Building Dreams

Watching The LEGO Movie may be the most fun you'll have in a cinema this year. It bubbles with energy, invention and wit, but one of its most pleasant surprises is how quietly profound it is when it comes to the nature of imagination and creativity. For Chris McKay, the film's animation co-director, that was a vital component of the big picture.

“It stems from a universal thing we all feel,” says McKay, a multi-talented gent perhaps best known for his Emmy-winning work on TV comedy Robot Chicken. “Everyone has something in the back of their mind – when you've got something you want to say or you have an idea you want to share with people or you want to build something with LEGO, you're about to expose yourself. Submitting any form of your creativity to a group and putting it out there puts you in a very vulnerable place because it can be laughed at or torn apart. It was important to us to make the movie about that sort of thing. That's why we were able to play with the tone of the film – we could go off on tangents and make it absurd or add some commentary on 'the hero's journey' – because at its heart we had a clear, emotional story people could latch onto.”

McKay worked closely with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller in ensuring The LEGO Movie's technical team (including Australian animation studio Animal Logic) approached the project with a cohesive vision while allowing everyone involved some degree of creative free rein.

“I'm a good multitasker, so I was able to come into this project and take the things Chris and Phil were inspired by, take the inspiration I drew from the story and inspire the crew to bring their own ideas and detail to the table,” he explains. “The actors brought it on an emotional level, the craftspeople and the animators brought it from their perspective.

“And we checked ourselves every day. Everybody participated in the process as far as story development was concerned. We wanted to cram in as much story and as many gags as we could, so there were constant discussions about how much was too much and when we should keep going. We sat down and said 'Hey, man, we can make a 90-minute toy commercial or we can make something about creativity,' and that's the choice we made.”

It was a task that everyone involved tackled with enthusiasm and gusto, says McKay, “Many times during the making of this movie, the making of this movie replicated the story of this movie,” he chuckles. “Someone would feel like they'd reached the limit of their creativity and then someone else would say, 'Hey, have you thought about this?' 'Yeah, that's great!' And then we'd move onto the next challenge! We were like a merry band of master builders trying to solve their problems, and by our overwhelming desire to make something good and fresh and fun we succeeded.”