While theLEGO Moviesare certainly well known for their unique sense of humor and their surprisingly meaningful plots, another aspect that helps to keep these animated movies stand out is their abundance of celebrity cameos. Sometimes these celebrity voiced characters only showed up for a brief moment, whereas other celebrities voice characters that actually showed up throughout a good portion of the movie.
While the originalThe Lego Moviecertainly had a star-studded main cast, including Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell and Morgan Freeman, in addition to a supporting cast including Liam Neeson, Charlie Day, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman and Alison Brie, there were a number of other huge actors who showed up in small voice roles, even if the stars themselves weren’t immediately recognizable. With this said, here are 10 celebrity cameos you may have missed in the firstLEGO Movie.
10[10] Channing Tatum as Superman
Supermanis seen as one of those superheroes who is strong, attractive and altogether the perfect man, making Channing Tatum seemingly the perfect choice to voice this particular character. Directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord had previously worked with Tatum on21 Jump Street, which is part of why Tatum received this minor voice role inThe LEGO Movie. Though he doesn’t play a big part in the movie, Tatum’s Superman adds a lot of humor to the parts of the movie he pops up in.
9[9] Jonah Hill as Green Lantern
In order to keep that21 Jump Streetconnection, Jonah Hill is also inThe LEGO Movieas the jokingly forgettable superheroGreen Lantern. In order to utilize the comedic pairing of the two actors, Superman and Green Lantern are often put together in scenes, with Superman almost always being embarrassed or annoyed by Green Lantern’s overly cheeryl antics. Both actors went on to reprise their roles inThe LEGO Batman MovieandThe LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part.
8[8] Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian
Over the years, Billy Dee Williams’s most notable performance has been in theStar Warsfranchise asLando Calrissian, Han Solo’s old friend who debuted inThe Empire Strikes Back. About halfway throughThe LEGO Movie, the Millenium Falcon showed up outside Metal Beard’s ship, with Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO and Lando inside. While a new voice actor was found for Han, Williams gladly agreed to reprise his role of Lando Calrissian for this brief vocal performance, in addition to Anthony Daniels, who voices C-3PO. Williams went on to reprise his role of Harvey Dent / Two-Face inThe LEGO Batman Movie.
7[7] Dave Franco as Wally
Dave Franco, the younger brother of James Franco, has certainly found his place in the spotlight over the past several years, which managed to earn him a brief voice performance inThe LEGO Movie. Franco voices Wally, one of the construction workers who works with Emmett at the beginning of the movie, and is later interviewed for use by Liam Neeson’s Bad Cop. Unlike other celebrity cameos like Channing Tatum, Franco’s brief appearance didn’t stand out because his character seemed quite ordinary, making it even more shocking to discover that such a minorLEGOcharacter was voiced by such a huge star. Franco went on to take the lead role inThe LEGO Ninjago Movie.
6[6] Jake Johnson as Barry
Dave Franco wasn’t the only big name actor to voice one of Emmett’s construction worker friends.New Girl’s Jake Johnson also made an appearance in the movie as Barry, appearing in essentially the same scenes as Dave Franco’s Wally. Both Johnson and Franco added a bit of humor to the scenes that they were in, even if we didn’t realize who was voicing them.
5[5] Keegan-Michael Key as Foreman Jim
To add the cherry on top,Key and Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key voiced Foreman Jim, the head of Emmett’s construction crew. Like the rest of the construction crew cast, Key added some laughs to the scenes with the construction guys, and was arguably the funniest of all of Emmett’s coworkers.
4[4] Shaquille O’Neal as Shaquille O’Neal
One of the most obvious cameos ofThe LEGO Moviewas Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq appeared as one of the Master Builders who helped to defend Cloud Cuckoo Land when President Business’s goons attacked. It was a brief appearance, with Shaq attempting (and failing) to defend the palace using his basketball skills, which helped to further show off the movie’s star power.
3[3] Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman
TheHow I Met Your MotherandAvengersstar Cobie Smulders made a couple of brief appearances inThe LEGO MovieasWonder Woman. She first appeared with the rest of the Master Builders in Cloud Cuckoo Land, and showed up a couple more times in brief appearances from that point forward.
2[2] Will Forte as Abraham Lincoln
The formerSaturday Night LiveandThe Last Man on Earthstar Will Forte also made an appearance inThe LEGO Movieas yet another Master Builder. Forte voiced the former President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, who abandoned the Master Builders out of disbelief in Emmett. He did not appear again for the rest of the movie, making this cameo appearance hilariously brief.
1[1] Christopher Miller as TV Presenter
Christopher Miller was one of the two directors ofThe LEGO Movie, alongside Phil Lord, and actually played a small role in the movie. Miller voiced the TV Presenter, who worked in Octan Tower and was the presenter for the show “Honey, Where Are My Pants?” The design for the TV Presenter was actually based off of Christopher Miller in real life, making this cameo a bit more personal for the director.
The variety of cameos and stars inThe LEGO Moviehelped set a precedent for the later movies in the franchise, withThe LEGO Batman MovieandThe LEGO Movie 2: The Second Partutilizing the already established cameos, while also adding more of their own. All in all, the large and unique voice casts have helped to make thisWarner Bros.franchise stand out from most other animated movies.
