But because the docudrama was originally created in a more traditional format, many of Pharrell’s friends and family only found out that they would be made into a Lego piece alongside the rest of the world.

“I don’t think a lot of people knew it was Lego,” said producer Caitrin Rogers. the metro at the premiere of the film at the LFF.

“We told everyone we were making an animated documentary, so they knew it would be animated. But a lot of people didn’t know it was going to be Lego until we were done and the trailer came out.

As for how they reacted to seeing themselves in such an unusual format, Caitrin recalls: “Everyone was very excited. We had the premiere in New York and Teddy Riley was there. And watching Teddy Riley watch Rump Shaker in Lego was an incredible experience.

“He was out of his seat. Everyone seemed delighted.

For director Morgan Neville, one of the highlights of filming was interviewing Pharrell’s parents, Carolyn and Pharaon.

“Her parents are hilarious, they’re dynamic together,” he shared fondly.

“So I interviewed them together because I like the way they talk to each other, finish each other’s sentences and all that. They were great.

But making a musical Lego Movie that is also emotionally moving is no easy task when you have to deal with limited facial expressions and plastic body movements.

“All of a sudden you take a crying human face and you make it out of plastic. You say to yourself, “Is this going to work?” But it is. It really succeeded. So it was a stressful thing, but luckily it worked,” he added.

Even if everything didn’t go so well.

“It’s a musical in many ways, so we wanted to have dance sequences,” Caitrin echoed.

“But it was incredibly difficult to make the Legos dance gracefully, so we had to rethink a lot of the big musical sequences we were going to do.”

And Pharrell was involved every step of the way, simultaneously giving the creative team “a lot of freedom” but also sharing any “thoughts” or “notes” he had when he thought it was “important” .

She continued: “He would call and take the time to explain where he was coming from and why he thought this was an important change to make, and I feel like that’s what made it a such a collaborative experience.”

Another aspect of the challenge was tackling the more difficult and serious moments, such as the death of Pharrell’s grandmother and the Black Lives Matter protests.

“We tried very hard to stay true to its story,” Caitirin explained.

“We started making this film by doing a series of audio interviews with Pharrell and some things stood out that we thought were important to include. We wanted it to be a taut story that was true to his life.

The team spent “a lot of time figuring out how to handle” the “most tense moments” in Lego “so that it would be taken seriously but also understood by the kids, or by the audience that would be watching this,” he said. -she declared. .

And there are plenty of profound moments sprinkled throughout, including the detailed reimagining of Pharrell’s vibrant childhood.

It was this aspect of Pharrell’s life that struck Morgan the most.