Director Explains Omission of “Blurred Lines” Controversy in Pharrell Williams’ Animated Biopic

The recently released documentary “Piece By Piece,” which chronicles the life of musician Pharrell Williams, stands out for several reasons, primarily its complete animation using Lego. While reviewers have praised the film’s distinctive visual approach, describing it as “disarmingly joyous” and “oddly charming,” they have also highlighted a significant exclusion from the narrative. The song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, co-written by Williams, appears briefly in the soundtrack but without any mention of the well-known plagiarism lawsuit that resulted in Williams being ordered to pay $5m to the estate of Marvin Gaye. Director Morgan Neville informed the BBC that he initially intended to cover the dispute, but the segment ultimately diverted from the central narrative he aimed to convey. Neville stated, “I definitely thought about it. I even interviewed Robin Thicke.” He added, “And as a documentary filmmaker, I’m obsessed with copyright law.” However, he found that “every time I looked at trying to work it in, a scene about copyright law, it felt like it belonged in a different movie.” The “Blurred Lines” trial had significant repercussions for the music sector, following a jury’s determination that Williams and Thicke had replicated the sound and “feel” of Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up,” as opposed to plagiarizing a distinct melody. Music lawyers and songwriters generally agree that the ruling did not adequately differentiate between artistic influence and outright theft. Consequently, it has become standard for musicians to allocate a portion of their royalties to tracks that served as direct inspiration. Neville conveyed to the BBC, “My take on the Blurred Lines case is that it’s one of the worst judicial decisions about creativity in history.” He further stated, “I think Pharrell was in the right on it, and I think most creatives agree with him.” This perspective ultimately influenced his decision to exclude the narrative from the documentary. He explained, “It’s not like Pharrell learned a big lesson from the case. I don’t know if it actually changed him in any way, which is what I’m looking for, when I’m looking at a story.” Williams was contacted for a statement. Neville previously received an Oscar for “20 Feet From Stardom,” a documentary exploring the overlooked careers of backing vocalists featured in prominent rock songs. His other documentary subjects encompass Keith Richards, Brian Wilson, and Johnny Cash, and he served as a producer for Taylor Swift. As “Piece By Piece” is released in cinemas this month, Neville discussed with the BBC the film’s surprising origin, his process of persuading Lego to participate, and the celebrities who provided feedback on their Lego minifigures. The film depicts the scene where Pharrell requested the documentary be made in Lego, to which Neville’s character responds, “Lego? Seriously?” The interviewer inquired about the accuracy of this portrayal. Neville clarified that the primary distinction was his immediate reaction: when Pharrell proposed a “Lego movie,” he thought, “Hell, yeah!” He recognized it as a wild yet thrilling concept, stating it took him “five minutes to fully buy into it.” The interviewer then asked for a breakdown of Pharrell’s initial proposal. Neville recounted Pharrell’s pitch: “People have always wanted me to tell my story, and I’ve never been that interested, but I love your films, and I had the idea that you could make a documentary about me, and when you were done with it, you could throw away the visuals and do it again as Lego.” Neville confirmed this was “almost exactly what he said to me,” but noted that Pharrell “had no sense of what that meant, or what his story was.” This prompted Neville to consider the implications, quickly realizing it involved more than simply transforming real-life documentary footage into Lego. Instead, it meant leveraging animation’s capabilities, such as “time travel and go to outer space and all kinds of things that you can’t normally do in a documentary.” The interviewer inquired about the speed at which the unconventional concept materialized into reality. Neville responded that “It took us about a year from when we first met to starting production, because we had to meet with Lego and tell them about it.” The interviewer then asked about the discussion with Lego. Neville explained his approach to Lego: “Look, it’s not a G-rated movie, but I get that it can’t be R-rated [either]. It’s something that has to have a little edge, and it’s going to get into questions of race and other things.” He praised Lego for their response, stating they “to their complete credit, said, ‘Those are conversations that are good for us to have.'” They understood the project would challenge them, but in beneficial ways. He clarified that Lego did not provide funding or ownership, serving solely as partners. The interviewer asked about the pivotal moment when Neville realized the concept would succeed. Neville explained that to secure funding, they created a “90 second proof of concept.” He interviewed Pharrell and edited a scene depicting him as a boy listening to Stevie Wonder on his parents’ stereo, at which point his synaesthesia activates, creating “lots of colour and you can almost see what’s going on in his mind.” This sequence, Neville stated, “convinced me it would work.” The interviewer expressed appreciation for the visualization of Pharrell’s musical beats as distinct Lego sculptures, noting how effectively this illustrates the abstract nature of songwriting. Neville revealed an interesting detail about the beats: “Pharrell, in his mind, can tell you the colour and the shape of every beat he’s made.” Consequently, for each Lego piece representing a beat, “we actually worked with Pharrell to make sure they looked like what he saw in his head.” The interviewer then asked if other interviewees for the film, such as Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg, were informed that their appearances would be rendered in Lego. Neville confirmed they did not, explaining that the interviews were filmed “five years ago” and they aimed “to keep it on the down low.” He continued, “Then, cut to a couple years later, and I started sending out 3D renders of their characters, like, ‘Here you go. This is what you’re gonna look like’.” He admitted it “was a bit of a roll of the dice,” but noted that “everyone was really excited about it.” The interviewer inquired if any individuals requested modifications. Neville revealed that “Missy had a comment on her earrings,” leading to “Missy’s earrings” becoming one of the limited custom Lego pieces created for the film. The interviewer raised the point that Lego characters possess a restricted array of facial expressions and asked if this presented a challenge. Neville admitted, “The face stuff was the thing I was most worried about,” questioning, “when you have close up shots of a Lego minifig crying, is that going to be emotional? I didn’t know.” However, he noted that “a few animators on our team who were really good at facial animation” were assigned “the most emotional scenes, the close-up scenes.” He added that “oftentimes, if something wasn’t quite right, we would send them videos,” concluding humorously that “Somewhere in the world, there are a whole lot of clips me and Pharrell making very strange faces!” The interviewer described the film’s narrative arc as Pharrell’s journey to rediscover his creative muse after a period of artistic stagnation, asking why this particular aspect of his story was emphasized. Neville affirmed, “Without a doubt, the film reflects a lot of questions I’ve had about my own career.” He elaborated on the story’s core: “To me, the story about this black nerd from the projects of Virginia who sees the world differently… and it makes him an outcast for a long time.” He continued, explaining how Pharrell “finds a fellow outcast in Chad Hugo [Williams’ co-writer in The Neptunes] and they start making music.” Initially, “their beats were just too weird for people. The signature Neptunes sound was very unorthodox. Nobody got it until everybody got it.” This leads to a “hall of mirrors – where the thing that makes you different becomes the sound of the mainstream.” He concluded by posing the question, “When that happens, how do you stay true to yourself?” The interviewer noted that Neville’s film is being released concurrently with the Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man,” in which Williams is portrayed by a CGI monkey, and asked if music biopics have become overly formulaic. Neville responded, “I do. There’s so many tropes of music films, and I think we need to do more to help people identify with the people and with their characters.” Regarding “Better Man,” he stated, “I haven’t seen Better Man yet but the idea’s perfect because, in a way, Robbie Williams is the performing monkey. He wants the attention. He’s always lived that life.” In contrast, he characterized Pharrell as “the Wizard of Oz. He’s like, ‘I want to be the guy behind the curtain.'” Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. 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