Piece By Piece Director Morgan Neville On The Wildly Creative Pharrell Williams LEGO Movie (2025)

Piece by Piece is a LEGO movie like never before. Exploring the life of legendary music producer Pharrell Williams through interviews and dramatic retellings—all realized with animated LEGO bricks–Piece by Piece is part biopic, part documentary, and all creativity. Pharrell and LEGO may seem like a surprising combination at first, but the film’s emphasis on Williams’ out-of-the-box thinking and the unique way in which it can realize that through animation quickly makes a compelling case for the pairing.

The ups and downs of Williams’ life may be ripe for exploration, but it was director Morgan Neville who gathered information about the producer and shaped it into a narrative. Neville is a renowned documentarian whose past work includes the Mr. Rogers film Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Feet from Stardom, and Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces. For Piece by Piece, Neville explored new filmmaking techniques while still bringing his heartfelt storytelling style to bear.

Screen Rant interviewed Morgan Neville about depicting Pharrell Williams’ life in Piece by Piece. Neville discussed being Williams’ director of choice, what he hopes audiences will take away about the hitmaker, and how the animation process on the film worked. Neville also discussed interviewing the many musicians in Piece by Piece and how they felt about being turned into LEGO minifigures.

Morgan Neville Details How Piece By Piece Came To Be

“We Had To Make Up The Process … From The Beginning”

Screen Rant: I saw Pharrell call you his director of choice, but how did this even start, and how did this come to you?

Morgan Neville: He had seen a couple of my films, like 20 Feet from Stardom and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? He really liked them, so he called me, met with me, and said, “This is what I want you to do.” It's a version of what the opening of the film is. I didn't actually record our first meeting, so we kind of played with it when we redid it for the film, but my reaction was [that I was] pretty instantly hooked on this idea.

I didn't know what it was going to be. None of us knew what it was going to be. We didn't know if LEGO was going to say yes or no. The film could have died many different times, but there was something about it that felt interesting and true to him and felt like a huge challenge to figure out. And it was all those things.

[So] this started from him wanting to tell his story and then coming to you. Did that tie you up as a documentarian, as a filmmaker, in terms of what you could explore?

Morgan Neville: There were no rules. He didn't even say, “This is my story.” In fact, a lot of the stuff I get into, I had to dig out. It wasn't like, “Oh, this is the hard part of my life.” It was just me talking to him and talking to him and talking to other people and figuring it out. I basically finished a cut of the film before we animated it, like a radio cut with drawings, movie clips, footage we had shot, archive footage, and music videos. and I finished that on my own. I picked all the music, I did everything, and then I showed it to him.

I wanted him to write a couple songs for the movie too, but he really left me alone. Part of it is [that] I've been doing this for so long that if somebody comes to me, they want me to do my thing, and they leave me alone. That's kind of what I tell them I need, and I've had a very good success rate with that. As he said, “You are the architect. You build it and tell me where to go.”

When it comes to the interviews, were you actually sitting down with people and filming it like an interview and then animating it?

Morgan Neville: A couple of times, we did that. A few of the interviews were on camera with Helen, his wife, his parents, or Pharrell. We did film some stuff, but most of the interviews I did in the middle of the pandemic on my couch. I was just doing Zooms and I’d record them, or I’d do phoners and send a sound person to their house to record them. I actually kind of like the intimacy of a phone call or a Zoom too. I think it can work in the fact that we didn't need the footage other than as a reference—we didn't actually have to go film a thing and then throw it out.

We had to make up the process of making the film from the beginning. I hired a kid out of art school to draw, I stuck in all these movie clips and everything, and we built a cut of the film before we animated it. Then we went to an animation studio and storyboarded the whole film from the beginning.

Nobody Neville Interviewed Knew They Would Be In A LEGO Movie

“We Didn’t Want People Thinking About Being In LEGO”

You interviewed so many amazing artists like Snoop Dogg. Do you have a favorite reaction to telling someone that you’re making a LEGO documentary about Pharrell?

Morgan Neville: Well, we didn't tell anybody. It was a LEGO movie, and it was years of production, so we just wanted to keep it under wraps. We also didn't want people thinking about being in LEGO if they're doing an interview, so we didn't tell people. A few people wanted to see a rendering of how they were going to come off before they would sign off, [so] we sent a 3D render of a character saying, “Here it is,” and every single person came back excited. It could have gone the other way, but I have to say, the reaction from the people in the film has been overwhelming enthusiasm. People [were] saying, “Can we do more? Can you make a LEGO minifig out of me?” People are now very excited about that. I'm excited. I get to be a LEGO minifig.

