Hear what George Clooney stole from the set of TOMORROWLAND in this Exclusive Interview- Press Conference Interview 8th May in LA

amazing experience!
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another piece!wonderful!
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part one of the full interview
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These were so fun to read. Seems like they were all pretty taken with our guy.    Cracks me up that he was sitting in this room with all these moms and no one asked the "so George when are you gonna have kids" question. LOL!

Thanks Sevens.

thanks for the interview. below the articles. I moved the thread to the "print and TV" section.

Hear what George Clooney stole from the set of TOMORROWLAND in this Exclusive Interview -

Last Friday morning I found myself, along with 24 other bloggers in Beverly Hills walking into the beautiful Montage Hotel sitting in a conference room, anxiously awaiting our TOMORROWLAND interviews.  As I sat there I felt like I needed to pinch myself.  Was I really here?  Was I really in Beverly Hills ready to meet a very talented and famous actor?  How did I get here?
Who were we waiting for?  We were waiting for George Clooney to enter the room!!  He was going to sit at the head of the table and I was only 1 seat away from him.

Hear what George Clooney stole from the set of TOMORROWLAND in this Exclusive Interview

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I kept imagining what it would be like when he arrived.  I’ve met other famous people before, but for some reason this one was different.  This was someone who was not only very talented, but someone whose career I’ve followed for a long time and I was actually going to get to interview him!  Not to mention sit only a few feet from him!!
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Photo Credit Louise Bishop of MomStart.com
And then the room broke into applause as George Clooney walked into the room, even more handsome in person than I imagined.  He seemed a bit amazed by our group of mommy bloggers and immediately started joking about the big conference table “I have never seen a table this long.”  We all broke into laughter – talk about breaking the ice!  He then says  “Alright, we have time for one more question.” Again laughter.  I should have known then that we were in for a good time.  “So you are Mommy Bloggers?  Really!” George asked us.  We were there to interview him and it seems like maybe he was there to interview us.  He went on to ask us how long we’ve been a group.  I wanted to say “Well, you see George we aren’t really a group we are all individual bloggers and happen to be in this lucky group of people who get to meet you!”  But the group replied pretty unanimously “2 days” and it seemed to surprise him “Really?  Are you kidding?  Uh oh.   This could be really dangerous. ” said George.  And then we were off!
He sat at the head of the table, looking comfortable and confident and said “Okay, so fire away.  I’m ready.”
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Photo Credit Louise Bishop of MomStart.com
As the first question was asked, he sat there listening intently, shaking his head and I was immediately reminded of Doug Ross from ER.  It’s like I was transformed back in time (rather than into the future)!  The message in TOMORROWLAND said a lot – “Can we fix it?”  And [as we know] you firmly believe in that with all your humanitarian work.  Is that one of the things that drew you to the movie?  “It is.”  He goes on to say “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, 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 and it hurts, you know.”
“And it’s a bad time and what I loved was the idea of the script said that the future isn’t just automatically inevitable.  And you have to participate and you don’t have to just accept how it ends.  I’ve grown up in an era where the individual actually had effect, you know, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam movement, the women’s rights moments, so I always felt like and believed that there was a version of it.”
“I was raised 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.  I really loved the idea of hearing this idea that we’re not just necessarily doomed, that there’s something you can do about [the future] if you pay attention and you work hard.  And I liked it.”
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Photo Credit Louise Bishop of MomStart.com
George isn’t a stranger to working with contraptions and harnesses and all those things.  He has done it a few times in the past on movies like Gravity and a few other films.  We asked him if that’s difficult to do?   He explained “I’ve never particularly been 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 years old and I’m playing make-believe.”  I loved that!  I could tell at that point that he really enjoys what he does.
He goes on to tell us “when they put you in a contraption and say ‘now you’re gonna fly’ it’s like you’re still a 12-year-old boy and you go ‘really, am I gonna fly from here to there?’  Oh yeah, let’s go this is fun!  I’ve always found that part to be magical.  I just wish the jet pack [in the movie] really worked.” he laughed and went on to say  “When I was growing up it was the space race with everything,  you were eating space food sticks and drinking Tang and I really thought by now we’d be riding around in Jetson cars!”
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Photo Credit Louise Bishop of MomStart.com
We asked him if a jet pack would be one of the futuristic items or things that would be awesome to have.  His answer was classic and had the entire room laughing.  He laughed and said “Let me put it to you this way.   So you’re at LAX.  You get your bags and have to get to Studio City and it’s 4:30 pm on a Friday.   It would be the greatest moment ever to just blast right over all the traffic.  He thinks for a moment and then adds “although I don’t know that I want everybody to have one because they’d just be circling my house yelling “Hey, What’s Amal gonna wear to the MET Ball?” I don’t know if I want everybody to have a jet pack.”   The entire room broke out in laughter.  It wasn’t just what he said that was funny, it was the way he delivered it.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was a stand up comic because he truly is hilarious!
The actor that plays a young Frank Walker in the movie, Thomas Robinson looks so much like George.  It’s pretty amazing!  We wondered if he had any say in who played that role?   The actor looks just like him – facial expressions and all.  We asked George if Thomas studied him to play this part?
Surprisingly, George said “No, they just did a little plastic surgery on him.” Once again, laughter filled the room.  He then went on to say  “Which seems a little rough, but it’s show biz.  You want to be in show biz, we’re gonna have to reduce that nose.  We’re gonna have to pin those ears.  I’m sorry!”  He’s so funny and his delivery is right on.   George then got a little serious and said  “No, he was funny.  I never got to work with him obviously, because we were in different worlds but he would walk by [me] and I’d say ‘So you’re me, right?”  He’s like, ‘yup!”.  Alright.  Don’t screw it up!” George added that Thomas was a sweet,  funny kid.
The laughs didn’t stop there!  When asked what his favorite scene was in the movie, he began by first telling us how he 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.  They sent me the script and the description of me is – 55-year-old angry, bitter, guy.  I’m like ‘thanks guys!’.  Thank you so much.”  LOL
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Photo Credit Louise Bishop of MomStart.com
“But what I loved about the character was that the entire film he’s just a grump, you know.  He’s just a grump through the whole thing.  I loved when Britt first comes to the house.  It’s really fun when he says things like ‘shut up’ and ‘who are you? ‘ We really had fun shooting all that stuff in the farm-house.  I think that might have been the most fun scene to shoot, all the farm-house stuff.”
We asked George what would be the message of this movie to inspire teenagers?  He said “The idea is that the future is yours and the future is yours to decide what it will be.  As you look at the world and you see how tragic it can feel, and you know it has always has been that way. It wasn’t particularly great in 1968 either.  There were assassinations and there were wars and civil unrest and riots, but we weren’t as inundated with it, and there was always still a hopefulness that the future was still gonna 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.”
He goes on to say “An advantage I’ve had since I’ve become successful is that I understand I have a voice that can amplify things, so there are things that you can do that you can try to affect change with.  But 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.”
And then the question came up about props and memorabilia from the movie.  We asked him if he kept anything from the set of TOMORROWLAND?   George once again had us in hysterics with his answer “Now here’s the thing” he says laughing “Disney has armed guards around all that stuff.  And Brad Bird is very possessive of all those things as well so I will not answer what I stole, because they will come and take it away from me, but it shoots rays…… and it’s a gun.” 
I’ll end it on that note for now! The interview had a little bit more but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who is going to see the movie (hopefully you all will!) so after the movie is released I’ll share more of the fun morning we had with George Clooney at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills California.
TOMORROWLAND will be in theaters on May 22, 2015.  Here is the trailer to help you get excited over it!
 
