This is Jon Lyus and I'm very excited to catch up with the adventures of Batman, Robin, The Joker and more on the 10th of February with The LEGO Batman Movie. The breakout star from 2014's The LEGO Movie was undoubtedly Will Arnett's Batman, and now he has a hilarious film all to himself.
The LEGO films defy all expectation. Making a film based on a toy is hard enough, let alone one that’s laugh out loud funny and with a massive cross-generational reach. Executive Producer Dan Lin (who ushered both LEGO films to the big screen) told us in an exclusive interview that harnessing the element of play was crucial to their success.
"It comes out of a love of LEGO,” says Dan. “For me it started off watching my son play with LEGO. I realised there was a far greater deal of imagination going on than was physically happening in front of him.”
"It comes out of a love of LEGO,” says Dan. “For me it started off watching my son play with LEGO. I realised there was a far greater deal of imagination going on than was physically happening in front of him.”
I love the fact that my niece and nephew can get something out of the same movie as I do.
Chris McKay, director of The LEGO Batman Movie, agrees. "I was inspired by creativity and imagination, playing with friends as a kid, making little stop motion movies with them – it's always been a part of my life.”
Part of what you'll love about The LEGO Batman Movie is the dry, laconic wit delivered by Will Arnett as Batman. "We're turning jokes so fast... we use the Airplane! model of joke-telling: 'if you didn't like that last joke, you're going to like the one that's coming in the next two or three seconds...',” says McKay. "There's jokes for kids, jokes for adults, jokes if you're a Batfan. There's something in there for everybody. I love the fact that my niece and nephew can get something out of the same movie as I do.”
Part of what you'll love about The LEGO Batman Movie is the dry, laconic wit delivered by Will Arnett as Batman. "We're turning jokes so fast... we use the Airplane! model of joke-telling: 'if you didn't like that last joke, you're going to like the one that's coming in the next two or three seconds...',” says McKay. "There's jokes for kids, jokes for adults, jokes if you're a Batfan. There's something in there for everybody. I love the fact that my niece and nephew can get something out of the same movie as I do.”
We're bringing the superhero genre to the cinema in a way that everyone can see it ??? boys and girls, mums and dads
The field of animated films is an ever-growing arena, so setting theirs apart from the crowd was very important to the LEGO Movie team. The stop motion quality is something they were pushing from the very beginning. “We want people to feel the weight, because there's a charm to that,” says Dan. “I didn't want the animators to plot things out on a computer, I wanted them to make each of the moves. It gives you a more hands-on quality to the movie."
"We're bringing the superhero genre to the cinema in a way that everyone can see it – boys and girls, mums and dads,” says Dan. “I like to say The LEGO Batman Movie is the family-friendly version of Deadpool.”
The Lego Batman Movie is out on 10th February; get times and tickets here.
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