Spider-Verse: “Scary” Miles Morales short film is inspired by sleep paralysis

❘ Published: 2023-06-12T17:14:32

A close up of Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Sony Pictures

The Spider-Verse just got a little bigger as a new short film centering around Miles Morales’ worst fears is set to be released.

The world of the Spider-Verse has never shied away from being extremely vast, as there have been hundreds of Spider-people shown across the first two films ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ and ‘Across the Spider-Verse.’

However, while the world in the Spider-Verse is big and grand, the story itself has always centered around Miles Morales, a teenager living in NYC (voiced by Shameik Moore).

The Spider-Verse trilogy has showcased Miles at his best and worst as he grows into the role of Spider-Man in his own terms. And now, it seems like Sony Pictures has allowed a small creative team to dive deeper into Miles’ psyche, as a new short Spider-Verse centric film showcases how being Spider-Man has been effecting him mentally.

Spider-Verse short films showcases Miles’ anxiety

During the Annecy International Film Festival, the creative and heartbreaking Spider-Verse short film, The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, was screened. It centers around Miles’ ever growing anxiety as he tries to balance his normal life and being Spider-Man. The film is a more horror-focused take on the Spider-Verse as it explores the darker side of Miles’ mental health.

According to Deadline, who was attended the film screening, the short features Miles’ “fears [that] are manifested by a dark figure representing his alter ego, as well as an imaginary infestation of spiders in his bedroom. [But], it ends on a lighter note, as [Miles] turns to his father Jefferson ‘Jeff’ Morales, with the short also tapping into importance of strong father and son relationships.”

Miles Morales sits in his bedroom in the short film The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story

The Wrap spoke to the film’s director, Jarelle Dampier, who explained that this short idea came about due to his own struggles with anxiety and sleep paralysis, stating: “I learned that sleep paralysis and things like that are all tied to this kind of overactive mental state and not being able to control that snowball that happens. When I was asked to direct at Sony, I accepted almost immediately, but that night I had the biggest panic attack I’ve ever had in my life and I spent the night in the hospital.”

“But that kind of led to the birth of this idea,” he continued. “When we talked about what’s something that you feel like could be relevant to the story of Miles, and I think one of the things I didn’t want to do was inject a problem into a character without him really dealing with that. 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.”

The short came to life thanks to Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ joint mentorship program Leading and Empowering New Storytellers, or LENS, which is aimed at developing talents from under-represented groups.

Dampier explained that it’s a “dishonorable idea that [he] was hired for something other than [his] skill level,” but that LENS “didn’t make [him] feel that way at all” as he was brought in as a “filmmaker with taste and taste that they valued.”

While there is no official timeline for when The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story will be widely released, Dampier is “excited about the possibilities” of general audiences seeing his work.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in cinemas now. Check out our other coverage below: