Hollywood relies on Bruce Willis to save the world in Armageddon, but who are the real-life heroes seeking to save our civilization from the next major asteroid impact?

Disaster Playground investigates future outer space catastrophes and the procedures in place to manage, assess, and minimize the risks. The film follows scientists leading the monitoring and deflection of hazardous Near-Earth Objects and the real-life procedures in place in the event of an asteroid collision with Earth. Follow the chain of command that runs from NASA and the SETI Institute to the White House and United Nations, meeting the people who are responsible for protecting us from a potentially devastating asteroid impact.

Disaster Playground will premiere on Friday, March 13 at SXSW (more details and additional showtimes here). The film was selected for the Feature Documentary – Vision Category, which promotes audacious filmmakers and risk-taking artists who demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.

Director Nelly Ben Hayoun, dubbed the “Willy Wonka of Design and Science,” is an award-winning director and designer of experiences. A critical explorer, and a fearless and passionate provocateur, Ben Hayoun was nominated by Icon Magazine as one of the 50 international designers “shaping the future.”

She is the Designer of Experiences at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Head of Experiences at We Transfer, and a member of the Space Outreach and Education committee at the International Astronautical Federation.

Ben Hayoun previously collaborated with Beck, Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, Maywa Denki, Bruce Sterling and Penguin Café in a musical collaboration that took music into space. Blasted in space from a Japanese launch pad in August 2013, she assembled and directed the International Space Orchestra (ISO) – the world’s first orchestra of space scientists from NASA. This was Ben Hayoun’s first feature documentary starring real-life astronauts.

In her spare time, Ben Hayoun is training to be an astronaut.

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Hi Nelly. Thank you so much for talking with us today. First of all, why did you make Disaster Playground?

I got frustrated with films like Armageddon and Deep Impact, where the only answer to deal with a Near-Earth Object is to feature Bruce Willis with a big drill.

What really pushed me to do the project was an intense curiosity to meet all of the people involved in the decision-making process if an asteroid was discovered to be dangerous. The project touches on all of the previous history of Near-Earth Objects, with the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the Tunguska event and the effect of the Chelyabinsk meteor, but goes into the recent development of the NEO program at NASA and how it came to be. In 1993, Dr. David Morrison gave his initial testimony to Congress to appeal for the creation of the NEO program to better monitor the skies as the threat was real.

I found all of the geopolitics behind the NEO program and people like Rusty Schweickart and the B612 Foundation really fascinating. I really wanted to meet them, and have the public meet them and understand what their role is in the chain of command. There are components that are still being developed with the United Nations.

It’s an Armageddon movie but played by the real people involved.

To me, what makes the film interesting is that it shows the current state of asteroid preparedness and what are our plans for the future. We describe how can we build from what has happened before with events like Chelyabinsk and Tunguska.

I’m the Designer of Experiences at the SETI institute, where we try to define whether we are alone in the universe and where we also do a lot of Astrobiology work (the study of life on other planets). I’m part of the Space Education and Outreach Committee at the International Astronautical Federation. For me, Disaster Playground is linked back to my other projects as well. I’m trying to find extreme ways to engage the public with the craft and the human condition behind space exploration. And when I say space exploration, I don’t just mean things like the Apollo program or SpaceX, I also mean space objects debris.

I’m looking at ways to engage the public with what the scientists are doing, getting the human component back into the picture, and making it more digestible for the public. I’m not just going to show numbers of success, I’m going to show the vulnerability of the mission or the difficulties to come up with the correct decision. Disaster Playground is trying to get you, the member of the public, in the scientists’ and policy makers’ shoes. What would YOU do if you were Astronaut Rusty Schweickart and in 2020, you were on the launch pad and you had to come up with an accelerated way to build a gravity tractor because we just found out that a dangerous asteroid was headed towards Earth? It’s not that easy. It’s not just about the data. It’s also what scientists think about the data, and whether or not to pass it on up the chain of command. It is a real responsibility.

What were some of the challenges in explaining the real-life risks from space for Disaster Playground?

I thought there was an actual procedure that was written [for dealing with an incoming asteroid]. I just assumed that. But in starting the project, we realized that it is much more complex than that. Yes, there is a procedure that runs from a monitoring device to any telescope in the world.

A scientist finds out that an asteroid is coming to Earth (or it can be an amateur astronomer – amateurs have a big role to play in NEO detection), and then the information goes to the Minor Planet Center (MPC). At the MPC, the information is processed, and here’s something to consider: there are only a few people working for MPC. They are a small team. They’ve got supercomputers running, but what happens if there is a blackout? There are a lot of potential issues with the procedure which we uncovered doing the film. If there is an emergency, then the call goes to a mobile phone. But what happens if no one is there to pick up the mobile phone?

It also includes the United Nations (U.N.). Rusty and the Association of Space Explorers have been spending a lot of time to get to the core of the issue, to make the U.N. understand that there was a need for a global response and that there should be a special committee to look at the question. They put this proposal together and the text finally got accepted (http://www.space-explorers.org/ATACGR.pdf). Rusty told me that the process from writing the proposal to presenting it at the U.N. took about eight years. And only now are we starting to put it in place.

But if an asteroid was to strike tomorrow, unfortunately we’re not quite ready yet.

On a positive note, I want people to realize that there are procedures in place, but that there needs to be more attention on funding the NEO program. Asteroids are getting more attention because of the mining projects or the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). But it needs to be a worldwide effort. It can’t just be NASA—it needs to be global. We need more monitoring devices in place to look at the sky and make sure there is a structure to take in all the data, because there is so much data being produced. One of the issues in making the film was to try to make this process more visible.

