Writer, director and producer of the new Pharrell Williams documentary, Morgan Neville attended the BFI London Film Festival screening of 'Piece By Piece' in London. He spoke about his collaboration with Pharrell, but also looked ahead to his next project, 'Man on the Run' which will look at the post-Beatles years of Paul McCartney's career.
Piece By Piece is out in UK cinemas on the 8th November, 2024. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Piece By Piece is out in UK cinemas on the 8th November, 2024. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Thank you so much for your time, I appreciate you.
00:02Congratulations on this film, which is obviously a very big deal.
00:04I can't wait to see it myself, obviously.
00:06It's a crazy one.
00:08Well, what do we expect now when it comes to a Pharrell Williams project?
00:10We knew it wasn't going to be a normal, but I think that went through.
00:12I mean, it's the kind of film that people come into it saying,
00:15how does this work? What is this?
00:17And they tend to come out saying,
00:19it all makes sense, and I can't imagine this film any other way.
00:22Which is what my experience was of making it.
00:25Which is like, how is this all going to fit?
00:27But it was exciting because it was different.
00:29But now, I can't imagine telling his story any other way.
00:34Just because he's a magical thinker, and that's what the film is.
00:37Speaking of him being a magical thinker,
00:39what else would we expect from Pharrell?
00:42I imagine ideas come from him, which you wouldn't expect from anyone else.
00:46What were some of those ideas that maybe were presented to you
00:49with him as a collaborator, which you weren't necessarily expecting?
00:52I think his main things in the beginning were,
00:54let's do it in Lego, which I loved, and we worked on it.
00:57His other big thing was that I want the characters
01:01to reflect me and people like me more.
01:05And Lego, at the time, only had a very limited number
01:09of skin tones and hairstyles.
01:12So we spent probably a year talking with them
01:15about changing and having more variety of hair and skin tones.
01:19We did braids for the first time,
01:21we did dreadlocks for the first time,
01:23and now Lego actually is manufacturing new skin tones
01:26because of this film.
01:28So that actually feels awesome.
01:30That's pretty incredible.
01:32Obviously, you work very closely with the man, Pharrell,
01:35throughout all of this.
01:37What did you learn about him which we may not have previously known?
01:40I mean, somebody says it in the film,
01:43that if you say no to Pharrell, that makes him want to do it even more.
01:46And I kind of love that.
01:48I feel like it's that mind over matter,
01:53and with Pharrell, it seems to work.
01:55It's the magical thinking.
01:57But if you really think that way,
01:59the world tends to adapt to you rather than the other way around.
02:03Also, we're here in London tonight,
02:05and I hope you're having a good time whilst you're in our city.
02:08Yeah, I love it here.
02:09I know that your next project, you're working with Bob Akane
02:11on Man on the Run.
02:13Are you working on it whilst you're here?
02:15What's the latest on that?
02:17I'm only here for a couple of days this time,
02:19but I've been working on it for a long time.
02:21I'm excited about it.
02:23It's another musical hero of mine my whole life,
02:27but it's a chapter of his story that people don't really know,
02:30which is the 70s.
02:32I mean, people know some of it,
02:33but that story hasn't been told, certainly not like we're telling it.
02:36So I'm excited for people to see it.
02:38In terms of the actual telling of the story,
02:40we said goodbye with Pharrell and Lego.
02:42How are you hoping to shake up the formula with Paul?
02:44There are no Lego pieces in the Paul movie.
02:49I think it's actually very, you know,
02:51the similarity is that I like being inside people's heads
02:54as much as you can.
02:56So we are using animation.
02:58We are playing with a lot of things.
03:00But I want you, when you watch it,
03:02to feel like somebody is being very intimate and very, you know,
03:07you're exploring their creative process,
03:09and that's what I love, and both films do that.
03:12I can't wait.
03:13And is there a release date on that?
03:14So is it ready when it's ready?
03:15Next year sometime, but I'm not sure when.
03:17I'll hold you to it.
03:18Thank you so much for your time.
03:19Congratulations.
03:20Enjoy your time.