The energetic performance of Best Original Song nominee "Everything Is Awesome!!" from "The LEGO Movie" at last night's Academy Awards was one of the highlights of the show, and the distribution of LEGO-crafted Oscars during the segment was a creative, whimsical touch. Now, the man who created the statuettes has explained how he got involved in making them, and how much he loves their warm reception from Hollywood's A-list.

Nathan Sawaya, an artist known for his work with LEGOs (he's recreated classic pieces including the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo using only the toy blocks), had crafted an earlier version of the statuette seen on Sunday night, an image that quickly went viral when "LEGO Movie" co-director Philip Lord tweeted it out after being snubbed in the Best Animated Feature category. But when filmmakers found out that "Awesome" was a nominee, Sawaya said they had some more fun up their sleeves.

"The team behind 'The Lego Movie' approached me. They wanted to do something extra special for the Academy Award performance of best song nominee 'Everything is Awesome,'" Sawaya said in an interview with Crave. "They had seen my earlier version of a Lego Oscar statue, and I was happy to take on the challenge."

Sawaya built 20 statuettes made up of 500 LEGO pieces each -- glued together for structural integrity -- and they were featured prominently in Sunday's performance, used as props by dancers on stage before being distributed to people in the crowd. Among them were Emma Stone, Steve Carell, and Channing Tatum, though Sawaya tweeted that he was especially tickled by Oprah's over-the-top reaction to receiving the statuette.


Stone continued to carry hers around for the rest of the night, while Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, and Clint Eastwood had fun posing with the trophies they snagged, too, as seen in this image tweeted by "LEGO" co-director Chris Miller.


All in all, while "The LEGO Movie" didn't receive the award -- or nomination -- it deserved, we're glad to see that everyone involved with the production were good sports, and made the best out of a not-so-awesome situation. And kudos to Sawaya's creativity for inspiring the now-classic bit.

[via: Crave, Vanity Fair, h/t Mental Floss]

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images