What makes Disaster Playground different than other sci-fi films that address the issue of Near-Earth Asteroids?

Well, it’s not a science fiction movie at all. If you watch the trailer (www.disasterplayground.com), you will see a scene that looks like it is from Armageddon but you will find out that we are reenacting scenes inside Disaster City, which is actually a real training center for disaster and rescue management teams based in College Station, Texas.

All of the people we see in the film are the real people involved. The real scientists, the real press office training, the real story on how this NEO program came together, and the real people from the UN. Basically it is the real people playing their own roles. I’m coming in, playing the role of a French-Hollywood director who has seen Armageddon, who has seen Deep Impact, and believes that they should behave like Bruce Willis. The scientists are saying, “Well, no, I don’t do my job like this.”

I’m trying to get the scientists to reclaim their own role: I am not Bruce Willis, I’m not running in corridors. I’m processing, I’m thinking, and I’m taking my decisions up the chain of command.

That’s when the film becomes interesting.

You worked with a variety of noted astronauts and scientists to make this film. Did you find consensus amongst such a wide range of experts in how to deal with the asteroid threat?

Obviously there are geopolitics in terms of who fits inside the chain of command and who has a role to play. Rusty, for example, used to be a NASA astronaut, but now is retired so is in the position of having worked for the US government but can now pursue this mission to create awareness through the B612 Foundation. This gives him a certain freedom to say what he thinks.

We wanted to create a balance by trying to get people from both inside and outside the agency, and from amateurs as well—people who are actually watching the skies, getting a broad range of expertise so consensus is not seen from one’s perspective. So it’s not just NASA or the government’s perspective, or just SETI or B612’s view. There are a broad range of views in Disaster Playground to make this film as fair as possible.

What was it like working with Rusty Schweickart? 

Rusty really shines in the sense that when we were doing the interview, we happened to be recording him inside Caltech’s Natural History Department, where they teach about dinosaurs and evolution, and they kicked us out! We were trying to find a Plan B for where to hold the interview, and this is where you realize that Rusty is an Apollo 9 astronaut. He is used to changes of plans and he adapts very fast and comes up with plans at the speed of light. AND…he still manages to look so relaxed about it!

I was really touched by the humanity of the man, his courage and the mission he sets for himself. He knows how to talk to the public and he knows how to engage the audience. We asked Rusty to reenact his presentation to the U.N., and I can tell you that the entire crew and myself were blown away. You could feel that he was back there, and we felt like we were there too.

He’s got this aura, this passion about him that he can transmit to the screen and to the audience. I am impressed by how bold the B612 Foundation is to fundraise for a long-term goal, getting people aware of the issue. Getting all of the astronauts on board, it’s so much work!

It’s incredible to see that Rusty, at 79 years of age, is up and running all over the world to talk about the issue. I want to be like Rusty.

How has your view of our planet changed since making this film?

I come from the SETI Institute, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and we tend to really think about our planet being one tiny tiny component of a huge, large-scale universe.  With world-renowned scientists like Frank Drake, Jill Tarter, Nathalie Cabrol, Franck Marchis, Seth Shostak, we are quite well-known for trying to figure out if we are alone in the universe. We have long-term goals too. Looking for intelligent life is not an easy task.

Asteroids—and not to sound blasé about the subject—are a very interesting component in the geopolitical element that comes with what do we do and what the procedure in place might be. I was already mentally prepared from the SETI search to some extent.

Asteroids are a threat and we need to address this threat. We need to look for ways to mitigate them, put a procedure in place and make sure it works (that means performing that procedure regularly, practicing it). Just like we also need to put a process in place if we find ET’s signal and what we should do if that happens. I also wanted to mention my friend Michael Madsen who is releasing a film called The Visit, which was shown at Sundance and will be seen at SXSW, and is about what would happen if ET was found.

So let’s say that my view of the planet didn’t really change. We are a small, small part of the universe but if we want to stay longer, we might as well look at mitigating the risk, that Near-Earth Object risk.

Congratulations on your screening at SXSW. When will the general public get to see Disaster Playground?

We are expecting to release it on World Asteroid Day on June 30, 2015, but all the updates will be on our website (www.disasterplayground.com), so make sure to visit our site and sign up for our newsletter! Remember, it’s not just the film—there is an exhibition and there will be a book. There are many different ways to engage with the content.

Disaster Playground is a platform for debate and discussion, of which the feature film is one part. The film is the key part that inspires other events. You might be able to catch a debate around the film. You might be able to catch an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London or elsewhere! Keep looking up for news on our website.

Last question: Star Wars or Star Trek?

Definitely Star Wars. For the International Space Orchestra (the orchestra I assembled in NASA Ames Research Center in 2012), we got invited to record  in George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. We did a feature film about the project called the International Space Orchestra.

At Skywalker, it was very moving when the NASA crew met with the Star Wars crew. Science Fiction meets science facts. So in a way for me, there is an attachment to Star Wars. And nowadays the International Space Orchestra’s recording of their first 20-minute operatic performance is orbiting the earth! http://nellyben.com/projects/the-international-space-orchestra/  Star Wars 600%!

Thank you so much for your time, Nelly. It’s been such a pleasure speaking with you.

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You can learn more about Disaster Playground and Nelly’s other work by going to the links below. We hope you have a chance to see Disaster Playground and we will keep you updated on additional opportunities to see the film.

Twitter: @NellyBenHayoun

Website: www.disasterplayground.com, www.nellyben.com, www.seti.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NellyBenHayounStudio