Pharrell Builds His Life Story With Legos In ‘Piece By Piece’ Trailer
Pharrell is ready to tell his life story, and he is using Legos to recall the magic of his music journey, Piece By Piece. On Thursday (June 6), P issued the first trailer for his unique biopic, which begins with a conversation between the musician and director Morgan Neville. Williams attempts to persuade him to try and do his biopic with the use of the popular toy to which Morgan isn’t completely sold. Still, Pharrell responds with a phrase that accurately epitomizes and describes his music career, saying, “Just be open.”
Viewers are then thrust through various eras of Pharrell’s life, beginning with his childhood (“When I was a kid, I knew I was different, and people would say ‘Oh, that’s an odd child,’ and that would crush my spirit”), to forming N.E.R.D, to getting married and having children of his own. Easter eggs referencing the creation of Snoop Dogg‘s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” working with Justin Timberlake and Teddy Riley, creating “Happy” for Despicable Me, shooting the “Grindin” video with The Clipse, and the “Frontin” video with JAY-Z can all be seen throughout the teaser.
The movie also boasts quite the cast with voice acting from Snoop, JT, Kendrick Lamar, JAY-Z, Gwen Stefani, NORE, Busta Rhymes, Timbaland, and more. However, it should be noted that while Chad Hugo and Shae Haley do seem to appear in the movie, it’s unclear whether they lent their voices to the movie. Additionally, former Star Trak artist and alternative icon Kelis is also absent from the film.
In speaking about the film with Variety, Pharrell expressed that, at first, his life story didn’t make sense to people because he was interested in so many different avenues and hobbies. He also admitted that he didn’t initially want to go down the biopic route but realized that he could tell his story in a “magical” manner with Neville as director.
“Being a Maverick and being a pluralist — one who’s interested in and inspired and has aspirations in many different directions and artistic disciplines — my story never really made a lot of sense to most people. Because most people just choose a lane or two, and I like to cross into different lanes and go into different worlds and take what I feel like is interesting from this place and those experiences and apply them elsewhere.
“I was very self-conscious to listen to myself, like, talk. I love giving advice and helping people live in a solution space,” he continued. “‘But my own? I was like, ‘Man, how do I sit and listen to myself philosophize for an hour and change?’ So I never really wanted to do it, but when I was given the opportunity to do a documentary any way I wanted, and Morgan raised his hand, it was like, ‘OK, this could be interesting.’ And it’s been nothing but magical. This guy is a masterful painter in the color of vulnerability. He’s just one of the greatest stitchers of tapestry and of eras, ever, and I’m just lucky to be one of his many, many, many subjects.”
Watch the trailer above.
