Trivia / The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

• Ability over Appearance: Maya Rudolph doesn't look similar to Jason Sands and Brooklynn Prince, but Rudolph's experience in both comedy and parenting helped give necessary humor and compassion to the role of Finn's and Bianca's mom.
• Acting for Two:
  • Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski and Rex Dangervest.
  • Will Ferrell as President Business and The Man Upstairs^note voice only.
• Adam Westing: Bruce Willis, Gary Payton and Sheryl Swoopes as themselves.
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • The first movie received some backlash for only having a few major female characters, and for amounting Wyldstyle/Lucy's character development to letting a man fulfill her dreams of saving the world. The Daily Mail reported afterwards that animation supervisor Chris McKay admitted feeling unsure if the final movie passed The Bechdel Test^note Wyldstyle and Unikitty have a conversation regarding the existence of both "no negativity" and the word "no" in Cloud Cuckoo Land, but it only lasts two sentences., and that he promised a stronger female presence in the second movie, which he wound up executive-producing. Indeed, The Second Part does add some more female major characters, gives them and Lucy some motives and arcs that don't revolve entirely around the men, and allows them to converse at length on topics other than guys.
  • Lord and Miller admitted that a lot of people misunderstood the point of "Everything Is Awesome" and didn't realize it wasn't meant to be taken literally, and part of this film's reprise "Everything's Not Awesome" is about clarifying the song's actual message:
    Everything's not awesome
    Things can't be awesome all of the time
    It's an unrealistic expectation, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try
    To make everything awesome in a less idealistic kind of way
    We should maybe aim for not bad, 'cause not bad, that would be real great
• The Cast Show Off: Tiffany Haddish shows she is talented at singing in the song "Not Evil".
• Celebrity Voice Actor: Along the ones of the first film such as Will Arnett, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, Cobie Smulders and Will Ferrell returning, they are joined by Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Momoa, Noel Fielding and Bruce Willis.
• Contest Winner Cameo: The photos of the builders and their models in the credits were winning entries of a contest to get featured in the credits.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: Wikipedia successfully started a rumor that Maya Rudolph voices Dorothy Gale, despite the movie not crediting her as such. Additionally, the only time Dorothy says anything in The LEGO Movie 2^note when Emmet's destruction of the Space Temple makes her cry, "Wah!!!", everyone who says it along with her drowns her out.
• Descended Creator: Co-director Trisha Gum as Velma Dinkley.
  • Director Mike Mitchell has six roles: Sherry Scratchen-Post, Emmet's neighbour, a royal guard, "Eight", the massage octopus, a Harmony Town citizen, an announcer who announces the guests on the bride and groom's side and an Apocalypseburg warrior
  • Co-Writer Christopher Miller has five roles: Chad, a citizen of the Systar System, A horse, A talking chocolate bar, Plantimals and a Paper Boy
• Deleted Scene: There are several on the Blu-Ray:
  • Originally, Mayhem was the one who saved Lucy from falling, but then it was changed to be Lucy the one who saved her. Mayhem would've also helped on Lucy's plan but before she could do it, she had to show Lucy the truth behind the Systarians motivations.
  • Lucy would've known the weakness of the temple thanks to a recording crystal message by Superman. And then later on, she would meet Superman in the wedding, telling her the Queen was good all along.
  • Several outtakes from Rex telling Emmet about Armamageddon, Lucy and the others entering into the Queen's castle and Emmet walking on the streets of Apocalypseburg.
  • A dog from Harmony Town would've stolen Rex's blaster and the guards would alert to Queen Watevra about the new visitors.
• Dueling Works: With Playmobil: The Movie. Despite its underwhelming box-office haul, The LEGO Movie 2 was the clear winner.
• DVD Commentary: With Writers/Producers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, Director Mike Mitchell and Animation Director/Co-Director Trisha Gum.
• Early Draft Tie-In: Queen Watevra's ‘So-Not-Evil' Space Palace has a smartphone showing the heart Emmet builds in the prologue, taken from a Deleted Scene in which the phone plays a video about the Systarians reshaping this heart into their queen.
• Foiler Footage: One scene from the trailer has two significant changes compared to the film itself: Lucy's hair is still mostly black instead of the more multicolored version seen at that point in the film, while Emmet is lacking the Rex Dangervest vest he was wearing then.
