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Pharrell Williams’ biopic Piece By Piece – out in UK cinemas November 8 – is being brought to life in Lego form, but his friends and family were kept in the dark until the last moment.
The 51-year-old music artist and producer has been behind some of the greatest hits of the 00s including Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl, Kelis’ Milkshake and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky.
As well as releasing songs that defined an era (for better or worse) such as his 2013 hits Happy and Blurred Lines.
All this to say, the multi-Grammy award winner from Virginia Beach has been a mammoth musical force who worked closely with some of the greatest artists of our generation. And has plenty of stories to tell from his time in the industry.
So naturally, he decided Lego was the best medium to bring his vision to the big screen.
Directed by Morgan Neville, the unconventional movie features his nearest and dearest and plenty of famous artists (such as Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg to name a few) recounting their adventures over the years.
Jay-Z is just one of the famous artists who appears as Lego in the movie (Picture: AP)
Not everyone knew this was going to be an unconventional biopic (Picture: AP)
But since the docudrama was originally created in a more traditional format, many of the friends and family in Pharrell’s life only discovered they would be transformed into a Lego piece alongside the rest of the world.
‘I don’t think a lot of people knew that it was Lego,’ producer Caitrin Rogers told the Metro at the LFF premiere of the movie.
‘We told everyone we were making an animated documentary, so they knew it was gonna be animated. But a lot of people didn’t know it was gonna be Lego until we finished and the trailer came out.’
As to how they reacted to seeing themselves in such an unusual format, Caitrin recalled: ‘Everybody was very excited. We had the premiere in New York and Teddy Riley was there. And watching Teddy Riley watch Rump Shaker in Lego was an amazing experience.
‘He was out of his seat. Everyone seemed to be thrilled.’
For director Morgan Neville a particular highlight from the filming process was interviewing Pharrell’s parents, Carolyn and Pharaoh.
Pharrell Williams with his wife Helen and son Rocket (Picture: WireImage)
Producer Caitrin Rogers and director Morgan Neville reflected on the wild creative process (Picture: Getty)
‘His parents are hilarious, they’re dynamic together,’ he shared fondly.
‘So I interviewed them together because I love how they talk to each other, finishing each other’s sentences and all that. They were great.’
But making a musical Lego movie that is also emotionally stirring is no easy feat when you have limited facial expressions and plastic body movement to contend with.
‘Suddenly you take a human face that’s crying, and you …read more
Source:: Metro
