!
Cut to about a year later when I first saw a digital ape standing in my place and I was blown away. It was actually quite an emotional moment. I think part of me always worried that I’d just be used as a reference and my performance would get lost in the wonderment of it all, but seeing myself in that chimp – my expressions, ad-libs etc, and then combining that with such artistry from Wētā, it was very special.
b&a: Luke, what was the Weta FX footprint for capturing Jonno on set? In terms of cameras, mocap gear, other measurements/survey etc?
Luke Millar: VFX had, by some margin, the largest department on set! We had a VFX team of 6 for capturing LIDAR, set reference, wrangler notes and HDRI’s. Five witness camera operators, three Pas, and then a team of eight purely to manage the mocap work. I would shoot GoPro videos from tech scouts and then brief the team on the scenes so that they could rig sets/locations the day before to ensure we had full coverage of the space. The system has a 3mx3m scaling volume and then around 4-5 carts that we would have to come everywhere with us! It’s funny because all we are doing is collecting data at that point. By the time shooting wrapped, everyone was celebrating finishing the show and we were only just starting!
b&a: Jonno, what was your prep process like for this? Can you break down how you got into a ‘Robbie’ mindset in terms of consulting reference and then actual conversations with Robbie and Michael?
Jonno Davies: I was brought on really last minute, I think I landed in Melbourne about 8 days before we started shooting, so you can imagine that week was crazy: from rehearsals to choreography, as well as tech prep with Wētā FX like facial scans etc.
There’s an acting technique I use for a lot of my work called Laban, it’s a brilliant way to explore how a person’s character influences how they move and vice-versa, so I started from there and then added Rob’s idiosyncrasies. I think I kept YouTube afloat during that time, just cramming in as many of Rob’s performances and interviews as I could, studying how his voice (his accent and pitch really shifted between 15-30), his physicality and energy changed over time. But it was really important for me to see what he’s like when the cameras aren’t rolling, and luckily Rob was really giving with his time and allowed me to see that difference between Robert the human and Robbie the popstar.
b&a: Can you both talk about the Regent Street ‘Rock DJ’ sequence? The energy in that sequence is just amazing—what was that experience like with such a long rehearsal time, and also limited time each night for the shoot?
Jonno Davies: Absolutely wild. What I loved about Rock DJ was that it was one of the rare musical numbers where Robbie isn’t plagued by his demons, so I was allowed to really enjoy myself and properly soak in the spectacle of what we were collectively trying to achieve.
As you say, there was a limited time each night, plus it’s not like we could just add another day at the end of the shoot if we didn’t have everything we needed. That’s why rehearsals were so extensive, the muscle-memory needed to be second nature by the time we reached set, and that’s not just for main cast and dancers, it includes the camera department too, they had their own choreo to stick to.
That sort of militant prep really instilled a confidence in us though and allowed us to let rip on for every take.
Luke Millar: So much prep went into Rock DJ! We previs’d, techvis’d, shootvis’d, re-techvis’d and then rehearsed. By the time we were on that street, I have never felt more ready but you never know what will happen. We wanted as few wipes as possible and never an obvious extra walking closely past camera, so that required many takes to get things as tight as possible. The tricky thing was we had to shoot it in order as we need to join onto the the previous night’s work. The downside to a oner is, if we didn’t manage to nail one piece then none of it would work! Having an onset editor was essential as we could capture takes live and cut them over the previs to ensure that our timing and camera work was spot on. That said, we still had to use pieces from 36 plates to stitch the whole thing together! If anyone is contemplating trying to shoot a musical number with 5 synchronized mobility scooters, DON’T! They are the most temperamental things ever!
b&a: The concert and dance moments are incredible, but I also love more intimate scenes, such as Robbie’s time with Nan. Can you both discuss how making these types of moment differed from the much larger ones?
Jonno Davies: Yeah, these moments are so important, they’re what make the ape feel innately human. Plus it’s those sort of cherished relationships that people can relate to. We had a lot more stillness in these type of scenes and when you pair that with the fact there’s no microphone or grand performance to hide behind, it suddenly becomes very vulnerable and exposed. That’s when Michael and the camera get properly up-close to Rob, and you can really appreciate not just the fragility of what’s going on his mind, but also the incredibly nuanced work of what the artists at Wētā FX have achieved.
Luke Millar: I was always acutely aware of the intimacy and sensitivity behind some of the scenes and so for me, my biggest concern was whether any of our gear would affect those moments. Jonno wore a dual mounted face cam and helmet but if he needed to get close, it would be in the way. Robbie is the only digital character in the shot so we couldn’t compromise any other performance in the frame. This meant a lot more work from the animation team to replicate the subtlety and nuance in Jonno’s performance, however once it clicks into place everything works.
b&a: Jonno, do you have any specific advice you’d give Luke about his own motion capture appearances in the film, i.e. things he did well or could even do better 😉 ?
Jonno Davies: If this all goes tits up, Luke would make an excellent bus driver. I feel like he really committed to the character.
b&a: What was the hardest scene for both of you to perform and execute?
Jonno Davies: Probably Land of a Thousand Dances, which is the montage sequence that follows Robbie’s meteoric rise to solo stardom. There’s a specific section where we show a duet that he did with Tom Jones at the Brit Awards and Ashley Wallen (choreographer) wanted us to go like-for-like with the movement. You can tell that Rob was absolutely wired during this performance, so I obviously had to recreate that take after take.
I remember this very specific moment during that shoot when the dynamics shifted: I went from this adrenal glee of entertaining our hundreds of extras, feasting off the buzz of the crowd, to suddenly hitting around take 15 and realising that the adrenaline was wearing off, and was running on fumes knowing we have probably another 15 angles to shoot. It brought a sort of fight-or-flight sensation and gave me a greater understanding and respect for what Rob went through back then.
Luke Millar: Definitely She’s The One. Close interaction with Robbie is by far the hardest work and the dance in She’s The One is nothing but close interaction! Robbie has longer arms than a human and so all of those contact points have to be reworked to fit. We need accurate 3D representation of Nicole so that when she touches Robbie, his hair and clothing move in sync with the plate and there is no other way to do this but a lot of back and forth between Animation and Simulation.
We also had some complex match cuts and transitions which needed massaging together as well as some insanely fluid camera moves that required parts of the boat set removing and then replaced with digital versions in post. It was also our only real bluescreen scene in the film too, so we had to extend the boat, create a digital environment and then blend that into a cyclorama that I shot on the Côte d’Azur. Even the neighboring boats have CG dancing New Year’s partygoers on them! The amount of detail is really incredible.