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When a Celebrity Like George Clooney Shows You That Hollywood Has Not Changed Him





I was sent on an all expense paid trip by Disney Studios to experience Tomorrowland. All opinions of this movie are 100% my own.
Last month when Disney Movie Studios invited me on an once in a lifetime press trip to cover the Tomorrowland movie, I jumped at the chance. WHY you ask? Well — for one it’s Disney — duh! The second and most important reason — George Clooney. Yes — I got to meet an iconic legend and stare him straight into the face and listen to his take on this new Disney movie.
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Let me start by telling you about my background love for George Clooney.
Back in the day when Facts of Life was on television (I am showing my age y’all), this gorgeous dark haired man walked on the set and my heart went flip flop!

I fell madly in love with him. Then — he was on the hit drama show ER — and again I fell madly in love with him. He has been my heart throb for many, many years.
I have followed his career as Batman and more, so when I saw that he was in this movie and we were going to interview him, I began to wonder — what is this amazing man going to be like?
Because he IS George Clooney and is one of the most sought after men of all time, I just assumed that he would be this arrogant and very prideful actor who felt like he was owed something by his fans.
Boy was I ever wrong.
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George walked in the room and was immediately smiling when he saw all of us star struck moms applauding his entrance. He started laughing and immediately said — “We have time for one more question”, and just let out this adorable laugh.
All of us moms were giggling because his laughter was contagious. He was completely in awe that the table was full of 24 mom bloggers (an amount that I am sure he had never seen before!).
He asked us all how long we had been a group and when we told him  — “Only two days”, he was totally surprised!
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As I sat there watching him interact with us moms, my immediate reaction to him was one of pure joy. One of my favorite actors simply was a humble man, who loved what he did for a living, and loved to share it with others.
At that  moment, seriously, my heart swelled with respect and pride for him.
George told us right from the get go that what drew him to this film was the idea of working with writer/producer Brad Bird (which I will have an interview post for you about that soon).
He said that after reading the script, he knew right away that this was something he wanted to get involved in.

