Pharrell Didn’t Warn Jay-Z He’d Be a LEGO in Upcoming ‘Piece by Piece’ Documentary
Pharrell’s Piece by Piece documentary is slated to arrive Oct. 11 and features his innovative storytelling on the silver screen, but in LEGO form. Skateboard P revealed to Variety in a recent interview that when seeking permission from his celebrity friends like Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg to clear their cameos in the documentary, he left out a key detail: that they would be appearing as LEGOs.
“We purposely did not tell anyone that that would be the finished product,” he said. “We wanted people to just answer the questions and really give their full, unedited reactions to the opportunity to do the interviews.”
Pharrell continued: “Because if we would’ve said, ‘OK, this is going to be in LEGO,’ then people would have sort of curved what they were saying. … We didn’t want them to be influenced by what we wanted. We wanted the purest part. And I feel like part of the magic of what makes this film pop the way it does is because it’s so vivid and it’s not scripted.”
In addition to Hov and Snoop, fans can expect guest appearances from key career figures for P like Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pusha T, Gwen Stefani and more.
The eccentric creative defended his decision to go with animated LEGOs as his storytelling medium since they extended the depths of his imagination while growing up.
“I was given LEGO sets as a child, and that was a really amazing platform for me to allow my imagination to flourish and to learn things about myself, as it has for most kids and a lot of people — millions and millions of people on this planet,” he added.
Jay and Pharrell have a decorated collaborative history that includes Billboard Hot 100 hits such as “I Just Wanna Love You,” “Frontin,” “APESHIT” and many more.
Directed by Morgan Neville, look for Piece by Piece to hit U.S. theaters Oct. 11. Watch the trailer below.
Michael Saponara
Billboard