Home / Disney / Celebrity Interviews / Talking about TOMORROWLAND with George Clooney

Talking about TOMORROWLAND with George Clooney

George Clooney interview

Disclosure: This event and trip to LA was an all expense paid journey sponsored by Disney. All thoughts, experiences, opinions and character crushes are 100% my own!

Table Of Contents

Talking about TOMORROWLAND with George Clooney

Last week, I travelled to LA to attend a press junket with 24 other bloggers for the film TOMORROWLAND. This included a press screening of the film, and a sit down interview with George Clooney himself.

George and I go way back. Well. My memories of us do: me glued to the television as Dr. Doug Ross (swoon!) handsomely gave hospital orders, saved lives and melted hearts on the hit television show ER. I must admit that aside from his humanitarian work (applause!) I haven’t followed his acting career as closely since those early ER days. After ER ran it’s course (sob!), I just didn’t get to see George as much. Oh sure, I still followed him from afar (he has been pretty hard to miss!) and noticed him in a Batman suit here and there, but our lives took different directions; I was raising children–singing Hakuna Matata with Disney characters, and George was off winning academy awards and doing amazing (talk about one person making a difference…WOW!) humanitarian work.

GEORGE CLOONEY POSTER

Upon learning that I would be interviewing George at the press junket for TOMORROWLAND, I spent some time further researching his path the last couple of decades and as you well know, it’s been a pretty amazing Hollywood journey for Mr. Clooney. One might even think that all of this success might have went to his head. But that’s just the thing: From the moment that he walked into the room, he was warm, kind, humble, engaging, interested and HILARIOUS. All things that make for a pretty awesome interview.

My biggest curiosity then, was finding out how he ended up here, in a Disney film, something that is a bit out of character for him. I’m sharing Part One of this interview today, as Part Two has a few spoilers that I don’t want to share with you just yet (because I can’t stand a spoiler!) so look for a second interview post coming soon.

In TOMORROWLAND, George Clooney plays Frank Walker, former boy-genius who has grown up jaded by disillusionment and has, quite frankly, become somewhat of a grouchy, bitter, middle aged man. Fate (or great writing) finds Frank crossing paths with Casey (played by Britt Robertson), a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity. This meeting leads them to embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space known only as “Tomorrowland.” What they must do there changes the world—and them—forever.

The interview. Part One:

George Clooney

What drew you to this movie?

George: At first I wanted to work with Brad Bird. I think he doesn’t make bad films, and I just love the kind of films he makes. And then when I read the screenplay, I thought, you know, what I love about it is that we are inundated in our lives with lots of bad news. You turn on the television, it hurts, it’s a bad time and what I loved was the idea of the script. It said that the future isn’t just automatically inevitable. And that, you have to participate or you don’t have to just accept how it ends. And I’d grown up in an era, you know, I was born in the early 60’s, so I grew up in the era where the individual actually had effect, you know: the civil rights movement, the Vietnam movement, the women’s rights moments, and that stuff. So I always felt and believed that you could affect the future, and you didn’t have to just accept it, you know? The Russians weren’t gonna necessarily just blow us all up. 

So I really loved the idea of hearing this again, this idea that we are not necessarily doomed. That there IS something that you can do about it if you pay attention and you work hard. And I liked it.

“I always felt and believed that you could affect the future, and you didn’t have to just accept it, you know? ” ~George Clooney

 

Clooney TOMORROWLAND

Was it fun or difficult to be working with contraptions and harnesses ?

“The thing about being an actor is you really don’t ever have to grow up, right?” ~George Clooney

 

George: I’ve done it a few times. In Gravity, I had to do it, and I’ve done it in a few films. I’m never particularly in love with it. Green screen is tricky because you just have to sort of make things up. The thing about being an actor is you really don’t ever have to grow up, right? We’re still playing make believe. I’m 54 and I’m playing make- believe. So when they put you in a contraption, and say now you’re gonna fly, you’re still a 12 year old and you go “really, am I gonna fly from here to there? Oh yeah, let’s go! It’s fun!” I’ve always found that part to be magical, you know. I just wish the jet pack really worked. You know, when I was growing up, it was the space race and it was space food sticks and we were drinking Tang and you know, I really thought by now we’d be riding around in Jetson cars, you know, so…

TOMORROWLAND JET PACK

 

Would you say that a jet pack would be one of the futuristic items that would be awesome to have?

