Pharrell Williams built his life as a songwriter, music producer, performer, and fashion designer by taking opportunities one piece at a time and assembling them to create something meaningful, analogous to how Lego sets are built. The multihyphenate took that analogy too seriously while creating his biographical documentary.
The documentary Piece by Piece will tell the story of Willaim’s life entirely through Lego animation, creating a never-before-seen non-fiction film. Directed by Oscar winner Morgan Neville, the film debuted at the Telluride Film Festival and later at the Toronto International Film Festival.
At the festival’s Deadline’s Studio, Pharrell got candid about his vision for his documentary, saying he knew he wanted it to be told in Lego animation.
“I didn’t want to do a documentary. And the minute that I agreed to it, I knew I wanted it to be in Lego and I knew I wanted Morgan to be the storyteller,” he said. Pharrell revealed that he loved everything the director has ever done from 20 Feet from Stardom to the recent Steve Martin documentary.
Neville brought the Freedom singer’s vision to life! “This guy’s like really good at it,” the latter said. The director also spoke to the outlet about the creative process and the five years that went into developing it. “In the beginning I didn’t know how it fit, but now I can’t imagine this film in any other way than Lego,” he said.
Neville recorded interviews with the Despicable Me singer and his family members and then converted them into Lego characters. When asked which animated character was the singer’s favorite, he said, “Honestly, my children. That was a joy,” he said. My wife, my mother, and my father, absolutely.”
He also recalled the one particular sequence from the documentary which he loved. Despite achieving great success both with the Neptunes and as a solo artist, he felt creatively adrift and decided to approach counseling. “That was the scene for me that was just like, ‘Wow! This is really happening,’” he added.
