Pharrell Williams shares why he chose LEGO for Piece by Piece biopic
As Piece by Piece approaches, Pharrell Williams has revealed why he chose LEGO for the biopic film and how it helped depict his life.
Variety recently sat down with Pharrell to discuss why he chose LEGO as the medium for this biopic and what advantages and limitations that decision led to. The unique LEGO movie releases on October 11 in the US or November 8 in the UK.
“Unlike most documentaries that are dependent on the visual and the audio of whatever the documentarian has captured, we had a more cinematic license to depict and illustrate literally and figuratively whatever it is the person doing the interview or being interviewed was saying at the time,” explained Williams.
“It gave us a cinematic liberty that wouldn’t otherwise exist and doing it through the guise of LEGO, it’s the first of its type, an unprecedented exercise which was fun.”
Another interesting reveal from the interview was that no guests in Piece by Piece were told that they were going to be in a LEGO movie.
“We purposefully didn’t tell anyone that that was going to be the finished product, we wanted people to just answer the questions and give their full unedited reactions to the interviews because if we had told them that this would be in LEGO, people would have curved what they were saying,” shared Williams.
“We didn’t want them to be influenced, that’s part of the magic of what makes this film pop the way it does – it’s so vivid and it’s not scripted. We’re not making this just for kids, we’re making it for human beings and while I am a black man that comes from a marginalised community, we wanted this story to feel universal and that was the reason why we told it through the guise of LEGO.”
The vivid nature of the film is evident in the trailer for Piece by Piece and its corresponding LEGO set – 10391 Over the Moon with Pharrell Williams. That model launches on September 20 and the film arrives in October or November depending on where you live. In the meantime, a new track from Piece by Piece has been revealed and early reviews of the film are full of praise.
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- LEGO has been a part of my life ever since I was young. It all started when my brother passed down 7657 AT-ST to me. It’s guided me through my early years, through school and eventually through my degree in journalism. I still have all my collection proudly on display, including my many NINJAGO sets, my favourite of all the LEGO Group’s themes. Outside of Brick Fanatics I am an avid gamer and enjoy a good game of Dungeons & Dragons.
