Yes, a 14-Year-Old Fan Animated on Across the Spider-Verse
The online hype around Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse seems to not be dying out anytime soon as Sony Pictures Animation employees who have worked on the movie are coming out and sharing production art. However, among the names that have received viral praising for their shared behind-the-scenes work, one name has stood out to most as a shocking prodigy.
Preston Mutanga—known online as LegoMe_TheOG—is known by his YouTube fanbase (as well as Twitter) to make impressive LEGO animations in Blender using dynamic posing, lighting, and shot composition. What shocks most people is that he’s 14 years old and doing this at a level where those within the industry—namely, producers and writers Phil Lord & Christopher Miller—were taking notice.
Mutanga’s recreation of the first trailer went lightly viral on Twitter, visible enough to where Lord & Miller noticed, showing it to those working on the film. After some negotiations between the studio, Mutanga, and his family, they worked out a contract for Mutanga to build the scene of the LEGO universe briefly explored within the film.
The LEGO universe within Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was briefly mentioned in an interview with Jake Johnson, the voice of Spider-Verse’s Peter B. Parker, though its prominence and direction was unknown beyond its confirmation. While it was a nice inclusion to put another The LEGO Movie-esque feather in the cap of Lord & Miller, we’re all very pleased that a skilled young artist like Preston Mutanga is receiving the recognition and work he deserves from his passion project.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is playing in theaters now worldwide.