Malaysian filmmaker and content creator Mohammed Sofian, aka Sofyank96, probably didn’t think he’d be collaborating with Ryan Reynolds this year. Or maybe he did; the young CGI artist has already filmed crossover videos with Peacemaker star John Cena, and Will Smith.
The 26-year-old Sofian, a native of Kelantan state in Malaysia, has been an online creator since he was 14, when he began creating videos for the now-defunct vid-sharing platform Vine. After being inspired by internet personality Zach King, Sofian started to up his game by incorporating digital VFX into his videos.
Sofian’s YouTube channel has generated a staggering 59,218,098 views since he started, and it seems with every video, he ups his creation game another notch. After his collabs with Cena and Smith, Sofian approached Reynolds with the idea of collaborating on a video piece about Reynolds’ Netflix film, The Adam Project. Reynolds agreed, and allowed Sofian to record footage of him over Zoom. Then the young artist stepped in with his own green screen and knowledge of CGI.
Incredibly, while Sofian’s footage of the Deadpool actor was only 16 seconds long, the creator not only used CGI to bring in the appearance and effects from The Adam Project, but also to artificially-extend the footage of Reynolds. The results made it seem as if Sofian and Reynolds were filming mere inches apart from one another, when in fact they were thousands of miles away.
Sofian released a vlog post on his own YouTube channel showing the process of recording and editing down Reynolds’ footage into the full video:
After Sofian released the video, Reynolds offered him his compliments in his own Ryan Reynolds-y way, Tweeting that “[He] thinks this sets an unfair standard for 4 minute junket interviews.”
It’s not known what Sofian has in the works for his next project, but his goal is to gain international recognition for his content. Given who he’s rubbing virtual elbows with, that goal may be realized sooner rather than later.