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Piece by piece: Pharrell reveals how his LEGO biopic has garnered an incredible array of stars

Piece by piece: Pharrell reveals how his LEGO biopic has garnered an incredible array of stars
It's a good time to be a Pharrell Williams fan. The singer, songwriter, producer, fashion designer and former Voice coach recently released his official biopic, Piece by Piece, created entirely in LEGO animation. Directed by Academy Award-winning director Morgan Neville, Piece by Piece takes a completely unconventional format to tell the story of Pharrell's eclectic life and career as a producer.

Times of discover News: It's a good time to be a Pharrell Williams fan. The singer, songwriter, producer, fashion designer and former Voice coach recently released his official biopic, Piece by Piece, created entirely in LEGO animation. Directed by Academy Award-winning director Morgan Neville, Piece by Piece takes a completely unconventional format to tell the story of Pharrell's eclectic life and career as a producer.

From his humble beginnings in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to working with some of the greatest musicians of the last two decades, the film tells it all in animated bricks. Piece by Piece also features four new songs from Pharrell. At a recent Q&A session in Hollywood for the film (attended by NBCInsider), the cast and Neville shared some surprising stories about the making of the film, including how successful (or not) they found their new music, and what it was like to be invited to take part in such a huge gathering of talent.

Pharrell is no stranger to contributing to film soundtracks. When he returned for Bad Boys II, he wrote songs for everything from the Despicable Me films to Hidden Figures. For Piece by Piece, Pharrell said in a Q&A session from the beginning of the discussion about the film that he just knew he wanted to do a "crazy Bollywood number", which was the song "L'Ego Odyssée".

Later, Pharrell said, "We decided to make 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 movie started, I called [Morgan] and...told them what I wanted to say.", they listened to it.

He added, "And when we got to that point, I was able to create songs for them that I couldn't create just through conversation." "You're listening to yourself as an hour-long voicemail. How excited are you about that?" But Pharrell says the LEGO animation of it all has freed him to get rid of his ego and personal observations and tell the best story in the songs.

"When we were doing the song 'Piece by Piece,' it started and we were in line and that's when I thought, 'I don't know. Check everything.' boxes or not. It might tell a story, but I don't think so. And now, if you listen to 2.0, the second version, if you play it twice, we bring it," he says with a laugh.

If you look at the incredible contributors who share their stories piece by piece, it's like a list of the greatest music artists of the last two decades, and then there's that. From fellow The Voice coaches Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg to rap royalty Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z, the film features nearly everyone Pharrell has worked with in The Neptunes, N.E.R.D. or worked as a solo artist/producer.

When asked how he was able to gather such talent, Neville said, “I’m the guy that calls everybody, says, ‘Will you talk to me about Pharrell?’ And there’s so much love for this guy you’d think it would be hard, but not everybody wants to talk about Pharrell.

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