In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there’s a delightful scene where The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) pops his head through one of his portals and we’re introduced to the Peter Parker/Spider-Man of the LEGO universe. It seems like a simple reference to 2014’s The Lego Movie, which was written and directed by Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. An awesome fact about this scene: it was animated by a 14-year-old, self-taught animator named Preston Mutanga, who caught the attention of Lord and Miller earlier this year when he posted and shared a sophisticated LEGO recreation of Across the Spider-Verse’s trailer.
Sitting down with IGN, Preston, who is wearing a T-shirt with an all-over ink-splotch design as a nod to The Spot, described the whirlwind experience of being invited to animate this scene, while also breaking down some of the creative hurdles of contributing to one of the most visually ambitious animated films ever.
Preston, who has been animating since he was seven years old, fell in love with The Lego Movie, which combined two of his favorite things: LEGOs and animation. “I was instantly in love with it,” Preston tells IGN. “I really loved how creative it was. It looked so much like stop-motion. I thought it was stop-motion when I first saw it, but then [I] eventually found out that it was actually 3D animated and CGI. I [was] so surprised. And I wanted to recreate that effect myself.”
At the same time that moment of inspiration struck, Preston learned about the 3D computer graphics software Blender. His father, Theodore Mutanga, used Blender for work, and soon Preston was “hooked” on using the program when he realized the possibilities it offered him for 3D animation.
Prior to the Spider-Verse LEGO recreation trailer that got Lord and Miller’s attention, Preston’s YouTube channel featured LEGO recreations of TV and movie scenes. When asked why he chooses to animate in the LEGO style, he explains: “I played with LEGO a lot when I was younger. I started [animating] with the Pixar look, that kind of stuff, but then eventually leaned into LEGO animations because I liked how charming they were.”
The quick timeline: Preston published his LEGO recreation of the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer to his YouTube channel on January 3, 2023, and it quickly got the attention of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. It was producer Christina Steinberg who reached out to Preston via e-mail the next day to set up a meeting. “Sadly though, I didn't see the e-mail until two months later or a month later because it got sent to my junk,” Preston admits. “But then they [...] DM’d me on Twitter, which is how I found out that they e-mailed me. I'm like, ‘Oh no, I missed this.’”
I recreated the entire second Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer in LEGO! ( ?)@philiplord @chrizmillr @LEGO_Group @SpiderVerse #AcrossTheSpiderVerse #Blender pic.twitter.com/IlWfuEpp3Q
— LegoMe_TheOG (@FG_Artist) May 24, 2023
Thankfully, there was still enough time for this collaboration to happen - even with the film coming out in June. The team was surprised to find out that he was only 14 years old: “I remember them saying, ‘Is it even legal?’” They were able to make it work and all-in-all, the entire process of producing the scene took about three months. “Two months planning, then one month actually animating,” says Preston.
Even while taking part in this incredible opportunity, Preston was still a student first and foremost. On school nights after he finished his homework, Preston would virtually meet with Miller and Steinberg over Zoom, discussing and planning the LEGO Daily Bugle scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
As for the scene that Preston would be animating, he was given the following context: “It's The Spot discovering he has his powers and he's going through different portals, and he eventually falls into a LEGO dimension. Then they showed me storyboards for that.”
In addition to the storyboards, Miller and his son filmed and sent over an animatic, or an animated storyboard, of the scene for Preston to recreate. The Millers’ version used real LEGO blocks to create the exterior set of the Daily Bugle. “I ended up building my own that was completely different,” Preston explains. “But it was the same concept: Peter looks through the window, sees the taxi crash into the building, [and] rushes into the bathroom while J. Jonah Jameson is scolding him. [Then] Peter Parker changes into his Spider-Man suit.” What you see in the final version of the film uses everything Preston animated, which is a blessing in this industry. (In other words, nothing was cut.)
So which shots were the hardest to bring to (animated) life? Two come to mind for Preston. First was the taxi crash that Miller showed in the animatic. “Getting the pieces to fall down [how] you'd like simulated was hard. The software just kept breaking.” However, while the program struggled with the taxi animation, Preston adds, “That was one of the things I actually got right, right off the bat. I animated it once then never touched it again,” meaning that he didn’t have to address any notes on it or keep changing it.
The hardest shot to animate – partly because it evolved so much – was actually the way that Peter walked across the office of The Daily Bugle. “There [were] a bunch of iterations,” he says. “First, [he] was just intended to just walk straight. Then he was supposed to turn around, then he turned around clockwise. It was a bunch of little changes, but eventually, I think the final result was worth it.”
Preston was also able to add some personal Easter eggs to the scene: “I was the one on the bicycle. I used that signature mini-figure on a lot of my older videos and I just thought it would be cool if I could just sneak it in there somehow.”
And there are a few other cameos too. “There was a guy getting his money stolen by chickens,” laughs Preston. “It's pretty small. It's hard to see the first time seeing [the movie]. He's on the floor getting robbed by chickens.” The chickens are a deep-cut reference to the mischievous chicken (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) who challenges The Master (voiced by Jackie Chan) featured in “The Master: A LEGO Ninjago Short,” proving that Preston is a true LEGO animation fan. “That's where I got the inspiration from. So I'm like, ‘Hey, what if I brought him back?’”
As an homage to The Lego Movie, he gave Lord and Miller both a tiny cameo each. “Phil Lord was the one saying, ‘Does anyone have the instructions for this building?’ And then Chris [is] just arguing with the police officer,” recalls Preston.
The shot Preston is most proud of, though, is at the very end when Peter vocalizes the “beep boop” comms sound when answering a call from Miguel O’Hara. In order to animate Peter changing into his Spider-Man outfit, Preston took a page from The Lego Movie, “After he changes out of his regular clothes, he just tosses the Spider-Man torso above. [...] I looked at a lot of references with the Lego movies, like Emmet changing in the first movie.” Certainly, it must be flattering to have the Spider-Man you animated considered one of the Spider-Society’s “best.”
Preston doesn’t know if he’ll be asked back for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, but he would “one hundred percent work with Phil and Chris again.” For now, he’s recreating scenes from Across the Spider-Verse in LEGO on his channel and making his own films. Whatever project he ends up working on next, he’ll come prepared with this invaluable experience. “Collaboration is a big part of animated movies,” he says. “[You] need to be able to collaborate with people and share ideas and give feedback, which is really important to making a good movie.”
You can follow Preston on Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube! Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is available on your favorite digital platform and you can also watch over 90 minutes of exclusive footage on the 4K UHD and Blu-Ray, which are out now.
Francesca Rivera is a producer at IGN covering movies and television. You can follow her on Twitter and on Instagram.
