George Clooney shows inner child in new Disney film

Britt Robertson plays a rebellious daughter alongisde George Clooney's angry, bitter has-been in Tomorrowland. Photo / Supplied

"They told me they'd written him with me in mind but when I read the script it said that he was a formerly handsome, 55-year-old, angry, bitter has-been." George Clooney is talking about Frank Walker, the male lead of Disney's latest fantasy epic, Tomorrowland: A World Beyond.

A curmudgeonly, one-time boy genius who has since fallen on hard times, director Brad Bird and his co-writer, Damon Lindelof, have always had the Oscar-winning actor in mind for the role. "He's a good, solid guy who has his feet on the ground but wants to fly," says Lindelof. "When we were first talking about the character and writing the script,
we just pictured George and even described him as 'Clooney-esque'."

But having recently favoured more serious, independent productions such as The Descendants and Up in the Air, Bird and Lindelof were sceptical about whether Clooney would agree to headline a family film, especially one inspired by the futuristic-themed section of Disneyland that is home to attractions like Space Mountain.

"We thought we would never get him as he never does movies like this," says Lindelof. "So when it came to the idea of asking George Clooney to be in a big summer movie, let alone a Disney film, it seemed that just on general principle he would say no."

However, Clooney was keen to work with Bird, who made his name helming classic Pixar animations such as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles before making his live action debut with 2011's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

"Brad and I tried to work together on another film a few years ago," says Clooney, who also welcomed the prospect of collaborating with Lindelof, best known for co-creating Lost and penning sci-fi blockbusters Prometheus and Star Trek Into Darkness. "But the minute I got the script, I wanted to do it as I loved the idea of doing an original film. I thought it was a very brave move."

Opening at the 1964 World's Fair in New York before moving forward to present day Cape Canaveral, the film features Britt Robertson as Casey Newton, the rebellious daughter of a soon-to-be-unemployed Nasa engineer.

Disillusioned by the mothballing of the American space programme, she teams with mysteriously ageless teenager Athena (Raffey Cassidy) to track down Frank Walker and save Tomorrowland, where they come into conflict with its sinister, authoritarian leader, David Nix (Hugh Laurie).

A kind of technology-based Narnia, the otherworldly Utopia is modelled on the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow - Epcot for short - Walt Disney's idealised vision for a perfect society that was never completed after his death in 1966.

Watch the trailer for Tomorrowland here:

"Brad came up with the tagline for the film, - 'remember the future' - which I thought was very clever because it's not just about a possible future that might have existed back in the 1960s in terms of being optimistic, but also a future that existed for us all when we were kids," says Lindelof.

"If you ask any 6-year-old what they think the future will look like, they're not going to say that they're worried about pollution or robots taking over. But the older we get and the more we realise what the world is really like, we start to feel that attitude is a little bit naive.

"When he's directing, people will often compare Brad to a kid but he's really a man who still dreams like a kid. It's not just a retro idea, it's an idea that reawakens the childlike sense of wonder that everyone has at one point or another."

Born in 1961, Clooney admits that the 21st century has turned out very differently to how he believed it would when he was a child. "When I was growing up, the future seemed like it was going to be about flying cars and all those kinds of things that didn't actually happen, but on the other hand, we never thought of these things either," he says, holding up his iPhone. "What you think the future will be and what it usually turns out to be is never the same thing, but it can surprise us."

Presuming a Greek journalist is about to ask him about his previous, controversial comments about how "it would be very nice" if the Elgin Marbles were returned to Greece, Clooney jokes with her about "how she's trying to get him into trouble in England again", referring to how London mayor Boris Johnson "compared me to the Nazis".

George Clooney in a scene from Tomorrowland. Photo / Supplied

After marrying British human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin last year, the 54-year-old is feeling positive about what the coming years will hold for him. "I've always been optimistic and I've had a very lucky life overall," he says. "I've done a lot of things I never would have imagined I'd get to do. It's a very good time in my life and I'm having a wonderful time. I'm a lucky man to have met someone as special as my wife."

While there are some sombre overtones with Tomorrowland having fallen into a steep, dystopian decline, Clooney insists the film is primarily designed as diverting and witty entertainment. "That's always been the most important element, particularly when you're acting," he says. "It's supposed to give you two hours of relief from whatever else you're doing in your life.

"So for me, what I want you to take away from it is two hours of enjoyment that you can take your kids to. But if these other issues come up along the way and you can walk out and talk about these kinds of things then that's a bonus."