Update: Escape From Tomorrow

GrumpyFan

GrumpyFan

Well-Known Member
RandomPrincess said:
Just saw the trailer. http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/escape-from-tomorrow/trailer

So is this a horror film?
Click to expand...

It's a new trailer that seems to try and wash over the fact that the dad starts obsessing over two teenage girls.
It seems a lot more edgy than anything before. They're really pushing their luck on it as if to try and get a rise out of Disney.
I'm seeing a bit more media on it now too. Disney may be forced into a legal position on it just to try and prevent future such rogue projects. Although, I still think they're best move is none for now.
 
darthspielberg

darthspielberg

Well-Known Member
Disney's legal grounds aren't all that great either. I mean, they could throw more money at it than Randy Moore, the director, of course, but it's all pretty well covered under Fair Use, and things like Spaceship Earth and the Castle are actually not something Disney can sue over, since there is no copyright on those structures (couldn't copyright architecture before)

The filmmaker was also careful to never name the park or any of the characters (even Walt becomes "W") and they cut out any in-park music, since that is copywritten in most cases.

As for the plot of the dad obsessing over the girls, while I don't support that kind of action, the film does not portray it in a good light at all, I'm told. He is a man going insane, and he is doing horrible things, and the film portrays them as horrible, rather than glorifying them.

As a film student, I am extremly interested in the techincal aspect, and the trailer has me excited. I think it looks like David Lynch decided to make a movie out of a summer vacation.
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
The L.A. Times had an article earlier this year that addressed not only how the director filmed it but how he felt and why he did it:

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/ja...nce-2013-escape-from-tomorrow-disney-20130120
Sundance 2013: What's it like to secretly film at Disney World?
January 20, 2013|By Steven Zeitchik and Julie Makinen
PARK CITY, Utah -- "Escape from Tomorrow," filmed on the sly at Disney theme parks, is the talk of the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. But what was it like to make a movie over 25 days at Disney World, Epcot and Disneyland without park employees, or tourists, knowing?
In the video above, lead actor Roy Abramsohn and director Randy Moore explain the bizarre and thrilling experience of filming on Disney property without permission. In the black-and-white film, Abramsohn plays a down-on-his-luck father touring the park with his wife and children.
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"As an actor, once you get over the fact that you didn't get caught that first day, no one threw you into 'Mickey Mouse jail,' then you're really just playing the scene," Abramsohn said. "It's almost easier, because you're not waiting for lighting setups" and other typical preparation between takes.

Abramsohn described the experience as "almost more exciting" than a normal production because there was "always the thrill of getting caught."
"It's the constant thrill, like an illicit affair," he said. "You're never bored."
Still, at various points during the shoot, the cast and crew were faced with the difficult task of playing the scene while not attracting too much attention from park staff and visitors. Abramsohn recalled one particularly challenging day when they filmed at the Germany section of Epcot in Orlando.
"There was a scene where I'm getting drunker and drunker and more belligerent," Abramsohn said. "The waitress didn't know [what we were doing], and I would have my arm around the waitress and saying 'Deutschland uberalis!' and I was trying not to say Nazi stuff so I wouldn't get thrown out.... That was a little touchy."
"There was a few moments where I was just crossing the edge, [where a person might say] 'What are you doing?'" he added. "She didn't know it was a movie. The cameramen were just at the other table, filming very quietly."

Moore said he decided to make the movie in black and white because he "didn't want it to be home movieish, didn't want it to have a found footage feel."
Without color, he said, audiences see "almost an alternate Disney World."
"Fantastic things were popping out of the woodwork, things you normally don't notice," he said.
Moore said "Escape" is an exploration of a childhood that was influenced by "a great deal of time spent with my father at these places, particularly Disney World.... I was trying to explore the relationship I had with the park and my father as a child."
Abramsohn said it was interesting to explore the question of "how do you live in a place that's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, but you're miserable and longing? There's a real sadness, longing and wanting in this movie."
It's unclear if Disney will have legal objections to the movie that might prevent it from being shown beyond the festival, in movie theaters nationwide or on DVD or video-on-demand. So far, no distributor has picked up the film.
Moore said he was hopeful Disney executives "would just see it as a creative exploration of someone who does have a nostalgia for the park."
"I'm not trying to shut Disney down or hurt them," he added. "This was the story, and that was the only place I could tell it."
Click to expand...

