How 14-year-old got hired to work on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse after recreating trailer with Lego

A 14-year-old was hired to work on smash-hit Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse after he recreated the trailer with LEGO.

Preston Mutanga, from Ontario, Canada, created his mind-blowing LEGO version back in January, posting the video to Twitter where it very quickly went viral.

Now, his work has been seen on the big screen after the producers - like the majority of us - were left very impressed.

Recreating the trailer shot-for-shot in the style of LEGO blocks, Chris Lord and Phil Miller came across the final clip and were amazed to find out Mutanga’s age.

Lord and Miller are certainly people LEGO fans may want to impress as they’re the directors behind 2014’s The Lego Movie.

I recreated the entire Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer in LEGO! @philiplord @chrizmillr @terry12539 @LEGO_Group @SpiderVerse #LEGO #SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse #animation #Blender3d pic.twitter.com/kYY19go7Fc

— LegoMe_TheOG (@FG_Artist) January 3, 2023

Miller told the New York Times: “We found out that it was a 14-year-old kid who made it and we were like, ‘This looks incredibly sophisticated for a non-adult, non-professional to have made'.

“It blew us all away, including some of the best animators in the world.”

Muntanga began his animating after his dad introduced him to the 3-D software Blender, which he was ‘instantly hooked on’.

He said: “I watched a lot of YouTube videos to teach myself certain stuff.”

So, when the team decided they wanted to do a LEGO sequence in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, they decided to reach out to the teen.

Working remotely for many weeks in Toronto, the 14-year-old animated a LEGO sequence himself.

The New York Times reports: “Every other week, he would meet via video with Miller, who would check on his progress and provide detailed input.”

It was a huge learning experience for the youngster, who said he benefited from the feedback in the process: “Like how much stuff actually gets changed from the beginning to the final product.”

Released on 1 June, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has already collected $235 million in its box office debut, according to reports by Variety.

The film is the sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and follows Miles Morales/Spider-Man (voiced by Shameik Moore) on an adventure across the multiverse with Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld).

Lord told the New York Times: “The LEGO Movie’ is inspired by people making films with Lego bricks at home.

“That’s what made us want to make the movie. Then the idea in ‘Spider Verse’ is that a hero can come from anywhere.

“And here comes this heroic young person who’s inspired by the movie that was inspired by people like him.”

Muntanga is still in high school but dreams of becoming a full-time animator one day.

He said: “I adored the first movie and was so hyped for the second one, so getting to work with the people who actually made this masterpiece was honestly like a dream.”

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now in cinemas.