Pharrell Williams‘ autobiographical film Piece by Piece looks a little different from any of the many musician biopics that have come before it. Mainly, it takes place entirely in the Lego universe, a slice of which was finally revealed in a star-studded trailer for the project that dropped Thursday (June 6).
Related
The teaser opens with Pharrell’s Lego avatar telling the film’s director, Morgan Neville, “You know what would be cool is if we told my story with Lego pieces.”
It then launches into animated, Legoland renderings of the 13-time Grammy winner’s childhood, followed by shots of his musical projects over the years, including the creation of his and Snoop Dogg’s Billboard Hot 100-topping “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Many of Williams’ past collaborators lent their voices and toy likenesses to the project, including Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z, whose recognizable laugh can be heard at the end of the trailer.
“I loved music — it was mesmerizing to me,” Williams says in a voice-over in the trailer. “I would see beautiful hues of light cascading. I just thought that’s what all Black kids did — they stared into the speaker like, ‘Whoa.’”
Featuring two new songs by Pharrell, Piece by Piece will arrive in theaters Oct. 11. The “Happy” singer first announced the project on Instagram in January, writing at the time, “Who would’ve thought that playing with Legos as a kid would evolve into a movie about my life?”
In an interview with Variety about the trailer, Williams said that he wanted the film 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.”
“The joy is seeing it come together piece by piece — pun intended,” he added. “My story never really made a lot of sense to most people. Because most people just choose a lane or two, and I like to cross into different lanes and go into different worlds and take what I feel like is interesting from this place and those experiences and apply them elsewhere.”
Watch the trailer for Pharrell’s Piece by Piece biopic above.