RE Log Fall 2019

FALL 2019 Ransom Everglades LOG 11 Those cups are given to students who demonstrate integrity, courage and leadership – the ideals of RE’s founders. “That made us really happy, to be honest,” said Wally Lord, serious for a fleeting moment, “because those were character awards.” The birth of a partnership Phil Lord went to Dartmouth intending to get a practical, non-arts degree. He dabbled in computer science. He also met Christopher Miller, with whom he would later collaborate on all of his movies, and the two bonded over their common interest in films, Marvel comics and animation. They found each other artistically irresistible. “Phil is one of the most prolifically creative people I’ve ever met,” Miller said by phone from Los Angeles. “Every ounce of his body is just pouring creativity.” Said Phil: “Chris is a freak. He is much funnier than me. And smarter.” Dartmouth gave them access to a film studio, and the pursuit of moviemaking soon consumed them. As much as the Lord family appreciated the arts, they had been hoping Phil would devote himself to something more likely to generate a meaningful, post-collegiate paycheck. “When Phil started taking ‘cartoons for credit’ at Dartmouth,” Wally Lord said, “we had to check our attitude about that.” The Dartmouth duo began to develop a creative vision that tied together weirdness, inventive animation and humanity even while working mostly on solo projects, serving more as supporters and co-conspirators than partners. Miller had created a comic strip for the student newspaper that landed him a glowing profile in Dartmouth’s alumni magazine. Eric Eisner, the son of then-chief executive of The Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner, was a student at Dartmouth at the time. Somehow, the hyperbolic magazine piece got into the hands of executives at The Walt Disney Company, and Miller emerged as a hot commodity. It was late in Miller’s and Lord’s senior year when an executive from The Walt Disney Company called Miller in his dorm room, inviting him to Los Angeles for a job interview. Miller’s response amazed his friend. He said, “‘I’m too busy; I have midterms,’” Miller recalled. When Miller finally showed up to The Walt Disney Company offices that summer, he brought his pal Lord and they finagled an interview as a team – even though they had never actually completed a film together. Fresh out of college, they got hired and spent the next three years desperately trying to get shows on the air. In year four, they pitched a series, Clone High , that was picked up by MTV. The teen series featured adolescent clones of historic giants such as Abraham Lincoln and Joan of Arc roaming the hallways of Clone High . The series bombed spectacularly, and in ways the pair had not imagined. Ratings were low, critics did not like the show and, to their great surprise, their irreverent depiction of a hard-partying teen Gandhi scandalized India, causing some to stage hunger strikes in protest. “I don’t remember feeling discouraged,” Phil said. “It’s kind of foolhardy, but one of the benefits of being young is you don’t realize what you don’t know.” “Phil is one of the most prolifically creative people I’ve ever met. Every ounce of his body is just pouring creativity.” – Christopher Miller on creative partner Phil Lord ’93 Samples of Phil Lord’s childhood artwork