It looks like he's mostly playing out the downside of childhood with only a "Disneyland Dad", especially where the article says that, "Abramsohn said it was interesting to explore the question of 'how do you live in a place that's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, but you're miserable and longing? There's a real sadness, longing and wanting in this movie.'" See also the end of the article.

Of course there is a reason that our culture has adopted the phrase "Disneyland Dad" for some folks. Because in some cases, that is all that they are. (Be careful to understand: I am not referring to Dads who happen to take their kids to WDW, but the ones who only do that to try and buy affection that they otherwise do not give, even over the phone. A Disney vacation or other special event, within a relationship where the child knows he/she is loved and supported at other times, even apart, is usually a nice thing.)

As much as I love WDW, I know that some people treat it like some weddings: great amounts of money and attention spent on the wedding with no time and effort put into the marriage. I can see how, for some people, WDW and other things could leave a bad taste in their mouth if the parents try only "buy" their love but otherwise are empty. It's not Disney's fault, but it happens. And a place like Disney World could make fake love and affection feel even more empty and paid-for.

If that is the story he is telling, I can understand it.
 
GrumpyFan

GrumpyFan

Well-Known Member
Press is growing on this. And, with the gutsy new trailer that clearly and blatantly taunts Disney by specifying at the beginning of it with "THE FOLLOWING MOTION PICTURE HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED FOR ALL AUDIENCES BY THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY". Plus their use of the "magical" sytle of fonts and ferry dust, showing various characters and iconic attractions, just makes it all the more inflammatory, like they're actually trying to get Disney's lawyers to make a stink about it, thus giving them free publicity.

Here's the thing though. If Disney does anything to try and stop this, it will give the film more (free) publicity, but if they don't do anything about it, then it kind of sets a precedence where other hack filmmakers might try and pull the same stunt! Not good either way. Perhaps Disney should just let it ride for now, then once it has aired in theaters and on demand, and they have actually profited from it, then sue the pants off them for copyright/trademark infringement and unauthorized use of images, or whatever they can stick them with.
 
darthspielberg

darthspielberg

Well-Known Member
GrumpyFan said:
Press is growing on this. And, with the gutsy new trailer that clearly and blatantly taunts Disney by specifying at the beginning of it with "THE FOLLOWING MOTION PICTURE HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED FOR ALL AUDIENCES BY THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY". Plus their use of the "magical" sytle of fonts and ferry dust, showing various characters and iconic attractions, just makes it all the more inflammatory, like they're actually trying to get Disney's lawyers to make a stink about it, thus giving them free publicity.

Here's the thing though. If Disney does anything to try and stop this, it will give the film more (free) publicity, but if they don't do anything about it, then it kind of sets a precedence where other hack filmmakers might try and pull the same stunt! Not good either way. Perhaps Disney should just let it ride for now, then once it has aired in theaters and on demand, and they have actually profited from it, then sue the pants off them for copyright/trademark infringement and unauthorized use of images, or whatever they can stick them with.
Click to expand...

Not going to happen. Disney has washed their hands of this weirdness (They've even added it to their encylopedia on the D23 Members site, so in a way they are saying "We know. We simply don't care.)

And if I made a movie set in Disney world, you bet your bottom I'd use fonts that look like Disney fonts. I disliked the waltograph font on the poster, but the Magic Kingdom style font in the trailer was wonderful and made me smile.
 
blm07

blm07

Active Member
Like, oh my god! They shot a bunch of video in the parks. Of rides and shows. Like nobody else does. It's kinda like watching a youtube video, except that it's about underage girls! How exciting.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Sped2424 said:
It seems disney is planning to not go the whole Streisand effect route and just let this film die quietly
Click to expand...

Probably the best strategy, unless they fear this will open the floodgates to to a whole spate of would-be stealth filmmakers.
Like these folks.
Even if that were the case, I can't imagine Disney wanting to police what looks like normal guest behavior.
 

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