Preston Mutanga, a 14-year-old from Milton, Ontario, unexpectedly found himself involved in the creation of one of this year's most successful movies, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. After Mutanga recreated the original trailer shot-by-shot in a Lego animation style, it gained hundreds of thousands of views online. The filmmaking team behind the movie, Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, noticed Mutanga's work on YouTube and Twitter and reached out to him. Impressed by his talent, they hired him to animate a scene in the sequel. Mutanga's passion for animation was sparked by his father's introduction to the 3D computer graphics software Blender. He combined his love for Lego and Spider-Man to create his viral trailer. The scene he designed for the sequel, inspired by the original Spider-Man movie, takes place at The Daily Bugle and features a voice cameo by J.K. Simmons. Mutanga described working on the movie as a dream come true and hopes to pursue a career as a director and animator in film and television.
Photo Credit: Xavi Cabrera