• Franchise Killer: The underperformance of this movie ^note  Despite what many sources say, The Second Part was not a Box Office Bomb. However, it only barely managed to break even, generating little, if any, profit and The LEGO Ninjago Movie led to Warner Bros. abandoning their plans for a long-term LEGO movie series, cancelling all of their planned Lego movie projects in the pipeline including a planned sequel for The LEGO Batman Movie and the long-awaited spin-off The Billion Brick Race. The Second Part sets also underwent widespread price cuts before 2019 ended. Any thought of the franchise continuing in its current capacity died when WB let their film production pact with the LEGO Group expire due to the below-target performance of the spinoffs, resulting in Universal Studios taking over the license for future installments and setting up their own franchise to replace WB's movies.
• In Memoriam: Dedicated to Carrie Miller, Chris Miller's mom, who died on December 27, 2018.
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Saturday Night Live alumni (whose runs on the show intersected from 2000-2002) now portray both of Finn's and Bianca's parents.^note Will Ferrell's 2005 hosting gig also occurred while Maya Rudolph was still part of the main cast.
• Kids' Meal Toy: As they did with the first movie, McDonald's had a Happy Meal tie-in with this movie. This one was a set of thirteen different plastic cases modeled after the characters' heads with activities inside. These consisted of Emmett, Wyldstyle, Benny, Metalbeard, Unikitty, Ultrakatty, Batman, Rex Dangervest, General Mayhem, Superman, Wonder Woman, and two of the DUPLO Aliens.
• Milestone Celebration:
  • The United States release date of the movie is, barring one day, five years away from the original^note although it was released on Denmark exactly five years after the first film's US release. Also a little bit of Leaning on the Fourth Wall, as this movie is set five years after the first.
  • The release of this movie and its Collectible Minifigures line, both of which include LEGO versions of the stars of The Wizard of Oz, coincide with the film's 80th anniversary.
• The Original Darrin:
  • Chris Pratt voices Emmet for the first time since LEGO Dimensions; A.J. Locascio and Keith Ferguson replaced him in TLM's low budget spin-offs.
  • Will Ferrell voices President Business for the first time since The LEGO Movie; LEGO Dimensions replaced him with Nolan North.
  • Alison Brie returns as Unikitty after Tara Strong took over the role for Unikitty!.
  • In the Brazilian dub, Nair Amorim reprises her role of Velma Dinkley for the first time after being replaced in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Maya Rudolph replaces Amanda Farinos^note voice only in the first film as Mom.
  • Margot Rubin replaces Jenny Slate from The LEGO Batman Movie as Harley Quinn.
  • For her brief appearance in the film, Velma is voiced by the movie's co-director Trisha Gum rather than her current voice actress Kate Micucci.
  • In the Japanese dub, Yohei Tadano voice Bruce Willis, rather than Ben Hiura, who is Willis' regular voice actor in Japan. Likewise, Aquaman and Wonder Woman are voiced by Kosuke Goto and Yumiko Matsuura respectively, rather than their voice actors from the DC Extended Universe, Hiroki Yasumoto and Yuko Kaida respectively.
  • In the Canadian French dub of the first film, Unikitty was voiced by Fanny Rainville. Here, she's instead voiced by Émilie Bibeau.
• The Other Marty:
  • Alongside Jason Momoa's brief Role Reprise as Aquaman from the DC Extended Universe, Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie were at one point attached to reprise their roles as Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn, respectively. In the film, Cobie Smulders reprises her role as Wonder Woman from the first LEGO Movie and Harley is played by Margot Rubin.
  • Arturo Castro was originally going to voice Ice Cream Cone, but he was replaced with Richard Ayoade.
• Playing Against Type: Jon Lajoie, better known for more profane works such his albums and The League, writes the family-friendly "Welcome to the Systar System", "Not Evil", "Catchy Song" and "Gotham City Guys".
• Production Posse:
  • Stephanie Beatriz previously worked with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (and Andy Samberg, who sings the end credit songs for both The LEGO Movie and The Second Part) on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the pilot of which Lord and Miller directed.
  • BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg helped rewrite the script for The LEGO Movie 2, which shares at least three of its voice actors: Will Arnett, Alison Brie, and Stephanie Beatriz.^note Beatriz joined the BoJack Horseman cast in season five, which aired two years after Bob-Waksberg's rewrites, but a few months before the premiere of The LEGO Movie 2. Bob-Waksberg also collaborated with Tiffany Haddish on Tuca & Bertie.
