History Trivia / TheLegoMovie

** Will Ferrell plays a villain who mispronounces things the way WesternAnimation/Megamind does, but Lord Business is really [[spoiler: a little boy's portrayal of his father, who is a control freak]].

* ActorAllusion:
** A few of the trailers show Superman and Green Lantern bantering with each other. Both characters are voiced by [[Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill]], respectively.
** Will Forte cameos as the voice of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in a Millar/Lord production. [[WesternAnimation/CloneHigh Again]].
** In one scene, [[Film/BatmanBegins Batman]] fights a KnightTemplar voiced by Creator/LiamNeeson. Even more [[BuffySpeak allusiony]], their first fight is centered around a train that's about to fall off a bridge.
** Batman (Will Arnett) upon seeing the [[spoiler:Millenium Falcon]] - [[Series/ArrestedDevelopment "Oh COME ON!"]]
** During Emmet's escape from the police station:
-->'''[[Creator/LiamNeeson Bad Cop]]''': ''[[Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010 Release the copper-choppers!]]''
--> and also
-->'''President Business''': ''Release the Kragle!''
** Additionally, [[FreezeFrameBonus one of Metalbeard's rules of the sea is "Never release a kraken."]]
** In the case of Will Ferrell:
*** This isn't the first time he has [[{{WesternAnimation/Megamind}} played a villain in an animated movie who mispronounces words]], [[spoiler:complete with HeelFaceTurn]].
*** Nor is it the first time Ferrell [[Series/SaturdayNightLive has played]] [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush a ''President'' prone to mispronouncing words.]]
*** And he's no stranger to [[{{Film/Elf}} building elaborate cityscapes out of LEGO]] either.
*** And ComedicUnderwearExposure [[Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby is his idea of entertainment.]]
** Bad Cop can be heard humming Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra, referencing Neeson's Irish heritage; at one point he sings "O Danny Boy".
** In a director allusion, one of the posters in Emmet's apartment is for ''[[Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet Teen Copz: The Movie]]''.
** Just like in ''Film/WeddingCrashers'', Will Ferrell [[spoiler: is mentioned as an unseen special character (here, as The Man Upstairs) who is finally revealed at the end, emerging from a shadowy stairway]].
** Good Cop eventually winds up [[spoiler:losing his face and even when he gets it back, its permanently deformed.]] [[Film/{{Darkman}} Doesn't that sound very similar to another character Neeson's played?]]

** Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, who voices Two-Face, also played Harvey Dent in ''Film/{{Batman}}''

** Creator/AnthonyDaniels and Creator/BillyDeeWilliams reprise their roles as C-3PO and Lando Calrissian respectively.

*** Sérgio Stern who voiced C-3PO in some ''Star Wars'' movies and the Clone Wars cartoon reprises his role.
*** Luiz Carlos Persy who voiced Gandalf in ''Film/TheHobbit'', reprises his role.

* ActingForTwo: Liam Neeson as both Bad Cop/Good Cop and his/their father Pa Cop, and Will Ferrell as both Lord/President Business and [[spoiler:the Man Upstairs]].

*** Creator/GuilhermeBriggs who voiced Superman in the ''Justice League'' cartoon, ''Film/ManOfSteel'' and ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', voiced Han Solo in the ''Star Wars'' movies reprises the roles.
*** Mauro Ramos who voiced Dumbledore in the last Harry Potter movie reprises his role.
*** Sérgio Stern who voiced C-3PO in some Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars cartoon reprises his role.
*** Luiz Carlos Persy who voiced Gandalf in The Hobbit trilogy reprises his role.
*** Élcio Romar who voiced Henri Ducard in Batman Begins, who was played by Liam Neeson, returns his role as Bad Cop/Good Cop.

* StarMakingRole: For Creator/ChrisPratt.

** Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams reprise their roles as C-3PO and Lando Calrissian respectively.

** The filmmakers considered Creator/MichaelKeaton, Creator/ValKilmer, Creator/GeorgeClooney or Creator/ChristianBale to reprise the role of Batman.

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: The "meet be downstairs/upstairs in ten seconds" RunningGag came about because the animators couldn't figure out how to animate the LEGO characters going up and down stairs without it looking awkward.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: In the Japanese dub (at least in the trailers) this was the last dubbing role Creator/IchiroNagai (Vitruvius) did before his death in January 2014.

* StarMakingRole: For ChrisPratt.

