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disney-tomorrowland

I got a chance to check out an early screening of Disney’s Tomorrowland a few weeks back and I have to say, I loved it. It reminded me what it felt like to see The Last Starfighter as a kid. I’m sure you’ve read the critiques and our Witney Seibold‘s review. Let me put in my two cents. It’s been a long time since I saw a film that made me grin like this. I know there were plot issues, but honestly, it didn’t matter to me at all. There is something to be said for a sense of wonder on the big screen. It’s rare these days.

I also got to check out the press conference with Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Raffey Cassidy, director Brad Bird and writers Damon Lindeloff and Jeff Jensen. Check out what they had to say about the film, it’s message and what Walt Disney talked about in his last days.

Tomorrowland opens today.

Question: Britt and Raffey, the dynamics between the two of you in the film are definitely not what you’d expect. The person who looks younger might not be. How would you two describe the relationship between the two characters?

Britt Robertson: Well, I think Raffey played Mom a lot, especially with George and I, you know? She was constantly just trying to keep us focused and funny enough, that’s how she is in life too. I mean, not intentionally, but she’s so professional and so focused herself, you know. I oftentimes would look over and be like, “Yeah, okay, right, this is what we’re doing. This is what we’re doing.” But we had such fun together and we had such a great time. We spent a lot of time together, just between stunt training and then obviously filming the movie. So I think our dynamic off-screen probably helped a lot of our chemistry on-screen as well.

Question: Raffey, were you trying to keep everybody in line?

Raffey Cassidy: Well, I tried my best. [Laughter] I think the relationship between Casey and Athena is quite friendly, because Athena just wants to get Casey and Frank together, to try and save the world.

Britt Robertson: It doesn’t always work out as planned, but sometimes it does.

Tomorrowland Raffey

Question: And George, at the heart of this movie is a really big idea, which I think is powerful. You’ve made a lot of bold films in your career, particularly the more political ones. But I think this one is right up there, as far as being quite bold. Do you see it that way?

George Clooney: Putting me in a summer movie is a very bold thought. [Laughter] You know, listen. First and foremost, I think it is a really bold thing for Disney to be willing to do a film that isn’t a sequel and isn’t a comic book, to really invest in a summer film of this sort of ilk. The fun part of it, to me, was when you read the screenplay, although I have to say, just so we’re clear, when Damon and Brad showed up at my house, they said, “We’ve got a part that we’ve written for you.” And then I opened up the description of the character and it’s a 55-year-old has-been, and I’m kind of going, “Hang on a minute, which part am I reading for?”

Jeff Jensen: It said “genius,” by the way. It said “genius.”

George Clooney: It said “former genius, boy genius, who has gotten bitter in his old age.” I just loved the idea of, you know, we live in a world right now where you turn on your television set and it’s rough out there. And it’s not fun. And it can really wear on you after a period of time. And we see generations now feeling as if it’s sort of hopeless, in a way, and what I love about it is it sort of speaks to the idea that your future is not preordained and predestined, and that if you’re involved, a single voice can make a difference and I believe in that. I happen to believe in it, and so I loved the theme or the idea that, you know, there’s still so much that we can all do to make things better. And I liked it. I thought it was great.

Question: It picks up somewhat on what you were just talking about. First of all, this is the summer movie with a serious subtext, and you get to be the gruff, grumpy cynic, which I feel I am too. Growing up in the Cold War, that’s who we are. And yet at the same time, you’re searching for hope, and I’m curious if that arc reflects the struggle that you personally have, and whether you relate to that in this particular context of this movie.

George Clooney: Listen, I actually grew up during the Cold War period. And I always found that although we always thought that the world would end in a nuclear holocaust at some point, everybody was pretty hopeful. There were an awful lot of things going on that you felt you could change. I grew up in an era where the voice, the power of the one, really did feel as if it mattered. You know, we had the riots that are reminiscent of the things we are looking at today, but we had the Civil Rights Movement and we had Vietnam. And we had the Women’s Rights Movements and all those things that you felt you could actually have some part of changing. And actually, if you look at the things that changed in the 1960s and early 1970s, individual voices did make a huge difference. It wasn’t governments doing it, necessarily. I didn’t ever have that great disappointment in mankind. I always felt like it was going to work out in the end. And I still feel that way. And so what I loved about the film was that it reminds you that, you know, young people don’t wake up, they’re not born and start out their lives cynical, or angry, or bigoted. You have to be taught all of those things. And I watch the world now and think I see really good signs from young people out there. And I feel as if the world will get better. And I’ve always been an optimist. I’ve been a realist, but I’ve been an optimist about it. And I really related to the film because I thought, you know, Brad and Damon want to tell a story that’s an entertainment, because first and foremost, it has to be an entertainment. But it is hopeful, and I’ve always felt that way myself.

