That Time I Was Invited to Interview George Clooney #TomorrowlandEvent

Five years ago, if you told me I would interview George Clooney one day, I would have called you a liar.  I sit here with chills running up my sleeve as I think about last week, when the unbelievable happened.  …I met George Clooney!

Yes, you read that right.  I met George Clooney at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills.  Imagine 25 bloggers around a table, asking questions about his role in Disney’s Tomorrowland.  I am pretty sure every face held a smile, even Clooney’s. 
  

Clooney plays the role of Frank Walker in Tomorrowland.  Frank is a rather grumpy character, played perfectly by Clooney, though we found out the real George Clooney is funny, genuine and down to earth.  The tension in the room quickly subsided once Clooney sat down.  He began the conversation, making everyone laugh by starting with “Alright, we have time for one more question!”  The room filled with laughter, which only led to more fun questions, including his interest in learning about “mom bloggers” and finding out exactly what it is we  do.

A good interview, I’d say.  And since there is so much to tell you, I thought I’d split this up into two parts.  (Interview part 2 will come next week.  I promise!)

Interview with George Clooney

Our group quickly found out that this was not George Clooney’s first Disney movie. His first movie was a Miramax film, titled From Dusk Till Dawn. However, he was very eager to take on his role in Tomorrowland because of his admiration of the producer of this film, Brad Bird.

“I wanted to work with Brad Bird. I just love the kind of films he makes. And then when I read the screenplay of Tomorrowland, I thought, 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.”

Clooney went on to explain that the future is what you make out of it, which is the theme that repeats itself throughout the film. Clooney stated that you need to participate to get what you want out of the future and you need to make changes to see how it will end.

“I was born 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 such, so I always felt like and believed that there was a version of it. I was raised that there was a version of this 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 with nuclear bombs. 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.”

I adored the fact that George Clooney was down to earth.  He stressed that in today’s world, we hear bad news all the time. However, as a whole, it is important to teach not only ourselves but our children, that we can change the future with some confidence and hard work!

We soon asked Clooney if it was hard to work with the contraptions, harnesses, and other props that were used throughout the film.  His answer:

“I was familiar with working with some of the special effects from the various movies I’ve worked on through the years.  When they put you in a contraption, and say now you’re gonna fly,it is like the 12 year old going, am I going to fly from here to there? Oh yeah, let’s go, it’s fun. I’ve always found that part to be magical. When I was growing up, it was the space race and it was everything you were eating, space food sticks and drinking Tang, etc. I really thought by now we’d be riding around in Jetson cars.”

Clooney mentioned that the thing with being an actor is he never needed to grow up with all the roles he plays. He told us he is 54 and still loves playing make believe!   He also told us that having a jet pack would be completely advantageous to have in real life.  Clooney joked about avoiding traffic and getting beamed away without ever having to travel. 

Tomorrowland The Movie

From Disney comes two-time Oscar® winner Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland,” a riveting mystery adventure starring Academy Award® winner George Clooney. Bound by a shared destiny, former boy-genius Frank (Clooney), jaded by disillusionment, and Casey (Britt Robertson), a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity, 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.

Featuring a screenplay by “Lost” writer and co-creator Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird, from a story by Lindelof & Bird & Jeff Jensen, “Tomorrowland” promises to take audiences on a thrill ride of nonstop adventures through new dimensions that have only been dreamed of.

The film also stars Hugh Laurie as brilliant scientist David Nix, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Robinson.

“Tomorrowland” is produced by Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird and Jeffrey Chernov and directed by Brad Bird, with John Walker, Bernard Bellew, Jeff Jensen and Brigham Taylor serving as executive producers. “Tomorrowland” opens in U.S. theaters on May 22, 2015.