Escape From Tomorrow: First Clip From The Film Shot Inside Disney World Without Approval

[Brendon Connelly]

Debutant director Randy Moore is at Sundance to premiereEscape From Tomorrow, a film thathas instantly drawn comparisons to the work of David Lynch - though that comparison happens a lot, to be fair.

Much ofEscape was shot inside Florida's Walt Disney World without approval or even, I would guess, the park's knowledge. This doesn't mean the film is shaky, handicam stuff, shot off the cuff as though tourist footage - it looks to be a well mounted picture with rather classical cinematography and mise en scene.

I'm sure Moore is facing questions at every corner about how he managed to pull off this production but I hope somebody will also ask himwhy he did this. One doesn't just go to these lengths casually.

Here's a blurb for the film and then the first clip as posted to Youtube.

In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v01I8sIVz_g[/youtube]

Okay, there's nothing there that confirms me this footage was shot on site at Disney World, but The LA Times have seen the film and say:

There is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain, Tiki Room and teacups, princesses and a Main Street parade. At one point, Epcot Center blows up.

And that's not the half of it. Just go Googling and you'll find all kinds of spoilers for the film, and most of them would drive Disney's lawyers absolutely insane.

Releasing the film commercially is going to be, at the very least, incredibly difficult. Disney could squash this in a heartbeat, and you might expect they will.

But having only seen that minute up above, I'm left very curious about this film. And I'm sure this would find an audience.

Incidentally, writer-director-star Damon Packard pulled off a similar security-dodging feat for his underground pictureReflections of Evil, just a few years ago. That film has some crucial scenes very clearly shot inside Universal's theme park.

You can screenReflections of Evil for free online, but it was also released to DVD.I do hope a wide release awaits forEscape From Tomorrow too, but... well, let's not be too naive. It's a time for crossing fingers not holding breath.

UPDATE: And here's a clip of Moore talking about the film, with some post production footage and tiny excerpts from the film.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvj7m47C__E[/youtube]

[Birmy]

No idea what this film is about, but the fact that the blurb specifically calls them out as "underage" girls suggests this gets very dark. The guerilla angle is a nice gimmick but I wonder if its value is limited if it bars the movie from a commercial release. Interesting stuff.

[Amergin]

Roman Polanski approves.