Pharrell Williams in Lego in the Piece by Piece trailer
Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and Timbaland are also there!
On the one hand, we had the Lego films covering franchises like Lego Batman, the movie. On the other, musical artists to whom biopics or documentaries are dedicated. But have we ever seen a film made of building blocks about a singer? Soon it will.
As a visionary, Pharrell Williams had the crazy idea of telling his life and his journey… in Lego! The movie is called Piece by Piece (in French, “Room by room”), and it is carried out by Morgan Neville, winner of the 2014 Oscar for best documentary film for Twenty Feet from Stardom. Did he steal the idea from White Stripes and their famous music video made of bricks ? Here, the ambition is even crazier: it will be a complete film.
“Everyone was making documentaries, and I was like: 'Damn, I never want to do what everyone else does,'” the singer testified to Variety on the occasion of the release of the official trailer. It starts with a conversation between Williams and Neville. The first mentions the desire to tell his life story in Lego, the second hesitates. As the director explains, this conversation took place five years ago during a Zoom exchange: “I didn't know what it would be like, but I had a feeling it would be interesting and I was definitely up for it.”
He added :
“What we did is nothing like any other movie. I didn't know what it would be like. People can try to label it. But it's just its own movie. It's breathtaking in a way. in a way, the freedom that we have gathered in this film, but all that only works if you can define your subject well.”
In Piece by Piece, the viewer is immersed in the imaginative and inspiring mind of Pharrell Williams. Accompanied by a tune well known to the artist, “Happy”the trailer reveals the classic journey of the biopic: from childhood to consecration, doubts, family moments, musical creation etc. “When I was little, I knew I was different and people said: 'Oh he's a strange child.' And it broke me”. Then comes the liberating music, visually represented by a set of transparent bricks which flutter around the characters. While music is written with several notes and chords, a Lego building is made of assembled pieces. Both are compositions.
The one behind the biggest hits of the 2000s like “Get Lucky” with Daft Punk, “Blurred Lines with Robin Thicke, or the original songs from the film Despicable Me, has collaborated with many artists. And some even make an appearance in the film: Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar…
“This film is about my life and how God continues to give me the pieces that make it up – piece by piece – and having amazing people along my journey in my constellation. To all these musical stars, my teachers and all those who contributed to this constellation.”
To accompany the film's release, Williams has planned new songs. Piece by Piece will be released in France on November 20.
