We are Randy Moore (director) and Annet Mahendru (actress) from ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW - AUA

I am fascinated by the making of this movie. Was there any moments during filming that park security/staff were on to you? What was the scariest part of filming?

There was a moment when they thought our cameramen were paparazzi and pulled the family aside and asked them if they were celebrities. But that was the closest we ever got to being discovered or raising the flag.

Knowing every day could be our last, the stress of letting everyone down if we did not finish the film was enormous. I was 215 pounds when we started, and I was 168 pounds at the end. I had to keep our energy up for everyone.

Will Snake Plissken be starring in this film?

Sadly, he will not be making an appearance in our film. Maybe in the sequel.

I can't wait to see it. Congratulations on pulling this off. I personally feel like this type of film is a game changer.

Question: after you finished the film, what process (if any) was needed to clear the rights with Disney?

We've never heard or spoken to Disney directly, but after the film premiered at Sundance, it was thoroughly vetted by our legal counsel.

Thanks so much for the reply! Congrats again. Take care.

We hope you check out the film!

...I actually have a better question. What would your reaction be if some higher-up at Disney saw the film, saw the potential of what you've made, and hired you and everyone else who worked on the film to make another film for them?

I would not be opposed to that.

Annet says: Me neither!

Randy, what was the casting process like for you? Were a lot of actors scared off by the idea that Disney could rear its head?

Annet, what did you think of the script when you first read it?

I was very worried when I found an actor or actress that I liked that they would turn down the role when I told them how we were going to make the movie. But 99% of the time people were cool with it.

Annet says: I thought it was a fantastic fantasy. It was dark and super fun and I thought he was on to something great, and I was right! I AM ALWAYS RIGHT!

What was the hardest thing about shooting at disney?

Annet says for me singing songs in French in public.

Just knowing that any day could be our last day shooting in the park. And not getting discovered. We just had regular photo gear, it was not like we were smuggling anything into the park.

Annet: People were distracted by the French girls.

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No, it would have been way too stressful to have a behind the scenes crew following us while we were in the park shooting.

I hope so! We are working on international sales right now.

last question, i swear: what is your dream for the movie?

It's already come true, just with it getting made.

Was there a particular film that influenced you on this film? What are your favorite films and directors?

The director of photography and I went to Orlando to start scouting, we both brought along a copy of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, and we gave it to each other to watch, simultaneously. He had just read the script the night before for the first time and it somehow made him think of that movie, and I gave it to him also because that was the tone I was thinking about.

I like Kurosawa, Kubrick, Gus Van Sant. I have a huge array of favorite films. I like everything Kubrick's done. I love Terrence Malick films. P.T. Anderson is a big influence.

what was your favorite ride at disney? how did the camera crews shoot on the rides? was it solitary men riding around the rides while families were all around?

Mine is Spaceship Earth which is the ride inside the geodesic sphere at Epcot. Annet's favorite is It's A Small World.

The cameramen rode on rides up to a dozen times, over and over again, getting multiple angles. Yes, that was essentially what happened.

I read that you filmed in both Disneyland in California and Disneyworld in Orlando, and just wondering why you didn't use just one. I haven't seen the film yet, but I am really excited to, especially since I grew up in Florida and spent a lot of time at the Disney parks with my family.

Florida was the park I was most familiar with. Growing up as a child, that's where I used to go. But our crew's from LA, so we tried to shoot as much in Anaheim as we could except for the scenes that we couldn't double for in California like the scenes in Epcot and Cinderella's Castle in Orlando. Anaheim has Sleeping Beauty's castle which is small and kind of sad.

Question for Randy & Annet:

Did you encounter any real-life versions of the characters while you were shooting?

Annet says: We were two girls running around asking for attention and we got a lot of attention. From "family men."

You could see every single father's head was turning as they went by. It was actually kind of depressing for humanity.

We saw people that eclipsed the man on the scooter that we had hired. They were even more gregarious, outrageous, bigger in every way. There were kids having tantrums everywhere, mothers screaming at their kids, you see the whole range of human emotions.

It was a zoo.

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I think we have reached a point with technology where you can just go out with a DSLR camera and just a laptop and make a film that is on par with some of the best Hollywood movies out there.

I wrote this on a yellow legal pad of paper. When I try to work on a computer I get too distracted so I wrote a first draft in long hand and then when it was done, I would tell you to keep working on it and give it to everyone to read and look at so that you can get their feedback.

If you're writing your own material, I would read as many scripts as you possibly can. I started off as a story editor, so I was reading 12-15 scripts a week and writing coverage on those scripts, so I think that is the best way to learn, to keep reading scripts.

When reading about your film the past few weeks I feel the conversation always goes to how the movie was made and it's potential to agitate Disney.

How do you feel about the narrative of the film and how it will resonate with audiences?

I hope that people will look past the process of how we made the film and find a very personal story that they will relate to.

Thanks for being adventurous and making a cool project! Question about the director/actor relationship: Did you have lots of rehearsals before going into the park? How did you develop a rapport when you were under the strain of potentially being caught? Cheers!

We had a few read-throughs in LA before we flew to Orlando and then we would rehearse, usually in my hotel room, every morning and block the scenes before we would actually go into the park and shoot it.

The movie was really intense. Why was the protagonist structured in the way he was? He seemed to be going through a lot, but he was not likeable.

Randy here: he had a lot of stuff to deal with.

Do you see yourself making more films? Do you think Disney will just bury this forever or seek some type of revenge in a couple years when the hype for the film dies down? Cant wait to watch!

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I can only speculate and hope for the best. I do see myself making more films, absolutely. Making this first one was a trial by fire so the next film I make won't be a guerilla film so I have more freedom working with the actors and developing the scenes more.

What was the best part about making this movie?

Annet says everything!

I would say for me it was getting through our park shooting schedule without incident.

How many actors did you audition for the role of Jim before finding Roy?

We found Roy on the first day and couldn't believe our luck, so we kept casting for another month just to be sure that he was the right one and there never was anyone who even came CLOSE.

Annet says that we even cast on both coasts as well.

Your fave disney memories?

I really liked going to Epcot as a child. There was a ride there called Horizons which is no longer there that I thought was great. There was also another ride in the Magic Kingdom called If you had wings that was sponsored by Eastern Airlines that for some reason I really liked, it was one of my favorite rides.

We are doing a Disney mashup memories contest, you should enter it, it's open until October 24: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1453228201570041&set=a.1427419130817615.1073741827.1413408608885334&type=1

Annet says: Taking a picture with my mom in front of the castle holding up a yellow mug with Mickey Mouse on it.

A horror film about Disney? What inspired you to make this film?

Going there with my own kids when I became an adult and my wife (who had never been there before) seeing the park through my wife's eyes. She was a nurse and she described it as "Worse than working the psych floor at the hospital." It's hot, it's humid, it's sensory overload, you are trying to give your kids the best day ever and it's never enough. There is a lot of pressure to go on all of the rides, to do EVERYTHING. You have to form a war plan and if anyone deviates from the plan, it's domestic anarchy.

Annet: It's like New York City but with a lot of children.

Can you discuss your decision to edit the movie in Asia?

It was partly edited in Asia, but we did all of our post production there because our editor was from South Korea and got us a good deal.

Just out of curiosity how did you get funding for this movie?

Friends and family and other people who felt sorry for me. Your basic indie financing arrangement. No Kickstarter. We started in 2010 and I don't think I'd even heard of Kickstarter in 2010.

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No, we had a good idea of what was feasible before we ever brought actors into the park, so we had a shot list when we went in and actually got every shot on the list.

Let's say Donald Duck.