When I read the screenplay, I loved it because we sort of are inundated in our lives with lots of bad news.  You turn on the television, and the news — it hurts. It’s a bad time and what I loved about Tomorrowland was the idea of the fact that the future isn’t just automatically inevitable.
You have to participate in it and you don’t have to just accept how it ends.  I’d grown up in the early 60’s, so I grew up in the era where the individual actually had an effect — you know during the the civil rights movement, the Vietnam movement, the women’s rights movements, so I always felt like and believed that there was a version where you could affect the future, and you didn’t have to just accept it.

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I loved how intently he listened to each of our questions, giving us full eye contact and really enjoying all the questions we were throwing at him.
We talked to him about harnesses and contraptions to help him during the movie stunts. He laughed and told us that it was always tricky, but the fun part of being an actor was the fact that he never had to grow up.
Could you imagine being a kid for most of your adult life? That sounds like SO much fun to me!
George even let us in on a little secret — he’s 54. But don’t you think he ages well?
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The movie Tomorrowland is about going to a place in the future. George shared with us that he grew up in the era when all the space shows were on television (and I have an amazing post to share with you later on that talks about some of those awesome Disney artifacts from those shows) and he was eating space sticks and drinking Tang.
In fact, he told us that he just knew by now we would all be riding around in Jetson cars.
Of course, George laughed when we asked him what his favorite futuristic item from the movie would be and he told us it would be awesome to have a jetpack.

Who wouldn’t want to fly over LAX traffic to get from the airport to Studio City?

If you have seen the previews of the movie, you notice that the young Frank Walker has a jet pack that he has taken the 1964 World Fair. He wants to win $50 for the best invention of all time.

Which got us onto the topic of the looks of young Frank Walker. Many of us bloggers after watching the preview of the movie, was amazed at how the actor playing young Frank Walker had many of George’s facial expressions and mannerisms.
We wanted to know if the kid followed him around all day. Again, he laughed and said, “No — they did some plastic surgery on him. You know — a little nose job here, pin those ears back — haha”. Then he told us he was just joking.
I could listen to that man laugh all day y’all.
He shared with us that he and Young Frank did not really work together that much because they were in different eras and times of the movie. In fact, he and young Frank ran into each other a couple of times during filming and George would look at him and say, “So, you’re the kid who’s playing me”?
And of course, the kid would look at him and say, “Yup!”, and George would say –“Don’t screw this up!” and then laugh and walk away. He said he was a super cute kid and very funny too.

When Brad Bird first called George and told him that they had written a script for him, he had no clue how they were going to portray him. After reading it, he realized that he was going to be playing a 55 year old angry, grumpy man.
But then after meeting Britt Robertson (who plays Casey Newton and who I also had the pleasure of interviewing), and reading more of the script, he said it was blast getting to act grumpy all the time.
He said he had more fun yelling “SHUTUP” and “WHO ARE YOU”? at Britt when she comes to his house to talk to him about Tomorrowland.
In fact, this was his favorite part of the movie to film.
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The next question we got to ask him was one I was really wanting to know the answer to. You see — I have teenagers and I deal with teenagers and after seeing the movie, I knew what I felt was the initial message to the world, but I really  wanted to know what he hoped young people would take away from this movie.
His words REALLY spoke to me —

The truth of the matter is, 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, you start to realize that it has always been that way.
It wasn’t particularly great in 1968 either. There were assassinations and there was wars and there was civil unrest and riots, but we weren’t as inundated with it, and so there was always still a hopefulness that the future was still gonna be alright.
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 movie.
An advantage since I’ve become successful, is that I understand that I have a voice and that I can amplify things, and that there’s things that you and I can do that we can try to affect change with.
But I was like that when I was 10, because I was told, that your voice has to matter and you have to participate — even if only two people hear you, because those two people may change the world.
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, but ourselves too that we’re not just stuck here.
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 put it in perspective.
I feel that we’re losing perspective of the things that are going on in our world, and we think “Oh, it’s just nothing but apocalyptic stuff”, and I don’t believe that necessarily is true.  I mean, there’s an awful lot of good 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.

We ended this section of the interview asking him about his favorite prop from the movie and if he kept any of the memorabilia, but his lips were sealed!

