What Are the Best Shots in Lord & Miller's Career?

I remember when Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs came out. I saw it in the dollar theater in college, and I came out kind of obsessed. I went to IMDb to figure out who was behind it, and that was my introduction to Lord and Miller.

In the world of modern filmmaking, few have mastered the blend of chaotic energy and heartfelt storytelling quite like Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

I'll say up top, I kind of feel like they're my idols in some way, just because they seem so fearless when it comes to genre. And I love how they do mashups; it's really inspiring to me.

They have Project Hail Mary in theaters right now, and that movie is full of gorgeous shots, but in a recent breakdown for CineFix, the duo sat down to dissect some of the most iconic shots from their career.

Let's dive in.

How Phil Lord and Chris Miller Use Visual Language to Elevate Comedy and Sci-Fi

1. Give Your Actors a "Playground" (and Set Up More Cameras)

I think the thing I love the most about Lord and Miller is that their movies feel like they're loaded with improvisation and that anything can happen at any time.

One of the most memorable moments and great examples of this is in 22 Jump Street , when Channing Tatum realizes that Jonah Hill’s character slept with the captain’s daughter.

Lord and Miller originally had a standard shot list, but a rehearsal changed everything. That's where Tatum argued that his character wouldn't just sit there; he’d be running around the office, high-fiving everyone in celebration.

The directors heard that and were like...why aren't we doing that?

Instead of sticking to the schedule, the directors pulled cameras from the second unit and "set up as many cameras as we possibly could".

If there's a lesson in all of this, it's to collaborate.

If an actor has a brilliant impulse, don't stifle it with a rigid shot list. Create a "playground" where they can explore, and use as many cameras as you can to get it from more angles.

2. The "Infinite Money in a Basement" Aesthetic

When making The LEGO Movie , the duo set a strict rule: everything, including water, fire, and clouds, had to be made of bricks.

Basically, they wanted to preserve the imagination and the world by showing that LEGO could be anything.

The goal for the reveal of Metalbeard’s ship was to make it look like a kid had made this shot in their basement with infinite money and infinite time.

It did...and it helped the worldbuilding a ton.

Look, we aren't all making studio movies. Limitations breed creativity. But by grounding their CG world in the physical reality of the toy, Lord and Miller created a unique visual language that felt tactile in this world.

We could imagine the feel of every brick as they were flying all over.

3. Emotional Ideas as Cinematic Renders

In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , the famous "leap of faith" was a scripted emotional beat. The script read: "We realize he's not falling, he's rising."

We have the Spider-Verse screenplay for you to read on this site.

So, as a blueprint for the movie, what did they do? They flipped the camera 180 degrees, and they visually represented Miles Morales fulfilling his destiny.

This gives value to the idea that they trust their audience. They found that viewers were perfectly willing to follow non-traditional camera orientations as long as the emotional logic was sound.

And also...it was freaking cool!

4. Finding Beauty in "Real" Science

Okay, you know we had to include something from Project Hail Mary. It's a massive movie, and as I said at the top, the visuals blew me away.

Lord and Miller worked with DP Greig Fraser to visualize "astrophage", which are microbes invisible to the naked eye but visible in infrared.

Instead of relying purely on post to make them pop, they used an Alexa 65 camera, pulled the IR filter, and built a cage of blinking infrared lights around star Ryan Gosling. The result was a strange, pink-hued world that felt grounded in the physics of a camera sensor.

If you see it in 70MM, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Again, you may not have the equipment of a major studio, but you can experiment just like everyone else.

Sometimes the most striking visuals come from experimenting and trying to be bold. So go for it!

Summing It All Up

This was a fun way to look back at some movies I love and the lessons that go with them. It was a good kick in the butt for me to get back to the grind and to try to make Lord and Miller proud. Or, at least to learn more from their movies.

Let me know what you think in the comments.