Neville Reflects On Putting Himself In The Movie

The Director Appears As Himself In Many Of The Interview Segments

That was the next thing I was going to ask you. What was the decision to put yourself in this as an actual character?

Morgan Neville: Well, the conceit of the film… you need to land that somehow. It wasn't the plan from the beginning, but as we started editing, it became apparent that my point of view helps us explain what we're doing here. Otherwise, it would've been hard. I feel like, in part, the movie is a story about me trying to make sense of his life and how to interpret it in LEGO, so it was an editorial solution that actually became really useful in trying to put it together.

For years, it was a very hard film to explain to people. “What is this? Why are you doing it this way?” It’s even hard to explain now what type of film it is, and what genre [it is.] I just like to say it's all things. But I like that. What’s exciting for me now is getting to play with all these different types of storytelling. [It’s] like a musical—really looking at all Pharrell’s music and saying, “How does the music help tell a story?” and then getting him to write new songs that help tell a story. That is a musical approach. Then, there's a documentary approach, and then there's an animation approach. What surprised me was how well those things dovetail with each other.

The Wild Reason Piece By Piece Almost Got Rated PG-13 By The MPAA

It’s All Because Of The “Rump Shaker” Music Video

Something that really struck me was what the animators were able to do [in terms of their attention to detail]. The fact that Pharrell was always wearing Powell Peralta shirts because he grew up in skate culture and things like that felt very thorough and really helped sell this reality. Do you have a favorite way the animators were able to bring out those little details?

Morgan Neville: There are so many. Pharrell has over 80 costume changes in the film, and a lot of those are based on real photographs of things he was wearing. So, a lot of it is in that documentary way, like we're just recreating something that existed. And I love the fact that he has a Bones shirt. And he's a huge A Tribe Called Quest fan, and we had a song in there at the talent show, Bonita Applebum, we have a poster, [and] then we made a shirt that has A Tribe Called Quest kind of colors on it. That was something we all worked on together—the production design team, and the animators—but it was something we were all doing from the get-go.

Some of it is literally going back [and making things LEGO]. Recreating the “Rump Shaker” video was awesome, but it’s also like we’re just taking this thing and trying to transform it into a LEGO thing. We ended up having a lot of discussions about how wide the back of a bikini thong could be on a female minifig from the “Rump Shaker” scene. And we actually got into it with the Motion Picture Association of America for ratings. We actually ended up having discussions about, even though these characters have no rear ends, how wide the bikini back would be. As a documentary filmmaker, I never thought I’d be having these conversations.

It’s About “Listening To Your Own Uniqueness”

Morgan Neville: I’ve made a lot of films about creative people, I love seeing creative people doing what they do, and I feel like I get inspired by it. Without a doubt, Pharrell is somebody who has succeeded most when he's diverged the most from what people expected of him. I feel like this film, in that way, is that same story of, “Everybody's taking a right. Let's take a left.” I feel like I was not only inspired by making this film but [also] inspired by Pharrell.

I hope one of the things that people take away from watching the film is this sense of listening to your own uniqueness and trying to filter out all the other voices that we get in our lives, which are always relentless and increasing in our modern world. There's something about the simplicity of trying to listen to yourself in its purest form. That’s something I am always striving towards.

About Piece By Piece

Piece by Piece is an animated musical biography film directed by Morgan Neville. The film explores the life and career of musician and performer Pharrell Williams, who, through LEGOS, shows the evolution of his creative process throughout his life.​​​​​​​

Piece by Piece is in theaters now. There is also a Piece by Piece minifig generator that allows anyone to make a minifigure of themselves and share it on socials.

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Piece by Piece

PG

Animation

Biography

Musical

Piece by Piece is an animated musical biography film directed by Morgan Neville. The film explores the life and career of musician and performer Pharrell Williams, who, through LEGOS, shows the evolution of his creative process throughout his life.

Director

Morgan Neville

Release Date

October 11, 2024

Studio(s)

The LEGO Group , Tremolo Productions , I Am Other

Distributor(s)

Focus Features

Cast

Pharrell Williams , Gwen Stefani , Kendrick Lamar , Timbaland , Justin Timberlake , Busta Rhymes , Jay-Z , Snoop Dogg , Morgan Neville

Runtime

94 Minutes

Main Genre

Animation