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Piece by Piece: Pharrell Reveals How His LEGO Biopic Locked in Such an Incredible Line Up of Stars
At a recent Q&A in Hollywood, Pharrell and Piece by Piece director Morgan Neville shared some creative secrets.
It's a good time to be a Pharrell Williams fan. The singer, songwriter, producer, fashion designer, and former Voice Coach just dropped his official biopic, Piece by Piece, created entirely in LEGO animation.
Directed by Academy Award-winning director, Morgan Neville, Piece by Piece is a perfectly unconventional format to tell the story Pharrell's eclectic life and career as a creator. From his humble beginnings in Virginia Beach, Virginia to working with some of the greatest musicians around over the last two decades, the film tells it all in animated bricks.
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Piece by Piece also features four new songs by Pharrell. At a recent Q&A in Hollywood for the film (attended by NBC Insider), the artist and Neville shared some amazing stories about the making of the film including how easily (or not) the new music came to him, and what it was like getting such a stacked array of talent to participate.
Pharrell Williams on writing new music for Piece by Piece
Pharrell is no stranger to contributing to film soundtracks. Going back to Bad Boys II, he's written songs for everything from the Despicable Me films to Hidden Figures. For Piece by Piece, Pharrell said at the Q&A that all he knew from the start of discussions about the film is that he wanted to create a "crazy Bollywood number" which became the song, "L'EGO Odyssey."
After that, Pharrell said, "We set out to do an animated doc, but we didn't know it was going to turn into a biopic. Then, we didn't know it was going to turn into a musical. When the film spoke to [Morgan] and told him what it wanted to be, he listened.
"And when we got to that place, I was able to create music for it that I would not have been able to create if there was a lot of just dialogue," he continued. "You're listening to yourself sound like an hour long voicemail. How do you get inspired by that?"
RELATED: The Story Behind That Hilarious Snoop Dogg Scene in Pharrell's LEGO Biopic Piece By Piece
But with the LEGO animation of it all, Pharrell said it freed him up to get rid of ego and his own personal observations and just tell the best story in song.
"When we made 'Piece by Piece' the song, it started one way, and we were lined up and we were in," Pharrell said." And then that's when I was like, 'I don't know if this is checking all the boxes. Maybe it seems to be telling the story, but I'm not feeling it.' And now, if you listen to the 2.0, the second version, if you play it twice, I've got you," he smiled.
How Morgan Neville and Pharrell Williams got all those stars in Piece by Piece
If you look at the incredible cast of contributors who share their stories in Piece by Piece, it's like a who's who of the greatest musical artists of the last two decades, and then some. From fellow The Voice Coaches Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg to rap royalty Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z, the film is stacked with just about everyone of note that Pharrell has worked with as part of the Neptunes, N.E.R.D. or as a solo artist/producer.
When asked how they were able to line up that kind of talent, Neville said, "I'm the guy calling everybody, saying, 'Would you talk to me about Pharrell?' And there's so much love for this man. You would think it would be hard, but it wasn't hard. Everybody wanted to talk about Pharrell. But I was most excited to talk to your parents."
To which, Pharrell deadpanned, "Awkward."
Piece by Piece is in theaters now! Get your tickets here!
