R2-D2 Was Almost a ‘Lego Movie’ Hero
A team-up between Batman and R2-D2 sounds like a childhood dream come true — and The Lego Movie almost made it happen. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who wrote and directed the animated blockbuster, revealed to Yahoo Movies UK that the Star Wars droid was a star of earlier drafts. “He was a Batman-level character,” said Miller, referring to the key role that the Caped Crusader played in the film. “We figured we could get R2-D2 because his voice wasn’t a human being,” explained Lord.
In The Lego Movie, hero Emmett (voiced by Chris Pratt) gets some help from Batman (Will Arnett) on his quest to save the Lego universe from the evil President Business (Will Ferrell). Batman also functions as a romantic rival, since he’s dating Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the object of Emmett’s affections. While Lord and Miller didn’t reveal what role R2-D2 played in the story, they did hint at the legal obstacles that left him on the cutting room floor.
“A kid doesn’t have lawyers that won’t allow the toys to play together,” said Miller. “Watching my own son play, he does put Batman on the Millennium Falcon and there’s no-one saying they take place in completely different times and galaxies.” (The rights to R2-D2 are owned by Disney, which did not allow any of its characters – including the Marvel superheroes – to appear in the Warner Bros. film.)
Something else that almost got chopped from The Lego Movie was Lord and Miller’s big third-act twist. [Spoiler alert!] The live-action sequence at the end of the movie, which reveals that the action has been taking place in the imagination of an eight-year-old boy named Finn, was almost considered too risky – and expensive – to film.
“We almost didn’t get to shoot it because there was so much nervousness about it,” said Miller. “Even though we ourselves weren’t sure it was going to work, we convinced them to let us get the shot. We promised them if it didn’t work, we had back-up plans, which we didn’t really. It takes an adjustment for the audience, but I’m proud of how that put the whole movie into a different kind of context.”
Joked Lord, “We’re very cavalier with other people’s money, I guess.”
Miller and Lord are now writing the sequel to The Lego Movie, to be released in 2018. A Lego Batman movie is also slated for 2017.
And one more time: Everything is Awesome!
Photo: Lucas Film
