Getting your break in Hollywood often takes years and years of working and trying to find a way through the doors.
But the goal for breaking into the moving industry isn’t always about being an actor. Sometimes, it’s the behind-the-scenes work that can be a dream.
And just sometimes, it’s a new skill that you’ve only had for a few years that gets you noticed. And you don’t even have to be an adult – you could be a 14-year-old teenager from Milton, Canada.
When Preston Mutanga was just a kid still (well, a bit of a younger kid), his father introduced him to animating programs on the computer. And Mutanga fell in love with making creations on the computer.
A fan of the 2018 film “Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse,” when Mutanga saw there would be a second animated film, he was excited.
“I also used to make comics when I was younger,” Mutanga said during an interview. “Looking back at them now, they’re not the greatest, I’m not going to lie, but it was good practice for telling stories.”
looks like I can officially confirm it now-
yes, I animated a part for #AcrossTheSpiderVerse! it was honestly such an amazing journey and working with @philiplord, @chrizmillr, @CSteinberg9, and the rest of the spider-verse team was a dream come true. you guys absolutely ROCK pic.twitter.com/QnSZrcOf99
— LegoMe_TheOG (@FG_Artist) June 7, 2023
So in December, he decided to make his own version of the trailer for the newest film, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, except as if Spider-man was made out of Legos.
He had spent a good chunk of his time practicing to get to this moment. “My dad showed me this 3-D software called Blender and I instantly got hooked on it,” he said. “I watched a lot of YouTube videos to teach myself certain stuff.”
The animated film is about a teenager, Miles Morales, growing and learning to use his newly-found superpowers and keep his family and friends safe. The first film did very well, so the hype was already rising for the newest film, when Mutanga posted his Lego version of the trailer online.
The top is Mutanga’s Lego recreation of the movie trailer, the bottom is a still from the movie. Photo by LegoMe_TheOG / YouTube / Sony Pictures / Via youtube
The video quickly went viral, amassing hundreds of thousands of views. But, more importantly, it caught the eyes of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the producers of “Across the Spider-verse”, as well as “The Lego Movie.”
“We found out that it was a 14-year-old kid who made it and we were like, ‘This looks incredibly sophisticated for a nonadult, non professional to have made,'” Miller told reporters.
It blew us all away, including some of the best animators in the world.”
Lord commented on Mutanga’s video with, “Well done!!! Where were you in 2014 (for “The Lego Movie”) oh wait you were 6.”
The filmmakers were floored by his talent, and asked Mutanga to animate a scene for the new movie, a scene that honored “The Lego Movie”, which Lord and Miller wanted in “Across the Spider-verse”.
Did you know 14-year-old animator, Preston Mutanga (@FG_Artist), known for this viral LEGO Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse trailer also animated the LEGO scenes in the film? 👏 pic.twitter.com/nQmtZ4E8ib
— GameSpot (@GameSpot) June 5, 2023
The filmmakers sent Mutanga a new computer and graphics software. He worked on his scene, they said, during spring break and after homework was finished.
For Mutanga, it was the chance of his life. “One new thing I learned was definitely the feedback aspect of it, like how much stuff actually gets changed from the beginning to the final product,” he said. “Getting to work with the people who actually made this masterpiece was honestly like a dream,” he added.
His mother, Gisele Mutanga, a public health instructor, said, “I know Preston has a gift that was given to him by God, and once we identified that he had that gift, all we could do as parents was to nurture it and let him fly.”
Watch the epic trailer below.