• Release Date Change: Originally going to be released on May 26, 2017, it was pushed back on May 18, 2018, then May 25, 2018 and finally on February 8, 2019.
• Role Reprise:
  • Everyone from the first movie except for Finn and Bianca's mom, Vitruvius' ghost and Bad Cop (now Scribble-Faced Cop) (the latter two manage to have silent cameos).
  • From The LEGO Batman Movie, Ralph Fiennes as Alfred Pennyworth.
  • Through voice acting, Jason Momoa reprises his role as Aquaman.
• Significant Double Casting: Chris Pratt has a double role in this film as both Emmet and Rex Dangervest. Justified due to Rex being Emmet from an alternate future.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise:
  • Sweet Mayhem's face is kept hidden behind her helmet in all promotional material...but the figure in her LEGO sets can be unmasked, and her appearance is shown on the back/sides of the boxes. Her face is also shown on her McDonald's toy, and her pod set (released after the movie's theatrical run) doesn't even bother to include the helmet. There is even a pack of girls’ underwear from Target which has images of her helmetless look on it.
  • Another giveaway is the film's collectible Minifigures, released before the film itself. One minifigure is of "Flashback Lucy" with her full blue/purple hair, along with a microphone, a golden record award for "Everything is Awesome", and the pop singer costume she dons in the flashback of Rex's complete backstory, when Bianca is playing with Emmet's friends.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was originally simply titled as The Lego Movie 2, then as The Lego Movie Sequel.
  • Chris McKay was originally going to direct the film, but he chose to make his directorial debut on The LEGO Batman Movie instead. Rob Schrab then replaced McKay as director. If he would not have departed due to Creative Differences and Mike Mitchell succeding him, he would have made his directorial debut with this movie.
  • Early reports claimed the second film would focus on Emmet's long lost sister, but this never happened and was likely scrapped.
  • Batman was originally reported to be the only one kidnapped. However, all of Emmet's friends got kidnapped instead, likely to give Emmet more screen-time alone.
  • The Popular Band almost received a Mockumentary leading up to Lucy quitting after Octan perverted "Everything is Awesome", but it got cut for time. The other singers — Hula Lula, Kitty Pop and Candy Wrapper — still appear in the final film, and its tie-in Collectible Minifigure line, but are mere extras in the Systar System.
  • In one version of the film, Emmet and his friends would've been found by Rex Dangervest in his introduction and they would be part of the team to take down Queen Watevra. The original storyboards can be seen here.
  • Another original storyboard (made by story artist Matt Flynn) shows an alternative version of Rex Dangervest's backstory. The difference here is the way is shown and Rex's original plan was to take Queen Watevra (originally called Queen MerPony) to the Stairgate and destroying her in pieces to make sure the kids won't playing with them anymore. Storyboards can be seen here.
  • A parody of Harry Potter named Larry Poter would have appeared in the film voiced by Daniel Radcliffe, but the crew had feared that it would risk upsetting the Harry Potter fandom, so a parody of Mary Poppins named Larry Poppins appeared instead. Emmet gets called a "Hufflepuff" as a put-down, perhaps a leftover from the Potter idea.
  • Development models reveal that Batman would've had a giant drill as a battle vehicle on Apocalypseburg.
  • Some of the musical numbers' incidental dialogue sounds different on the soundtrack than in the final film; to quote an example from the start of "Not Evil":
    Lucy: Oh no, are we in a musical?
    Batman (soundtrack): Uh, hope not.
    Batman (movie): Yup. Get ready.
  • Some of the deleted scenes show Lucy saving General Mayhem from threats from the human world, such as a gerbil and a Roomba.
  • Maya Rudolph almost got to voice the "The End" card, which would've engaged with Lucy in some sassy banter over whether or not the movie should really end with everyone banished to the Bin of Storaj.
  • After Lucy destroys Rex's flux capacitor, Rex originally merged with Emmet, forming a minifigure with Emmet's appearance and optimism, and Rex's physical strength. However, the animation looked too disturbing to keep in the final film.
  • Takanuva from BIONICLE was featured in concept art◊ as part of Rex's crew.
• Word of God: According to this article, director Mike Mitchell's reason for Velma being the only Scooby-Doo character to appear in the movie is because he believes she'd be the only member of the gang to survive the apocalypse.

---