Morgan Neville, the director of the Pharrell Williams documentary Piece by Piece, has told RTÉ Entertainment that the LEGO-driven biopic of the globally acclaimed hitmaker has a message for parents the world over.
In Piece by Piece, Neville, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-winning 20 Feet from Stardom, documents Williams's life and career from his humble beginnings in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to the top of the charts with his signature song Happy.
When asked by RTÉ Entertainment what he hopes parents take from his film, Neville replied: "I feel like... this is a story of a black nerd from the projects who didn't really fit in, but people believed in him and gave him confidence - his parents, his grandmother, teachers - and that the thing that made him different made him special, you know?
"That's really the takeaway: we don't all have to homogenise to conform to whatever people want. That actually, the things that make us different from one another are actually the best things about us."
Piece by Piece has been hailed by critics and audiences alike for its inventive use of LEGO to tell an inspirational story - with Neville still trying to take in all the love his film has found with adults and children.
"One of the biggest surprises for me, though it shouldn't be a surprise, is that kids have responded to this movie as strongly as they have," he said.
"You would think hip-hop documentary is not a kids' thing, but I've had nine-year-olds say, 'Oh, can I watch it again?' It has connected in a way that has been a really amazing surprise."
Piece by Piece is in cinemas now.