So what did I think of George Clooney?

After listening to him talk about this movie and his role and how he wants to encourage others that there is still good in the world and that it is up to us to find it and be a part of it, I decided this about George —
He is one of the nicest actors I have ever met. He doesn’t let the fact that he is rich and famous affect how he treats people. He initially wants to do good in this world and he is using his career as an actor to show others that you don’t have to let the bad of this world change you.
To me — he is the real deal and I am SO glad that I got to meet him and learn just a little more about him.
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I’ll have another interview later on that is the second part to the George Clooney interview. I’ll get to share more about his take on the movie (of course it will be AFTER you have seen it on the 22nd)!

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Amazing Interview with George Clooney #TomorrowlandEvent



Last Friday, 24 bloggers and I were able to interview cast and crew from the upcoming Disney film, Tomorrowland. You probably heard/seen all about the #TomorrowlandEvent on social media, and now I have a chance to tell you more about what we did out in L.A. last week.
Starting with the group interview that we had with George Clooney! Mr. Clooney plays Frank Walker in the film, and we couldn’t wait to find out more about how the movie resonated with him. Literally, the few minutes before he walked into the room, we were all jittery and excited about his arrival.
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Photo Credit: Louise Bishop / MomStart.com
Then he came in and we all applauded, watching his every move as he waltzed by our long table (longest one he’s seen, according to him!), taking his seat at the end. Within five seconds of sitting down, he was cracking jokes and being the funny, down to earth guy he was during the entire interview.
This is Part 1 of the George Clooney interview — since some of the topics discussed would be spoilers I’ll have the rest of the Q&A live once the movie is released!
In Tomorrowland, a primary question regarding the future is, “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?

It is. At first, I wanted to work with Brad Bird I just love the kinds of films he makes. Then when I read the screenplay, I thought, we are sort of inundated in our lives with lots of bad news. You turn on the television, it hurts. I loved that the script showed that their future isn’t just automatically inevitable. And that, you have to participate and you don’t have to just accept how it ends.
I was born in the early 60’s, so I grew up in the era where the individual actually had an effect — the civil rights movement, the Vietnam movement, the women’s rights moments. 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.
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 work hard. 

Was it fun or difficult to work with the contraptions and harnesses for the movie?

I’ve done it a few times. I’m not particularly in love with it. The 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. I’m 54 and I’m still playing make-believe.
I just wish the jet pack really worked. When I was growing up, it was the space race and you were eating space food sticks and drinking Tang. I really thought by now we’d be riding around in Jetson cars.

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Photo Credit: Louise Bishop / MomStart.com
Would you say that that would be one of the futuristic items or things that would be awesome to have?

Imagine you are at LAX. You’ve got to get to Studio City. It’s 4:30pm on a Friday. It would be the greatest moment ever blasting right over all the traffic. I think it would be fantastic. Though, I don’t know I want everyone to have one because they’d be circling my house.

This answer had everyone in fits of laughter, with his storytelling and jetpack sound effects!
What was your favorite scene in the movie?

That’s a good question. First, let me explain how I came to this part. Brad and Damon called me and said they had written a part for me in a movie. I’d been trying to work with Brad for a long time. They send me the script. I open it up and the description of me is a 55 year old angry, bitter guy. I’m thinking, thanks guys. Thank you so much.
In the entire film, he’s just a grump. So I loved when Britt (Casey) first comes to the house. It’s really fun where it’s like “Shut up!” and “Who are you?” We really had fun shooting in the farm house. 

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

Here’s the funniest thing about this. It’s a summer movie, and what you don’t want it to be is, an “eat your spinach” kind of thing. But the truth of the matter is, the future is yours…and yours to decide what it will be. As you look at the world, and you see how tragic it can feel, it has always been that way.
It wasn’t particularly great in 1968 either. There were assassinations, wars, and riots, but we weren’t as inundated with it. There was always a hopefulness that the future was still gonna be alright. I feel we have to get to that point where we all understand the individual is not helpless. And I think that’s a really important part of this film.
Since I’ve become successful, I understand that I have a voice that I can amplify things. There’s things that you can do to try to affect change. But 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, those two people may change.
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 put it in perspective. I feel that we’re losing perspective of the things that are going on in our world, and we think it’s just nothing but apocalyptic stuff. I don’t believe that necessarily is true. There’s an awful lot of good 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.

i love george so fun to work with always making jokes happy to work and love of people & mankind hope to work with george again on another film in LA love george bg

These were so fun to read.  And George surrounded by all these moms ... and not one asked "hey George so when are you going to have a kid?"

I guess they had better manners than the gutter media!

Great interview!

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part two of the interview