Tomorrowland Behind the Scenes: George Clooney & His Take on Emotionality, Fun, and Working with Young Talent

Having a tremendous opportunity to meet and speak with the Disney creators of the Tomorrowland movie that is playing right now throughout the country is something I’ll cherish forever. Meeting with the director, writers and producers of the movie Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof opened up a whole new Universe how movies are made and produced. The brainstorming alone can take months of tireless research and collaboration of the makers of the movie (Read my post on Disney Archives that was the trigger that inspired the Tomorrowland movie set-up.)

And then there were actors who materialized the director’s  vision of the script into an actionable outcome. George Clooney, Britt Robertson and Raffey Cassidy play the three central characters in Tomorrowland who make things happen. Each of them bring their personality and incredible talent to the table when it comes to acting.

After talking to the amazing cast of Tomorrowland, I reflected on so many areas of my own life. Such quick bursts of insightful interviews and meetings serve as my own inspiration and motivation for bigger and better things in my own life.

The interview with George Clooney left a warm feeling of ingenuity, confidence and a positively-charged energy for living. Self-confidence transpires into Clooney’s way of thinking and making things happen: on-screen as well as off-screen. Yet his genuine sense of humor and support makes everybody feel at home when working and shooting scenes from the movie.

Here are a few things that really stand out in my memory when talking to George Clooney about the behind-the-scenes experience of working with his fellow actors.

Here’s what George Clooney said about working with Britt Roberston and Raffey Cassidy.

“First of all, Britt is fantastic and, you know, her career is just at the very beginning and is going to be really fun.  Raffey is spectacular, and she was just 12 at the time, and way too talented, for her age, and sweet and funny.  Ah, it is also a fun part for me because I, as you well know, if you’d seen me speaking to a 12-year-old the way I speak to her at the grocery store, you’d call child services [LAUGHING].

“I’m like “Who gets to yell at a 12-year-old?” I mean yeah, teachers do. But in the movies it’s so much fun because, you know, she’s not really a 12-year-old and it’s really fun to be able to. They [characters] sort of set up a way where, you know, we’re a little family of three, but she’s [Raffey Cassidy] the adult, you know, driving the car, and Britt and I are the two kids, arguing and bickering all the time.

They [Britt Robertson & Raffey Cassidy] were fantastic. They were really sweet, and  think they’re having a really fun time with this [movie], which is, you know, that’s how it’s supposed to be. 

When I work with younger actors, I always have to try to remind them that, this is the fun kind of job that most people don’t get to do.  And if you get to be an actor and work, and somebody pays you for it, you’ve caught the brass ring, you know, and it’s just fun.  The thing is, they really do dig it, and they’re having fun, which is really a good time.”

 When asked about the most favorite scene and memory while shooing Tomorrowland, George Clooney was really playful in handling his answer. We had lots of laughing and jokes during this conversation.

“I will tell you, there was a lot of moments, because you know, it wasn’t all done to green screen.  They were nice enough to build a lot of these sets where you actually got to play in them.

The most fun we had was the driving sequences, believe it or not, because, we’re being towed. But Raffey is “driving” and, I keep having to teach her like, you know, you’ve got to keep looking at the road.

And she’d be like, you know, [IN VOICE] what is the deal? Like my mother actually drives, which is true, it was fun because there was no technology. There was nothing. It was just old-fashioned, three people sitting in a truck for five days, arguing and doing fun stuff. And that’s really fun for actors, because you don’t have to do any make believe.  It’s all just right there.”

But being actors is also being ready for exhaustion and ability to repeat the same thing again and again and again when needed. Yet staying true to the character and emotions this character was developed to evoke per script. Here are a few scenes that will resonate with those of you who already has seen the movie.

One scene was when they were ready to blast into the future and had to consume a lot of “special” potion, the powder. The other scene where Britt Robertson has to drink a coca cola bottle. How many of those powdered potions and bottles of coca cola they had to consume – a lot, especially of super sweet powder!

“It was fun doing the stuff, you know, like shoving all the packs of powder down their throat, because we must have done, I don’t know, 30 takes! And every time I go – here you go.  [LAUGHING.]  And she’d [Britt Robertson] be like not the whole pack. And I was like yeah, so much sugar on it”

“[In scene with the coca cola] in fairness, Brad was kind enough to only do it, I think, three times.  But she [Britt Robertson] does down two cokes in the take. I think it’s two cokes in the take. And I just sit there going, you know, she’s gonna explode, but she did it.”

George Clooney also shared his take on playing some interesting scenes in the movie, and if it was emotionally hard for him to play them. Here’s what he said on this subject.

“Emotionally hard, no. Because I find movies in general aren’t emotional. You’re involved in them but, you know, it’s not really something honestly terrible has happened. It is still make-believe, but I did find that it was a tricky scene where I have to let Raffey’s character go, the robot go. There was a really weird [feeling], we’d shot [the scene] once, and she [Raffey Cassidy] kind of clicks out, but her eyes are open still, and we drop her out, and it literally feels like I’m murdering her, you know.

It really does.  It was odd.  And you’re watching it, it’s so disturbing, and it was really awful. So we went back and re-did it, where she sort of completely goes out, because otherwise it really felt horrible.

There’s all kinds of weird balances in this film.  My relationship with her [in the movie] is very [delicate], we’re walking a very thin line there like I don’t know, this is kind of weird. And it’s a constant thing like oh, oh boy. Let’s walk very carefully through these things. And thankfully, Brad is really good at what he does.  He made it much simpler [for all].”

Tomorrowland – You Wanna Go?