I don’t know that I want everybody to have a jet pack because they’d just be circling my house, “Hey! What’s Amal gonna wear to the MET Ball?” ~George Clooney

 

jet pack tomorrowland

 

George: Let me put it to you this way. So you’re at LAX. You get your bags. You’ve got to get to Studio City. It’s 4:30 on a Friday. It would be the greatest moment ever, just blasting right over all the traffic. I think it would be fantastic, although, you know, I don’t know that I want everybody to have a jet pack because they’d just be circling my house. “Hey! What’s Amal gonna wear to the MET Ball?” I don’t know if I want everybody to have a jet pack.

Tomorrowland Frank Walker

What was your favorite scene in the movie?

George: That’s a good question. Let me start off by explaining to you how I came to this part. Brad and Damon called me and said we’ve written a part for you in a movie. And I’d been trying to work with Brad for a long time. I was like wow, that’s amazing. And they send me the script and I open it up and the description of me is: 55 year old angry, bitter, guy. I’m like going, thanks guys, thank you so much! 

But what I loved about it was that in the entire film, Frank is just a grump, you know? He’s just a grump through the whole thing. So I loved when Britt first comes to the house. It’s really fun where he’s like “shut up!” And we really had fun shooting all that stuff in the farm house because all the robot guys were really sweet and nice, and not really robots, you know? I think that might have been the most fun scene to shoot, all the farm house stuff.

“And they send me the script and I open it up and the description of me is: 55 year old angry, bitter, guy. I’m like going, thanks guys… thank you so much!” ~George Clooney

 

George Clooney as Frank Walker

In your words, what would be the message of this movie to inspire teenagers?

George: Well, here’s the funniest thing about this. It’s a summer movie, right, and what you don’t want it to be an eat your spinach kind of thing. I’ve been in those kind of movies before and you don’t want that, because it is a summer movie. But the truth of the matter is that the future is yours and the future is yours to decide what it will be. You know, as you look at the world, and you see how sort of tragic it can feel, It always has been that way. It wasn’t particularly great in 1968 either. There were assassinations and there were wars and there was civil unrest and riots, but we weren’t as inundated with it as we are now, and so there was always still a hopefulness that the future was still going to be alright. And I feel as if we have to get to that point where we all understand that the individual is not helpless. And I think that’s a really important part of this.

“Since I’ve become successful, I understand that I have a voice and that I can amplify things.” ~George Clooney

 

FRANK WALKER tomorrowland

Since I’ve become successful, I understand that I have a voice and that I can amplify things. I can make Darfur louder or there are things that I can do to affect change.

I was like that when I was 10, because I was told that your voice has to matter and has to participate, even if only two people hear you, because those two people may change, you know? I would say my parents taught me that and their parents taught them that, and I feel as if there’s a world where we have to constantly remind not just young people, ourselves that we’re not just stuck here, you know. I also think we have to find a way to put news back in perspective. I think part of the responsibility of news in general is not just to report on it, but to put it into perspective. My father was an anchorman in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he was covering a story about some skinheads at Fountain Square who had a rally, seven guys. They’re saying horrible things, you know. And he had to cover the story, so he goes out and through the camera, it looks pretty awful, you know? It looks really awful. And there’s about 2,000 people yelling at them. And then my dad went upstairs to Carew Tower, which is the tallest building in Cincinnati, and the shot down on to the park with these seven little tiny people in a town of 400,000, just yelling and being jerks. It’s a town that otherwise is functioning perfectly and people are getting along and working together and you realized in perspective it meant nothing. It meant absolutely nothing. And I feel that we’re losing perspective of the things that are going on in our world. We think oh, it’s just nothing but apocalyptic stuff, and I don’t believe that necessarily is true. There is an awful lot of good in our world, and it’s hard to report good because it doesn’t sell. So I think that maybe along the way, it would be nice to remind ourselves that there’s an awful lot of good that’s being done too, you know?

