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Phil Lord — news, coverage & facts — IJR

2010s

After Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was released, the two sought to try to make something different 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, released to critical acclaim, which led to the production of the sequel 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 Bros. 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 story treatment for the then-upcoming superhero film The Flash, but dropped out of the project in favor of directing the then-untitled Solo: A Star Wars Story. The duo were picked by Sony Pictures Animation in 2015 to create an animated Spider-Man film, with the option to direct. The film was eventually made as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), which the duo produced and which Lord co-wrote.

The duo have 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. They are producing a cable-TV drama based on the popular NPR/This American Life spinoff podcast Serial.

In January 2017, Lord and Miller began directing the then-untitled film Solo: A Star Wars Story, a standalone Star Wars movie based on the Han Solo character. On June 20, 2017, it was reported that they had been fired from the project by Lucasfilm, after over four-and-a-half months of filming, about three-quarters through principal photography. Lucasfilm announced that "creative differences" were the reason, with Entertainment Weekly reporting that Lord and Miller were going off-script and trying to make the film into more of a comedy. They were unwilling to compromise with Lucasfilm and writer Lawrence Kasdan on the direction of the film, preferring their vision. Two days later, Ron Howard was announced as the replacement, to complete the film and reshoots. Lord and Miller received executive-producer credits on Solo: A Star Wars Story.

In November 2017, Lord and Miller commented on their departure from Solo: A Star Wars Story. Lord stated "The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful. We had the most incredible cast and crew and collaborators. [...] We're really proud of the work we did on the movie and we wish everybody the best." Miller added "As Phil said, we had such a great relationship with cast and crew, we were really rooting for them. After we took a much-needed vacation, we got back into it and now we're writing and producing a sequel to The Lego Movie and producing a Miles Morales animated Spider-Man."

In August 2019, Lord and Miller signed a first-look deal with Universal Pictures.

2020s

In 2021, Lord and Miller produced two animated films that were distributed through Netflix. The first was The Mitchells vs. the Machines for Sony Pictures Animation. They also produced an R-rated animated Netflix original film called America: The Motion Picture alongside Will Allegra, Matt Thompson, David Callaham, Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan from a screenplay by Callaham and directed by Thompson.

In June 2020, it was reported that Lord and Miller would be developing an eight-episode television series titled The Afterparty for Apple TV+. The series is a murder mystery comedy set at a high school reunion where each episode features a retelling of the same night told through a different character's point of view. Miller created and directed the series, while serving as an executive producer alongside Lord. The series premiered on January 28, 2022, to critical acclaim.

On November 1, 2019, it was announced that Lord and Miller would be returning as producers and writers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was released on June 2, 2023. In December 2021, Lord and Miller revealed that Across the Spider-Verse was being split into two parts after they had written down the story they wanted to tell for the sequel and realized that it was too much for a single film. Work on both parts was taking place simultaneously, or at least believed to be until June 2023 when animators claimed they were overworked to complete Part One, with Part Two since renamed to Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. The film was removed from the release schedule on July 28, 2023, reportedly due to the then-ongoing 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Its original release date of March 29, 2024, was taken by Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Recording of voice lines were set to resume on November 9, 2023, following the resolution of the SAG-AFTRA strike, and production was confirmed by Miller to have resumed the following month. At CinemaCon, Sony announced a release date of June 4, 2027. By July, the film was further delayed to June 25, 2027, and pushed forward to June 18, 2027 in September.

On July 2, 2020, it was announced that MTV Entertainment Studios was developing a revival of Clone High, and that original series creators, Lord, Miller, and Bill Lawrence would be involved with the project. In February 2021, HBO Max ordered two seasons of the revival, the first of which premiered on May 23, 2023.

As part of their first-look deal with Universal Pictures, Lord and Miller have produced two R-rated comedy films for the studio: Cocaine Bear, a comedy horror film which was inspired by the true story involving the eponymous bear, and Strays, a comedy about talking dogs.

On May 15, 2020, Variety reported that Lord and Miller were attached to direct a film adaptation of Andy Weir's novel Project Hail Mary for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Ryan Gosling attached to star in the leading role and Amy Pascal producing. Filming began in June 2024 in the UK. The film, which was Lord and Miller's first directorial credit in over a decade, was released on March 20, 2026. Released the same year, Lord and Miller produced the Spider-Noir live-action television series for MGM+, and was credited as executive producers for The Sheep Detectives.

Style and influences

Lord and Miller are regarded as auteur filmmakers, although they dislike being associated with that term. Their films are noted for their bold visual sensation, extensive detail, usage of improvisation, and metamodernist approach to narrative and aesthetics. Though they slightly change their process between live-action and animation, Lord & Miller typically favor a formalist aesthetic, with hard cuts, usage of primary colors, and exaggerated mise-en-scene being defining parts of their style.

Thematically, their films explore friendship, creativity, and being an outsider. Much of their process was influenced by their time at Clone High and Cloudy, where they learned from future collaborator Amy Pascal about collaboration and emotion. They admit to using properties like LEGO, Jump Street, and SpiderVerse as a springboard for personal expression, with Lord stating: "It comes from trying not to be vain about what you're making on the surface...Like, who cares if [The Lego Movie is] based on a popular toy brand? It's still an opportunity to make something really interesting. I think we've always approached these things as a way to express ourselves personally, which no one does!" Because of this approach, their work gained a following for transforming "cynical" studio concepts into critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. Due to their hands-on filmmaking process and improvisational approach to storytelling, they are seen as perfectionists.

Lord and Miller have cited Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Stanley Kubrick, Bill Plympton, the Coen brothers, Spike Lee, Akira Kurosawa, Billy Wilder, Chuck Jones, Matt Groening, George Lucas, Ingmar Bergman, Jim Henson, and Tim Burton as influences. Their favorite films include The Wizard of Oz (1939), Rashomon (1950), Singin' in the Rain (1952), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Harold and Maude (1971), The Hot Rock (1972), Star Wars (1977), The Muppet Movie (1979), Popeye (1980), American Pop (1981), Howard the Duck (1986), Matewan (1987), The Beaver Trilogy (2000), and Speed Racer (2008).