‘Piece by Piece’ Director Morgan Neville Will Never Use AI Again

Would adding that plate open a can of worms? You can’t just watch Michael Jackson.

I mean everyone from Beyoncé to Kanye [West]even though he’s worked with all these people, and it’s like you just can’t, if you dip your toe in them, then it’s both unsatisfactory and it’s like bringing up something like, “Well, what about that? Let’s go deeper into that story.” And I always look at those things as narrative quicksand.

Is that what you just called about?

It wasn’t like I was ever going to interview Kanye.

It wasn’t like Kanye had—or Puff, another controversial figure—Pharrell never had a deep relationship with any of them.

It is surprising that this film is coming out at a time when many of the people involved are part of the industry which is currently in turmoil.

The kind of reckoning that’s happening in the hip-hop world is long overdue.

Pharrell is almost the opposite. He is married to the same woman, 20 years with her. He has never used drugs. He doesn’t drink. You are like a health nut.

They’re not things that usually go into music documents.

It’s like, where is the conflict in his life?

So in that way, from a traditional rock-and-roll kind of story, it’s not that kind of story. He doesn’t have that at all.

How do you work on that? Stories need tension, something to overcome, a deep and dark truth.

You need to disagree, but for me, there was all this incredible tension about creativity, which I think is real.

My mentor, Peter Guralnick, an amazing writer, told me early on that the least interesting things in stories about artists are sex, drugs, and being ripped off by your record label, because everyone has the exact same story. So, what is interesting behind those things?

If you look at every film I’ve made, it’s always been more of those things… My Steve Martin documentary, the last one I made, is very similar. It’s not about fame or drugs or anything. Steve is brilliant. But in terms of how you deal with your voice, how do you stay inspired?

Well, you said last second that you felt like you were done with music documentaries, but your next one is about Paul McCartney. How did you get in that way?

I couldn’t refuse. I’ve been a lifelong Beatles fan.

But this is a movie about the time after their breakup, right?