Texting With… LEGO Movie Director Philip Lord

When you think LEGO, you probably think the little plastic, interlocking bricks that used to keep you occupied for hours on end. So it might surprise you to learn that the company was originally conceived as a wooden toy manufacturer, after founder Ole Christiansen lost his carpentry job, and apparently had a lot of lumber on his hands.

Starting from the shop in his home in the early 1930s, Christiansen built up his LEGO empire with wood, until adopting the plastic bricks in 1949. Still, it took years for the company to phase out wooden products altogether.

The company is one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world— over 560 billion LEGO bricks have been created so far.

And this weekend LEGO’s first film LEGO Movie is hitting theaters.

Since we are obviously huge LEGO fans, we sent writer/ director Philip Lord a few very deep questions via text. This is hardcore journalism, people.

Thanks, Phil!

Daniel Rivero is a producer/reporter for Fusion who focuses on police and justice issues. He also skateboards, does a bunch of arts related things on his off time, and likes Cuban coffee.