I’m Talking Tomorrowland With George Clooney #TomorrowlandEvent

*I received an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for the coverage of several press events for Disney. All opinions are 100% my own and we only recommend events and shows that are a great fit for our readers.

Photo Credit: Mom Start

I had the unbelievable opportunity to sit in the room with George Clooney and interview him about his role as Frank Walker in Tomorrowland.  I was sitting with my husband, listening to the audio of my interview with George Clooney, thinking about what an AMAZING opportunity I have had to interview, not just him, but other amazing Hollywood talent. It is an such an amazing opportunity because, when we sit in the room with them and listen to them talk, we realize that they are people….people with feelings. They are real. They love, hurt, and feel just the way you and I do. They don’t just exist for our entertainment. It is so amazing to get just a glimpse into the soul of these people who do such a phenomenal job of keeping us entertained.

As you can imagine, we were all just giddy waiting on George Clooney to walk in the room.  We got to the point where we were teasing each other that he was on his way in.  Then, all of a sudden, there he was!  He walked in the door behind me.  I didn’t even get a glimpse of him until I felt a hand running across my shoulders.  All of the blood rushed from my face when I turned around and realized it was him!  George Clooney touched me!  He walked in smiling and he just seemed happy to be with us.  It was so much fun to listen to him talk about the movie.  The excitement in his voice as he described working with Raffey Cassidy (“Athena”) and Britt Robertson (“Casey Newton”).  You could tell, from all of the interviews, they had a blast making Disney’s Tomorrowland.

Now, let’s get into the real reason you’re all over here; the interview!  In true George Clooney style, he started it out with humor:  “I have never seen a table this long. Alright, we have time for one more question.”  We hall giggled, very loudly.  I think *someone* said we cackled like a bunch of hens 😀  He was very entertaining throughout the interview.  Then the first question was asked:

Question:  The message in Tomorrowland said a lot. Can we fix it? And you firmly believe in that with all your humanitarian work. Is that one of the things that drew you to the movie?

George Clooney:  Yeah, you know, 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, what I love about it is that we sort of 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 said, their future isn’t just automatically inevitable. And that, you have to participate or you don’t have to just accept how it ends.  I grew up in the early 60’s, so I grew up in the era where the individual actually had effect; the civil rights movement, the Vietnam movement, the women’s rights moments, and that stuff, and so I always felt like and believed that there was a version of it where you could affect the future, and you didn’t have to just accept it. The Russians weren’t going to, necessarily, just blow us all up. So, I really loved the idea of hearing this again, this idea that we’re not just necessarily doomed, that there’s something that you can do about it if you pay attention and you work hard….and I liked it.

Question: Was it fun or difficult to be working with contraptions and harnesses and all those things?

George Clooney:  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. But, 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.  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.  I just wish the jet pack really worked. When I was growing up, it was the space race and it was everything you were eating, space food sticks and drinking Tang. I really thought by now we’d be riding around in Jetson cars.

Question: Well, that’s what the Jetsons told us.

George Clooney: Well, they did tell us and I believed them, so when I see the jet pack, I’m like I want that thing to work by now,  but no such luck.

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TOMORROWLAND opens in theaters everywhere on May 22nd!