“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” overtook its predecessor at the box-office over the weekend with a $390 million global haul so far – making it Sony’s highest-grossing animated release in history.
Now a new short film titled “The Spider Within,” set within the same universe as the films, has just premiered at the Annecy\ International Film Festival and Market in France.
According to The Wrap, the horror-centered short follows Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as he starts to feel the pressure of his life as Spider-Man. This results in a trip through his subconscious.
The short itself hails from Jarelle Dampier, who was part of Sony Pictures Imageworks’ LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers) program giving filmmakers from underrepresented groups the chance to tell new stories in the Sony Animation world.
Dampier used his own struggles with mental health, sleep paralysis, anxiety, and panic attacks to inform the character’s mental state. Dampier tells the outlet:
“I think a lot of people who are fans of Miles, if I tell them my short’s about Miles being anxious, having a panic attack, most people who have been around a while, well, that seems like something that would happen to Miles.
He just seems like that kind of kid. But we’ve never been able to have that slice-of-life moment because the movies are so big and excellent and breathtaking.
I think horror is just one of those great down-on-the-street-level genres that you can use to just get intimate and find out what really makes this character tick, what makes them scared, and what are they going to do to get through it. I love that.”
Asked when the public will get to see the short, Dampier says: “I don’t know yet, officially. I don’t know, really.”
