After a star-struck 2013 summer and a first glimpse at the trailer last fall, the Okanagan finally gets to star in Disney's Tomorrowland this weekend, two years after filming with George Clooney and Britt Robertson wrapped in the Enderby-Grindrod-Armstrong area.
"I've been offered a few of them (big budget popcorn flicks), but I didn't think I was the right guy for those jobs," Clooney told Vulture, in an interview on Tuesday. "But I have to say that Tomorrowland didn't feel like a summer movie. When you read it, you go, "Wait, Disney's gonna do a summer movie that isn't a sequel and isn't based on a comic book?" It's a very brave thing to do, and I liked the idea that it looked at the world in a much more optimistic way. I thought, Well, if these guys want to take a spin at that, it seems really great."
- Also playing this weekend: Kristin Wiig stars as an unbalanced lottery winner in the quirky Welcome To Me; The classic horror flick Poltergeist is revived, 33 years after Steven Spielberg's original
In Tomorrowland, Clooney stars as a former boy genius helping Robertson's troubled wonder-teenager through a futuristic world, which she accesses after accidentally picking up a magic pin.
"He was so not intimidating... We had some really funny banter, some weird back-and-forth about being television actors," Robertson told Vanity Fair, on working with Clooney. "When I got the role, it was the best feeling I'll ever have in my life."
It's received plenty of hype, although that may promote disappointed critical reactions.
"Heartfelt, audacious, and visually striking, Tomorrowland is a testament to the power of imagination," writes Rotten Tomatoes. "Unfortunately, critics say it's only a half-successful one – while the film is dazzling to the eye, its storytelling is uneven and its overall effect is muted as a result."
The film – which came about after decades of crafting one of Walt Disney's boldest ideas into one script – was shot in several areas of B.C., in the Enderby-Okanagan region, Surrey, and Vancouver, plus locations in Spain, Florida, and the Disneyland park in California.