Man Shoots Secret Movie At Disney Parks, Gets It Into Sundance

After screening his film Escape From Tomorrow to an enthusiastic crowd at Sundance, director Randall Moore sat down to answer questions about how he shot a movie at the Disney parks without the company knowing.

In his film, Moore turns the both Disneyland and Disney World into dystopian backdrops for his lead character’s descent into madness.

CNN was at the question and answer after the film was over and learned some interesting details about the production.

Moore says it took planning to avoid Disney security:

“We were careful and cautious and tried not to draw too much attention to ourselves. But planning was the main thing.”

He then describes the filming process:

“It was scary. … It was exciting and fun.”

Before the screening began, attendees were given press materials for the film. Included was a “director’s statement” where Moore describes where the film came from:

“Heavily influenced by various strange outings I endured as a boy with my father — who at the time lived in Orlando, Florida — ‘Escape From Tomorrow’ is my personal attempt to make sense of what felt like a very artificial childhood, brought on by our cultural obsession with these fake, manufactured worlds of so-called fantasy.”

And to answer everyone’s dying question, Moore reveals exactly how he filmed Escape From Tomorrow without detection:

“SLR’s had just hit the market at that point. So we had the Canon 5D Mark II we could bring into the park and look like a tourist. We almost got caught once. … We were shooting in the entrance of the park and we had to do a few takes and basically they thought our team was just paparazzi and we were shooting a famous family.”

Disney is aware of the film’s existence but has not released a statement regarding their stance. They could easily sue Moore and make sure the film is never released. Of course, Moore knew the risks when he decided to make the film.

Maybe Disney will be too busy with Star Wars: Episode VII to pay enough attention to Moore to stop him.

Do you hope to see Escape From Tomorrow someday? Do you think it will ever get released?

[image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]