Tomorrowland Laurie

Question: Can you talk a bit, from each of your perspectives, about how NASA played a role in the production, and how that symbolizes the hope of optimism, and how right now, things aren’t as optimistic as necessary? It’s a creative question, not a space travel question.

Brad Bird: I grew up and remember the moon landing. I remember how that felt. I was actually in the air when they were about to get out on the surface. We were flying in from Denver, and I was like, “I’m going to miss it!” Fortunately, there were some kinds of technical errors and we landed in the airport. We ran to the nearest TV monitor and there were, like, 400 people just packed in, watching when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. And everybody just went, “Whoo!” That feeling has never left me.

And when we were first planning the movie, Damon and I were at Disney and the space shuttle took its last sort of circle over LA. And everybody came out and watched it, and there was this weird feeling of pride mixed with great sadness, like we’re not doing that anymore, and why aren’t we? So a chance to shoot at NASA was fantastic, and to be on this launchpad were so many really noble journeys started. And we got to watch a launch from the launchpad, which was one of the coolest moments on the film. So it was great to be at NASA. And if this, in any way, encourages NASA people to do more, then I think that would be a great thing. Britt?

Britt Robertson: Yeah. For me, I think NASA also sort of represents a very specific hope, you know, and it sort of ties in with the movie in a sort of symbolic way, you know? NASA represents this unknown, and the human race’s being able to explore the universe and other things that are out there. And I think that’s sort of in line with the movie, in terms of theme, you know? We’re talking about a movie that’s saying, “We don’t know what our future is. It’s not determined for us, and maybe if we go out there and explore the world, maybe if NASA wants to go and see what else is out there, then maybe that will have some helpful part in making our future something to be excited about.”

Brad Bird: Yeah. We can spend our energy creating ways to kill each other, or we can do that.

Britt Robertson: Exactly.

Brad Bird: I think that’s a lot more interesting, yeah.

Tomorrowland distance

Jeff Jensen (On Walt Disney and how the movie came about): Part of the work that we did in the story brainstorming process was conceiving this huge backstory for the film. And there’s lots of stories within stories. A lot of that informed the book and Walt makes a little cameo in there too. But a lot of Disney really inspired and informed the movie, especially, I think, Epcot, the whole idea and original idea behind Epcot, and how that evolved as a sort of laboratory for the future. That was a huge inspiration for the story.

Damon Lindelof: Some of the very last things that Walt Disney filmed were about this experimental prototype community of tomorrow. He filmed this thing. He thought he was healthy. And like within days, he went into the doctor and learned that he had terminal lung cancer. But one of the last things he shot, he was talking about Florida and he called it our Florida Project. And he was talking about the park and he said, “Yeah, there will be an amusement park kind of like Disneyland, but the whole reason to do it, the main attraction, is this!” And he pointed to the city and said, “It’s going to be an actual place that you can try ideas and we’ll take corporations and we’ll collaborate with them on new ideas, and sell the ideas to the world, and try them out.” And his face lit up when he talked about. The amusement park of it was just like, that’s over on the side, one of those, but the main reason to do it – Which part of it do you think wasn’t done? It’s that part. And it’s understandable, because you needed somebody like Disney as a catalyst to make it happen. But on his deathbed, he was looking up at the ceiling and pointing out how the city would be laid out. and the fact that he was, to his last moments, dreaming about this future and making crazy ideas happen, and be real, and accelerate the pace of that, was very moving to me. And if the movie caught even a little bit of that, I think we will have succeeded.

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Jenna Busch

Jenna Busch is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Legion of Leia and has hosted and written for sites like Nerdist, ComingSoon.net, Metro, Birth. Movies. Death., IGN, AOL, Huffington Post and more. She co-hosted Cocktails With Stan with the legendary Stan Lee and has appeared on Attack of the Show, Fresh Ink, Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, in the documentary She Makes Comics, on NPR and Al Jazeera America, and has covered film/TV/gaming/comics for years. She's currently a co-host on Most Craved. She's been published in the comics anthology Womanthology, is a chapter author for Star Wars Psychology: Dark Side of the Mind, Game of Thrones Psychology and Star Trek Psychology and more, and owns a terrifying amount of swords and 20-sided dice. There are also those My Little Pony trailer voice overs that give one nightmares.