“There is an awful lot of good in our world, and it’s hard to report good because it doesn’t sell. So I think that maybe along the way, it would be nice to remind ourselves that there is an awful lot of good that’s being done too, you know?” ~George Clooney

 

Did you keep any props or any memorabilia from the movie? 

George: Now here’s the thing. Disney is very… they’ve got like…you know, armed guards around all that stuff. And Brad is very possessive of all those things as well. So I will not answer to what I stole,  because they will come take it away from me, but it shoots rays and it’s a gun.

Tomorrowland_PinAbout that TOMORROWLAND pin.

George: I love that pin. It’s fantastic.

 

Remember the Future!
TOMORROWLAND is rated PG and hits theaters May 22nd, 2015!!

TOMORROWLAND poster image

 

Check out this exclusive TOMORROWLAND sneak peek that will bring you into the world of TOMORROWLAND and tease you with the futuristic possibilities:

Follow all of the excitement in social media:

Like TOMORROWLAND on Facebook
Follow Disney Pictures on Twitter
Visit the official TOMORROWLAND website

Photo credits to Disney and Louise Bishop of MomStart.com

AND … a very, very special thank you to the folks at Disney for this wonderful and once in a life time opportunity that I will NEVER forget!

Meet the author – Keri Lyn

The creative and frugal mind behind She Saved for over 12 years now, Keri Lyn shares her adventures in parenting along with her love for family travel, country living and brand marketing. A self-proclaimed “brand loyalist”, Keri Lyn is known for her strong and enthusiastic voice when it comes to the products and brands that she loves. She Saved has become a community for like-minded consumers who appreciate saving money, time and sanity by getting the best deals on quality products and experiences.

Find Out More About Me

Similar Posts

9 Comments

  1. Wasn’t it just amazing?! I’m still in disbelief that we were even there. Great post!! And it was wonderful meeting you!! Hope to see you again soon.

  2. What an amazing interview. I just shared it to my FB page for my readers to check it out. I love how open and honest he is during the interview. It sounds like it was a truly amazing moment!

  3. Awww, thank you Tammilee! He was so refreshingly “real” … I just loved it, so neat to see that he is so down to earth!

  4. Candy, yes! I am too … such a neat experience, and a whirlwind! Great meeting you as well, and I hope that we do get to travel again sometime soon!!

  5. I enjoyed your interview. I just wrote a post to honor my dad, who was born in Maysville, KY, at the same hospital where George Clooney was born (who shares the same birthday as my dad, a few years later ;-). I got to met his dad, Nick Clooney, because I grew up in Dayton, just north of Cincinnati and I worked in broadcast news, but I haven’t been so lucky as you to cross paths (yet) with George. I loved how he portrays the story about the skinheads in Cinci. So relevant and a good reminder. I plan to see the movie.

  6. Rajean, thank you so much for taking the time to comment! What a neat connection between your father and Clooney. I hope that you will get to meet him one day – I was genuinely surprised by his words and stories, and love his outlook on life. I would love to hear what you think after you see the movie, it’s definitely for the thinkers and dreamers 🙂

  7. His outlook on life was simply amazing. I love him so very much and he made my day complete when he looked at me and smiled that gorgeous George Clooney smile 🙂

  8. How crazy awesome was that?! Right?! I love how down to earth he is and how incredibly NICE he is. I wonder if he was the least bit intimidated, walking into that room with a table surrounded by 25 women! It was so great to meet you too, and thank you for riding around, and around, and around at the airport to pick me up!! Haha!

  9. Jenni – I just LOL’d at your comment about the airport, I had forgotten all about that! That was an amazing feat, just getting you in the car alive! lol

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *