VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A new film autobiography about Pharrell Williams' life and musical journey is set to release in October and the trailer just dropped. What makes the film unique is it is animated in LEGO style.
“You know what what would be cool is if we told my story with LEGO pieces."
Yes, Virginia Beach's iconic artist has chosen to represent his life in his "Piece By Piece" movie through LEGO. Based on the trailer, it appears the film will feature moments from Pharrell's childhood in the iconic city of Virginia Beach where developed his love for music.
You can watch the full trailer here.
"When I was a kid, I knew I was different. And people would say, 'Oh, that's an odd child.' And that crushed my spirit. But I loved music... All I cared about was making my own music, but people said- No. I wasn't ready," Pharrell narrates in the trailer.
The Focus Features film is directed by Morgan Neville and written in part by Pharrell Williams. Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Timbaland, Snoop Dog, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z and of course, Pharrell himself will be in the voice cast.
The movie will also feature new music from the Grammy Award-winning artist.
In an interview with Variety, Pharrell explained the idea of using LEGO to illustrate his story, “We wanted it to be a medium for anyone that just wanted to hear a good, aspirational, inspiring story told vividly, in a way that felt like it could apply to them personally."
Director Morgan Neville in the same Variety article said most of the interviews were done during COVID on the phone, but "We did go and shoot some things; we went back to Virginia Beach and filmed with Pharrell. But a lot of it was just us trying to figure out almost doing like a radio edit, and then saying, 'Well, what could happen visually anything can happen. We have the freedom.'"
The trailer additionally features some nods to his home city like ocean views, a pier, and notably fighter jets flying in formation.
In the Variety interview, Pharell confirmed that they will be showing some of Atlantis Apartments, the Virginia Beach housing project in which he grew up, in the film.
