Screening Series: ‘Lego Movie’: Lord and Miller on the birth of ‘Everything Is Awesome’

Anyone who left “The Lego Movie” with the impossibly catchy song “Everything Is Awesome” stuck in their head may not know whether to commend or curse the writing and directing duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

A jolt of chipper synth-pop arranged by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh and featuring Tegan and Sara and the Lonely Island, “Awesome” is at once an irresistible pop confection and a send-up of mass-market entertainment — much like “The Lego Movie” itself.

In this clip from a recent presentation of “The Lego Movie” for the Envelope Screening Series, Lord and Miller talk about how the song came to be.

“We wrote a line in the script that just said something like, ‘Emmet turns on the radio and the song “Everything Is Awesome” is on, which is the most annoyingly catchy, happy song ever made by humans,’ or something,” Miller says. “And then it happened,” he adds, still seemingly bemused by the whole thing.

The song, he says, “was a testament to a lot of really talented people to put together something that was just ironic enough that you knew that it knew what it was.”

Lord chimes in, “You’re not totally sure how to feel about it. Your cynical frontal lobe is going, ‘This is dumb,’ and then your body is responding to the song. I love how confusing that is.”

According to Lord, the song also underscores one of the movie’s themes: “Hey, you might miss out on something really cool … if you’re too snobbish.”

For “Lego” star Chris Pratt (the voice of Emmet), he knew from the start that Lord and Miller were onto something with the song.

“I remember the first time I heard it, it was like the first time I saw your guys’ pitch,” he recalls. “I could tell right away that it was incredible.”

Check back in for more clips from Pratt, Lord and Miller at the Screening Series.

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