TORONTO (AP) ā When and decided to embark on a movie about Williamsā life but animated in Lego pieces, they knew there would be culture shocks. But making āPiece by Pieceā still led to some places that neither Williams, Neville or Lego could foresee.
āWe did have extensive conversations about how wide a back of a bikini bottom would be on a minifig in a āRump Shakerā video,ā says Neville, chuckling. āWe had many discussions about things I thought I would never be talking about as a filmmaker.ā
āPiece by Pieceā did not come with any easy-to-assemble instructions. Itās part music biopic, part documentary, part family film. It is, like many things about Williamsā hit-making life, radiant with uplift, beats and idiosyncrasy.
āSociety likes to put us in boxes, pun intended,ā Williams says, speaking alongside Neville. āHere was a moment where this guyās view of my life and the way he saw it strung together was incredibly liberating for me. While Iāve never seen myself in a box, this helps other people now to, as well.ā
āPiece by Piece,ā which Focus Features releases in theaters Friday, begins, like many documentaries, with the director, Neville, sitting down with a camera crew focused on their subject, Williams. But in this case, Williams ā and everything else, including a bearded, bespectacled Neville ā are Lego.
āWhat if we told my life with Legos?ā Williams asks in the film. āThatāll never happen,ā replies Neville.
What follows is something like a traditional documentary complete with colorful recounting of past struggles and triumphs, from his upbringing in Virginia Beach to his string of chart-topping hits, told through Williamsā voiceover and a number of talking heads. It was recorded that way in interviews, either on camera, Zoom or phone, and then animated into Lego form. Here, finally, is a chance to see Busta Rhymes as a Lego, along with many others, including Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliott.
āThe first meeting we had was with Lego because if they had said no, there would have been no film,ā says Neville, the director of documentaries including ā20 Feet From Stardom,ā and āTo their credit, they not only said yes, but I think understood the kind of growth it would force them into.ā
For Lego, the Danish toy company, making āPiece by Pieceā was its biggest gamble since stepping into feature films with Neville approached the companyās head of global entertainment, Jill Wilfert with a pitch for what would be Legoās first foray into a documentary not about itself. Wilfert was immediately responsive.
āThe whole idea behind Lego is its endless creativity and limitless possibility, and Pharrell really kind of embodies that,ā she says.
As proof of concept, Neville put together a 90-second video of Williams reflecting on his upbringing and the inspiration of artists like Stevie Wonder. (A vinyl of āSongs in the Key of Lifeā is another one of those things you never expected to see as a Lego.)
āI came away from that saying, āThis is totally going to work,āā Neville says. āAnd everybody we showed it to got it. They were like: I want to see this movie.ā
Still, Neville and Williams knew the Lego approach would mean working within PG parameters. Some things about Williamsā life ā like being young and famous while operating in the upper echelons of pop and hip-hop ā wouldnāt fit in a family-friendly movie. Williams says the movie āparaphrasesā his life.
āThere were definitely some areas that werenāt within my expectations of where we might go,ā Wilfert says. āWe had a lot of good dialogue throughout the whole process. Morgan and Pharrell, there was mutual respect because we are a brand that people have high expectations of and expect certain things of. So we did work with them on areas that we felt did make sense and didnāt make sense.ā
It also pushed Lego in other ways. Williams is particularly proud that the movie led to Lego expanding its available skin tones and hair textures. Williamsā Lego self ā which he to the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of āPiece by Pieceā ā was specifically designed to match his own skin tone.
āYou name the type of human being, we fought hard for their existence and acknowledgement,ā says Williams. āLego obliged and I think the brand is better because of it.ā
One of the movieās most clever designs is illustrating tracks that Williams crafts himself or in collaboration, like Snoop Doggās āDrop It Like Itās Hot,ā Gwen Stefaniās āHollaback Girl,ā Nellyās āHot in Herreā or Pharrellās own āHappy.ā Each is rendered as a unique little glowing set of Legos pieced together.
Other, less happy aspects of Williamsā life donāt make the cut. You wonāt see anything about in which Marvin Gayeās estate sued for copyright infringement and won. Nor is there anything in the film about Williamsā recent legal squabbles with his Neptunes co-founder Chad Hugo. Earlier this year, Hugo filed a trademark opposition over the duoās name, claiming Williamsā āfraudulentlyā sought control of it. Representatives for Williams have disagreed, saying Williams āreached out on multiple occasions to share in the ownership.ā
āPiece By Piece,ā though, does include a positive portrayal of Hugo, particularly in Williamsā early days in Virginia Beach, when the two began making music together.
āThereās nothing bittersweet. Iām so grateful for my experiences. Chad is an integral part of the beginning, the genesis of my pursuit in music and being there,ā Williams says. āI met him in the second grade in band class, and the memories that we have of making music together, I would not be sitting here if it werenāt for us meeting.ā
Williams, who is , is talented when it comes to brand management. He released his debut solo album, āIn My Mind,ā in 2006 and long ago stepped into the spotlight, himself. But he has, by his own acknowledgement, remained a producer at heart. Not everything about āPiece by Pieceā was easy for him.
āA lot of that was vulnerable for me,ā Williams says. āIām, like, crying two times in the story. I hadnāt considered he might ask questions that would trigger emotion. Iām such a produced person. Iāve produced myself so much.ā
Itās a sentiment that Neville, as a protean documentarian used to adapting to the style and attitude of his subjects, can relate to.
āPharrell as a producer is often holding up a mirror to artists to get them to see themselves. My job is to hold up a mirror to him to get him to see himself,ā Neville says. āI feel like, in an odd way, we have the same job.ā
When Neville interviewed other musicians for the film, he told them that theyād be animated. But he didnāt say how. It was only later they found out theyād be Lego minifigs.
āEveryone was so shocked and so elated,ā says Williams. āI feel like it released the inner child in all of them. Some of them look at life that way, anyways. Other ones, even the tough guys, were like, āOh, man, this is so cool.āā
Capturing Williamsā life in a playful, even childlike way will surely help some younger viewers connect to his story. Becoming a world-famous multi-hyphenate might seem out of reach to most, but āPiece by Pieceā makes it look, almost, like a snap.
āThereās a universality that Lego brings out,ā Neville says. āI feel like this whole film is an experiment in the tension between the specificity of real life and documentary and the imagination and universality of imagination.ā
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
