---
name: "Chris McKay"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/chris-mckay"
fi1m_id: "chris-mckay"
imdb_id: "nm0003021"
tmdb_id: 144816
wikidata_id: "Q20676250"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "11 November 1973"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-23T04:14:50.862099+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Chris McKay

## Identity

Chris McKay

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/chris-mckay
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** chris-mckay
- **IMDb ID:** nm0003021
- **TMDB ID:** 144816
- **Wikidata ID:** Q20676250
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McKay, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20676250, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003021/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/144816

Director and producer. Born 11 November 1973 in Winter Park, Florida, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 11 November 1973, Winter Park, Florida, USA
- **Active:** 2014–present
- **Also known as:** Christopher McKay, Chris Taylor
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 2 acting, 2 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Christopher Miller](https://film.one/person/christopher-miller.md), [Phil Lord](https://film.one/person/phil-lord.md), [Roy Lee](https://film.one/person/roy-lee.md), [Will Arnett](https://film.one/person/will-arnett.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 73 (3), 2020s 66 (2)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McKay, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20676250, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003021/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/144816

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*The Lego Movie*](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie.md) (83)
- **HBO Max:** [*The Lego Batman Movie*](https://film.one/film/the-lego-batman-movie.md) (74)
- **Peacock:** [*Renfield*](https://film.one/film/renfield.md) (58)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Chris McKay

> Chris McKay’s *The Lego Batman Movie* knew exactly what it was. In *Renfield*, which he directed and produced, he assembles a fine comic pairing, then keeps finding other things for us to watch.

In *Renfield* (2023), Nicolas Cage gives Dracula grand vowels and wounded vanity, while Nicholas Hoult plays the familiar who has to put up with him. McKay, directing and producing, has a comic pairing worth staying with, then keeps them apart for most of the film. We laughed at Cage’s Dracula because those grand vowels make his wounded vanity all the more ridiculous. There is a good comedy here whenever McKay lets these two get on with it.

McKay’s earlier work makes that impatience more puzzling. After directing and editing television animation, he served as animation co-director and editor on *The Lego Movie* (2014), directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. His solo feature directorial debut, *The Lego Batman Movie* (2017), was a fast, dense parody with a clear sense of what it was doing. It did not need to slow down to make its jokes count.

*The Tomorrow War* (2021) marked the move into live-action features, with *Renfield* following it. There is a recognisable interest beneath the change of format: the Batman–Joker dependence and the Renfield–Dracula workplace relationship both concern people who cannot get free of one another. That is a promising subject for a comic director, because irritation can keep producing fresh jokes. But *Renfield* also wants to be a superhero origin and a crime thriller. McKay gives each too little attention, abandoning one kind of comedy before it has properly developed.

He also has a story credit on *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023), directed by Daley and Goldstein. Its smaller scenes, especially five people bickering in a graveyard, work better than its loud, grey spectacle. That is a more satisfying film than *Renfield*, though the credit gives us no grounds to claim its best jokes as McKay’s. We would happily watch Cage and Hoult together again; another crime plot would not be necessary.

## Biography

Chris McKay is an American filmmaker, animator and editor. He directed and produced the 2023 film *Renfield*, and received story credit on *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023).

McKay is known for directing *The Lego Batman Movie* (2017) and *The Tomorrow War* (2021). Earlier in his career he directed and edited episodes of the television series *Robot Chicken* and *Moral Orel*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Performed in (2)

- *The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part* (2019), Fi1m 63, as Larry the Barista (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie-2-the-second-part.md)
- *The Lego Movie* (2014), Fi1m 83, as Larry the Barista / Additional Voices (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie.md)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Renfield* (2023), Fi1m 58, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/renfield.md)
- *The Lego Batman Movie* (2017), Fi1m 74, as Pilot Bill / Additional Voices (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-batman-movie.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023), Fi1m 73, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves.md)

## Complete filmography (18)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Renfield* (2023), Director, Producer — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/renfield.md)
- *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* (2023), Story — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves.md)
- *The Tomorrow War* (2021), Director
- *The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part* (2019), as Larry the Barista (voice) · Executive Producer — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie-2-the-second-part.md)
- *The Lego Ninjago Movie* (2017), as Additional Voices (voice)
- *Cooking with Alfred* (2017), Director
- *Batman Is Just Not That Into You* (2017), Director
- *The Lego Batman Movie* (2017), as Pilot Bill / Additional Voices (voice) · Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-batman-movie.md)
- *Robot Chicken: Christmas Specials* (2014), Director
- *The Lego Movie* (2014), as Larry the Barista / Additional Voices (voice) · Editor, Animation Supervisor — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie.md)
- *Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III* (2010), Director
- *Titan Maximum* (2009), series, Editorial Manager, Director
- *Moral Orel* (2008), Director
- *Robot Chicken: Star Wars* (2007), Editor
- *Moral Orel* (2005), series, Director, Writer
- *Mars: Pioneering the Planet* (2003), Actor
- *2wks, 1yr* (2002), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Lavender Castle* (1999), series, Director

## Gallery

- ![Chris McKay](https://film.one/media/person/21272/gallery-2dc932a1596f.jpg) Chris McKay — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Chris_McKay_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Chris_McKay_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris McKay speaking at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.](https://film.one/media/person/21272/gallery-7a856f1ae360.jpg) Chris McKay speaking at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Chris_McKay%2C_2013_San_Diego_Comic_Con-cropped.jpg/1280px-Chris_McKay%2C_2013_San_Diego_Comic_Con-cropped.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris McKay speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.](https://film.one/media/person/21272/gallery-d2252a4e921d.jpg) Chris McKay speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. — Gage - Flickr user Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Chris_McKay%2C_The_Lego_Batman_Movie_panel_at_the_2016_Comic-Con_International.jpg/1280px-Chris_McKay%2C_The_Lego_Batman_Movie_panel_at_the_2016_Comic-Con_International.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris McKay and Will Arnett speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego](https://film.one/media/person/21272/gallery-304a0d360c53.jpg) Chris McKay and Will Arnett speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Chris_McKay_%26_Will_Arnett_%2827991311124%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_McKay_%26_Will_Arnett_%2827991311124%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris McKay speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Pl](https://film.one/media/person/21272/gallery-2c1d56bc2dfb.jpg) Chris McKay speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Pl — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Chris_McKay_%2828501699092%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_McKay_%2828501699092%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris McKay speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Pl](https://film.one/media/person/21272/gallery-ed5abd57b51f.jpg) Chris McKay speaking at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International, for "The LEGO Batman Movie", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Pl — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Chris_McKay_%2828501702102%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_McKay_%2828501702102%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/chris-mckay