Little blocks, big screen: meet the makers of The Lego Movie
It’s one of the most successful toys in history, but will it translate into success at the box office? The makers of The Lego Movie think they’ve built a winning formula, writes Kavita Daswani
WHEN FILMMAKERS Phil Lord and Christopher Millerwere first brought the idea to work on a Lego film, they were, as Miller puts it, “a little bit sceptical about doing a movie based on a toy”.
But then the duo (who had previously worked together on hit movies such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street) started watching what are popularly known as “brickfilms” – shorts based on Lego characters and pieces typically filmed in someone’s basement.
“And we realised we could do it in a way that could use Lego as a medium and not as a commercial to sell toys,” Miller says.
The result, four years on, is The Lego Movie, an animated extravaganza that fulfils their ambition to create a film that looks like a Lego play set has come to life.
The film centres on Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), an average, easygoing construction worker, who is told that he is The Special; anointed as the saviour of the world. His nemesis is President Business, voiced by Will Ferrell, a corporate chieftain and ruler of the world.
Along the way, Emmet meets up with characters who help him in his quest.