Interview: Director Adam Robitel (Escape Room)

Hi Adam, How are you doing?

Adam- I’m well thanks.

Okay, so the trailer alone for “Escape Room” gave me some anxiety.

Adam- Oh sorry.

No, no, no that is actually good. It looks so good. Why did you decide to direct the film?

Adam- I really thought this movie could fun. Like a rollercoaster ride and coming from the “Insidious” movies and doing a supernatural movies. I just thought James Wan is just crushing that field. I thought it would be really fun to do something different.  Escape rooms are so popular and they are in the infant state and blowing up all over the world. I quickly went out and researched a bunch of escape rooms. The good ones are really visual and different. I thought how cool that each room could be its own little movie in a way. Here it’s like wow, we could have an oven room and then go into Narnia and then we would have an old 1950’s billiard hall with nicotine stains on the walls and so it was just a beautiful ordinate library and the aesthetic alone was really exciting. And if we could make the characters in the movie puzzles as well. If the movie is about puzzles the characters should be puzzles as well. The challenges were something I actually embraced.

Now, what was it like for the cast? The oven room is freaking me out and those walls that close. How did you handle directing the cast and how did they feel about this?

Adam- It was really hard. I am not going to lie. That library scene were the walls are crushing. We did all of that practically. In a bigger movie you would have had all CGI furniture and stuff but we didn’t have that luxury. We literally built a wall and the wall would move one foot at a time. It was dangerous and sketchy but they were all troopers. It was logistically challenging. Naturally in the lobby they were not exposed to real fire but the claustrophobia of the vents and the ice room was really challenging. It was challenging and a very tough movie logistically to plan and figure out. The billiard room everybody is climbing and as soon as you have an actor climbing two or three feet off the floor they have to be in safety harnesses and that means the safety lines have to go up through the ceilings and then all the way to the scaffolding structures. It was a challenging but they all had fun and made it their own.

I honestly think it looks so crazy good. What do you want to say to everyone that will be watching “Escape Room?”

Adam- I would say it is meant to be a fun kind of Friday night popcorn type of movie. Hopefully the audience relates to one of the characters if not all of them. I would say it’s a popcorn movie. You are supposed to have a good time.

It does kind of seem crazy though. Do you think people have an attraction to doing things they are not supposed to do or the puzzle aspect or solving these escape room challenges? An adrenaline rush maybe? What do you think?

Adam- I think it’s a great question and we are all kind of bored as a culture. Ten thousand years ago you and I would have starved if we didn’t go out and find our food and forage, hunt. Now we are modern humans and everything is sort of done for us. You go to an escape room with your friends, you get locked in and they are surprisingly stressful and inheritably we want to solve puzzles. It is part of our brain and our wiring. If you look at early humans, thunder equals lightning. We are hard-wired to want to look for patterns. There is a pleasure center that it hits.

I agree with that. It heightens the senses, keeps you alert.

Adam- Yes and it’s a great team building exercise.

Will there be a sequel?

Adam- No we are back to work on a sequel. Our art department is already starting to get into the design of the rooms. Yes, we are in process right now.

That is awesome. I am so stoked and excited.

Adam- Oh, thank you.

Thank you so much Adam. It was such an honor to speak with you. I love your films. You are just great.

Adam- Oh thank you. It was great speaking with you.

Thank you.

ESCAPE ROOM directed by Adam Robitel is out now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD.

ESCAPE ROOM is available on Blu-ray and DVD!