Into the Sky directors share decade-long road

At Fantastic Fest 2026 in Austin, No Film School founder Ryan Koo sat down with co-directors Drew Mylrea and Evan Buxbaum to trace the origins and production of Into the Sky, their alien-abduction sci-fi comedy. The two filmmakers described a working relationship that began in an unlikely setting: a cramped shower on the set of a soap commercial, where hours of shooting together laid the groundwork for an eventual creative partnership.\n\nThe path to the finished film stretched across roughly a decade. Evan initially turned down the concept that Drew kept returning to, and it was only after both filmmakers had grown considerably as writers that they revisited the material and committed to developing it together. Positive evaluations from the Black List gave them the psychological confidence to push forward, and they spent approximately two years rewriting the script and pulling together financing.\n\nCasting proved to be a significant turning point. Working with casting director Kate Geller, the team attached Sam Richardson to the project, which helped generate momentum. Richardson's busy schedule, however, created a narrow production window that shaped much of their planning and added pressure throughout the shoot.\n\nThe directors also described walking away from a convenient but creatively limiting production arrangement that would have confined most of the film to a single estate. Instead they rebuilt their location strategy around the town of Catskill, New York, ultimately completing the film across 25 shooting days with dozens of locations and hundreds of visual effects shots.\n\nTo manage that ambition, Mylrea and Buxbaum turned to practical pre-visualization methods including LiDAR scans and LEGO figures to map out scenes before cameras rolled. They also tested unfinished cuts with audiences and worked to divide directorial responsibilities clearly between themselves, aiming throughout to make an independent production feel on screen like something far larger.