Not to be confused with Chris Miller (animator). Philip A. "Phil" Lord (born July 12, 1975) and Christopher Robert Miller (born September 23, 1975) are American film and television writers, producers, directors, actors and animators. Lord and Miller met at Dartmouth College. They are known for directing and writing the animated films Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and The Lego Movie (2014), as well as directing the live-action comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel 22 Jump Street (2014). Their films have received critical and commercial success. According to The New York Times, Lord is from Miami; his mother is a Cuban-born psychologist, and his father recently retired from the aviation business and before that directed a dance company, Fusion, for 10 years. Miller is from the Seattle area, where his father runs a lumber mill. Lord and Miller both grew up making short films with an affinity for animation. They met freshman year of college at Dartmouth and quickly bonded after an incident where Chris set fire to Phil’s then-girlfriend’s hair.
[] On campus, the two had separate columns in the school newspaper. Lord was a member of Amarna, a co-ed undergraduate society while Miller was a brother at Alpha Chi Alpha. During his time in college, Christopher met his girlfriend, now wife. During their time at Dartmouth, the school paper published a profile on Miller, which caught the attention of then chairman of Disney Michael Eisner. According to Lord, Eisner brought the profile to the attention of his fellow Disney executives who then offered to set up a meeting with Miller. Miller agreed to the meeting as long as he could bring Lord. After three months, the two moved to Los Angeles and after one meeting were offered a two-year development deal for Disney Television Animation. Though nothing they pitched made it to air, they produced the pilot to Clone High, which was subsequently dropped by Fox. After they wrote and produced on a series of sitcoms, MTV informed the duo that they were interested in purchasing a 13-episode season of Clone High.
Although the show was met with acclaim, MTV canceled the series after hunger strike protests occurred in India over the show’s portrayal of Gandhi as a motor-mouthed partier. In 2003, the two were tapped to write a screenplay for what would become their first feature film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. After a year working on the script, they were fired for story issues and replaced with new writers, who after a year were also fired. Lord and Miller were then re-hired in 2006. The two completely redid the script, this time with the creative input of their crew. The new draft had the protagonist as a failed inventor who wanted to prove himself to his town. The two were almost fired again after Amy Pascal, head of Sony, criticized the film for a lack of story. Although the film succeeded on the comedic front in the animatic stage, Pascal cited the lack of an anchoring relationship in the film as a failure in the story telling. Unable to create new characters and environments to suit the new story demands, the two elevated the character of the tackle shop extra to be the protagonist’s father, thereby creating the relationship Pascal had requested.
The pairs' experience on Cloudy taught them two valuable lessons: the power of creative collaboration and the importance of emotion in a story. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was released in 2009 to critical and popular acclaim. After the film was released, the two sought to try to make something different from Cloudy and pitched themselves as possible directors for the 21 Jump Street script that Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill had written. The studio agreed and the two directed their first live-action R-rated film, once again released to critical and popular acclaim which led to the production of a sequel titled 22 Jump Street. In an interview with Robert K. Elder for his book The Best Film You've Never Seen, Lord stated that "in an animated feature, you remake the movie three or four times, and it's really easy to get bummed out that the way you did it before didn't get greenlit, didn't get paid, and you're making a totally different version of that movie." During the production of 21 Jump Street, they pitched a take on a possible Lego film to Dan Lin. Lin and Warner Brothers loved the take so Lord and Miller wrote and eventually directed their third feature film together, The Lego Movie.
The duo were picked by Warner Bros. to write the script for the upcoming superhero film The Flash.[6] The duo were also picked up in 2015 by Sony Pictures to make an animated Spider-Man film with the option to direct. The duo have recently developed a live-action/animated series, Son of Zorn, for Fox, with Jason Sudeikis voicing the lead role of animated character Zorn, and Johnny Pemberton and Cheryl Hines playing the live-action roles.[8] They are also producing a cable-TV drama based on the popular NPR/This American Life spinoff podcast Serial. They will also direct the untitled upcoming Star Wars film about Han Solo. ^ The Best Film You've Never Seen: 35 Directors Champion the Forgotten or Critically Savaged Movies They Love ^ a b c Nominees Full List ^ 72ND ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED. Retrieved 11 December 2014. ^ a b c21 Jump Street is going to surprise you. Not only is it one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time, it’s got some great action and awesome performances from all involved.
If you had told me that the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be comedy gold, I would have never believed you. Also, another big surprise was Ice Cube. I’ve seen the film twice and both times he brings the house down with his almost everything he says. Trust me, you want to see 21 Jump Street and I’d advise seeing it with a crowded theater. For more on the film, here’s Matt’s glowing review, Brendan’s set visit, a five-minute red band clip, and all our coverage on directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s awesome movie. Last week I got to speak with Lord and Miller in New York City about their movie. During the interview we talked about how everyone loves the film, when they first knew that Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be so good together, deleted scenes, extended cuts, what will be on the Blu-ray (20 deleted scenes and 45 minutes of jokes!) what’s up with their Lego movie, and their favorite movies, actors and directors. Hit the jump for more.