** The fact that Cobie Smulders voices Wonder Woman can be considered a DiscontinuityNod, since she was, at one point, picked by Creator/JossWhedon to play the character in his script for the canceled Wonder Woman film.

** Unikitty was originally going to end up with either Metalbeard or [[spoiler: Batman]] at the end of the movie.
** Lord Business's name was originally going to be "Black Falcon".

* CelebrityVoiceActor: Aside from the main cast and cameo characters, there's still plenty of this. Channing Tatum, Will Arnett and Creator/CobieSmulders play Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman respectively. Also Will Forte, Dave Franco, Jake Johnson, Keegan-Michael Key and Jorma Taccone all voice minor characters and various extras.

** A script for the old [[http://www.mediafire.com/view/d8xlxu80kyzuyku/original_LEGO_disaster_script.pdf ''Piece of Resistance'']] title has surfaced. It's incredibly different from the final version, with many of the character's names changed, [[Franchies/StarWars R2D2]] and Franchise/IndianaJones being main characters (this was before Creator/Lucasfilm was bought by Disney), Emmet still living with his elderly mother, who turns out to be "the most powerful woman in the universe", had Bad Cop actually swear instead of saying "darn", Larry the Barista having a larger role, and Benny having a co-pilot that's an [[CompanionCube inanimate mop]] called [[ShapedLikeItself Moppy]].

** A script for the old [[http://www.mediafire.com/view/d8xlxu80kyzuyku/original_LEGO_disaster_script.pdf ''Piece of Resistance'']] title has surfaced. It's incredibly different from the final version, with many of the character's names changed, [[Franchies/StarWars R2D2]] and Franchise/IndianaJones being main characters (this was before Creator/LucasFilm was bought by Disney), Emmet still living with his elderly mother, who turns out to be "the most powerful woman in the universe", had Bad Cop actually swear instead of saying "darn", Larry the Barista having a larger role, and Benny having a co-pilot that's an [[CompanionCube inanimate mop]] called [[ShapedLikeItself Moppy]].

** A script for the old [[http://www.mediafire.com/view/d8xlxu80kyzuyku/original_LEGO_disaster_script.pdf ''Piece of Resistance'']] title has surfaced. It's incredibly different from the final version, with many of the character's names changed, [[Franchies/StarWars R2D2]] and Franchise/IndianaJones being main characters, Emmet still living with his elderly mother, who turns out to be "the most powerful woman in the universe", had Bad Cop actually swear instead of saying "darn", Larry the Barista having a larger role, and Benny having a co-pilot that's an [[CompanionCube inanimate mop]] called [[ShapedLikeItself Moppy]].

* ExiledFromContinuity: While the movie is filled to the brim with the then-current and a number of previous LEGO lines throughout the history of the company, licensing issues prevented certain themes from showing up, due to the film being made by Creator/WarnerBros with ''Franchise/StarWars'' specifically cited in spite of the brand's history with LEGO. [[spoiler:[[LyingCreator They lied]] about ''Star Wars'', to keep one of the biggest gags in the movie a surprise.]]

** In one scene, [[Film/BatmanBegins Batman]] fights a KnightTemplar voiced by Creator/LiamNeeson.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The directors couldn't get all the licensed characters they wanted. They haven't said who these were, but obvious absentees various Disney properties including Franchise/MarvelUniverse, ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', and ''Franchise/StarWars''. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Except]] ''Star Wars'' characters ''did'' make it into the movie, which was thought otherwise thanks to the creators deliberately misleading the audience in interviews. Of course, LEGO has worked with ''Star Wars'' since long before Disney came into the picture]].

** Will Forte cameos as the voice of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, reprising his role from ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh''

** Also from the Japanese trailer, Emmett was instead voiced by [[CrossdressingVoice Miina Tominaga]] [[spoiler:, most likely to stay consistent with the climax as she also appears to be the voice of Finn]] ,but in the movie proper was voiced by the more appropriate Creator/ToshiyukiMorikawa.

* ExiledFromContinuity: While the movie is filled to the brim with the then-current and a number of previous LEGO sets, licensing issues prevented certain themes from showing up, due to the film being made by Creator/WarnerBros with ''Franchise/StarWars'' specifically cited in spite of the brand's history with LEGO. [[spoiler:[[LyingCreator They lied]] about ''Star Wars'', to keep one of the biggest gags in the movie a surprise.]]