Annecy: ‘Spider-Verse’ Gets Scary in New Short Film ‘The Spider Within’ (Exclusive First Look)

thewrap.com:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is currently lighting up the box office (it’s already grossed as much as the original film did in its entire run and the sequel has only been out for two weeks), another, slipperier element of the “Spider-Verse” has just emerged at the Annecy International Film Festival and Market in France: “The Spider Within,” a new short film that is unlike anything we’ve experienced in the Spider-Verse yet.The Sony-produced film focuses on what happens when Miles Morales (once again played by Shameik Moore) starts to feel the pressure of his life as Spider-Man, which results in a scary, trippy little jaunt through his subconscious.

It’s a really fascinating and moving little story, made possible by Sony Pictures Imageworks’ LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers) program, which aims to “provide high-potential candidates from underrepresented groups an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience.”TheWrap spoke to “The Spider Within” director Jarelle Dampier, who talked about where the idea of a horror-centered Miles Morales story came from, how his own sleep paralysis informed the short and being a part of the LENS program at Sony Pictures, which gives filmmakers from underrepresented groups the chance to tell new stories in the world of Sony Pictures Animation. “It’s a dream.

I’ve never been to Annecy and I didn’t think that my first trip would be to present something that I directed. So I’m very grateful, a little nervous.