Here's some movie news to make you Happy on a hot Thursday evening. Academy Award winning documentarian Morgan Neville is set to bring beats, bricks, and a buzzy new music biopic to this year's BFI London Film Festival with his LEGO Pharrell Williams behind-the-music movie Piece By Piece. In a press release circulated earlier today, the BFI announced that Neville's latest film will make its UK premiere on Sunday 20th October as the upcoming fest's closing night gala pick.
Jay-Z, Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, and Snoop Dogg are among the music icons Neville has gathered to help tell the tale of Pharrell Williams' rise from humble Virginia Beach beginnings to global music industry megastardom here. And whilst the experimental decision to tell Pharrell's story in LEGO (Williams' own idea, it's worth noting) has certainly raised a few eyebrows, conveying the legendary beat maker's creative journey in brick form makes its own kind of sense: LEGO represents imagination unbound and endless possibilities, and Williams has forged a legacy from thinking outside the box and challenging convention.
"The BFI London Film Festival has been supportive of my career for a long time, with my first time screening there being over twenty years ago," said Won't You Be My Neighbour? filmmaker Neville in a statement accompanying the gala announcement. "Bringing Piece By Piece to the LFF means the world to me, and getting to be the closing night gala is the cherry on top of this huge honour. I’m thrilled to celebrate this film with the London audience.” Added festival director Kristy Matheson: "Piece by Piece is a film of enormous joy and invention. In telling the story of Pharrell Williams, entirely in LEGO®, acclaimed documentarian Morgan Neville brings a sense of wonder to this story that matches the creativity and verve of his subject. This is a must for fans and will charm the uninitiated alike, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Piece By Piece to close this year’s BFI London Film Festival.”
Piece By Piece is the second LFF headliner to be announced thus far, joining Steve McQueen's opening night gala offering Blitz, an Apple Original WWII drama starring Saoirse Ronan and Harris Dickinson. The 68th BFI London Film Festival is set to run in London and at partner cinemas around the UK from 9-20 October, with the fest's full programme set to be unveiled on 4 September. And with the LEGO Pharrell biopic now added to the line-up, this year's fest is starting to take shape, piece by piece (sorry not sorry.)