Sitting One Foot Away from George Clooney…Wanna Go?

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I did receive an all expenses paid trip to the Tomorrowland Press Junket, but all fan girling over George Clooney is my own.

 

Sometimes my job has some pretty awesome perks, like the time that I got to hit the red carpet for Iron Man 3, or the time I got to meet Chris Evans at the Captain America set, but none of that compares to the very real experience of sitting one foot away from George Clooney. How did this gal get that lucky? It was one of the perks of being a part of the Tomorrowland Press Junket last week in Los Angeles.

Imagine this, a room filled with 25 mom bloggers waiting in a fancy Beverly Hills conference room. Nervously laughing away as we await the arrival of George Clooney. Wait staff comes in and out of the doors and we jump each time, thinking it might be HIM! The excitement was thick as we wonder what he will be like? Will he be as awesome as we hope, more than just a pretty face? Finally, behind the front door we hear his voice. His laughter unmistakeable. As the door opens, the world seems to move in slow motion. With a broad smile across his face, he comes into the room and we all erupt into applause. This seems to take him a back, because press isn’t so kind. But we aren’t just press, we are an army of awesome mom bloggers.

As the applause dies down, he sits at the head of the table and asks about us. What are mommy bloggers? How long have you guys been together? We are all a bit giddy that he would even care enough to ask! I’m just hoping he’s not close enough to see how nervous I am. This is sincerely the first time I’ve ever been nervous through a celebrity interview. My palms were sweating, and there was probably a stupid grin across my face, but very quickly George’s demeanor put me at ease.

As soon as he was done learning about us, we began asking him about his role as Frank Walker in Tomorrowland. Knowing that George is known for his sense of humor, I wanted to know what his favorite memory/scene was from the film. This was more of a question to see if he would share any anectdotes about his between takes fun with his co-stars. What funny pranks did George have in store? George shared, ”

They [sent] me the script and I open it up and the description of me is,  55 year old angry, bitter, guy. I’m like thanks guys. Thank you so much. But what I loved about it was that the entire film, he’s just a grump.  So I loved like when Britt first comes to the house. It’s really fun where it’s like shut up, and who are you? We really had fun shooting all that stuff in the farm house. That was fun cause all the robot guys were really sweet and nice, and not really robots. I think that might have been the most fun scene to shoot, all the farm house stuff,

Unlike other interviews that I’ve done, George was genuinely engaging. He didn’t just answer our questions, but shared lots of fun stories too. When asked what one item would he liked to have been real from Tomorrowland, he shared,

Let me put it to you this way. So you’re at LAX. You get your bags. I’ve got to get to Studio City. It’s 4:30 on a Friday.  It would be the greatest moment ever, just blasting right over all the traffic. I think it would be fantastic, although, you know, I don’t know that I want everybody to have one ’cause they’d just be circling my house, [saying] ‘Hey.  What’s Amal gonna wear to the MET Ball?’ I don’t know if I want everybody to have a jet pack.

When we were discussing why he got involved in the Tomorrowland project, he shared an amazing story about his dad who was a news anchor in Cleveland. One of the ideas behind Tomorrowland is that our own negative thinking leads to the future being so bleak. George discussed how this is the first generation where the future isn’t this bright beacon of hope anymore, and how the news media needs to do so much more than show all the negative. We need to see the perspective and see that not all the doom and gloom on the news is as big a deal as they portray it to be. He shared this about his dad’s experience as a news anchor,

 When [my father] was covering a story about skinheads at Fountain Square who  had a rally, seven guys up they’re saying horrible things. He had to cover the story, so he goes out and in the camera, it looks pretty awful, you know. Then my dad went upstairs to Carew Tower, and then shot down on to the park with these seven little tiny people in a town of 400,000, are just yelling and being jerks.  You realized in perspective it meant nothing. It meant absolutely nothing.

Meeting George Clooney was truly one of those once in a life time experiences. He’s truly my favorite interview of all time. He’s so much more than an actor, and was so amazing to listen to. He’s charisma, humor, and intelligence all in one package. He truly makes you believe that making the world a better place isn’t just the plot line of a movie like Tomorrowland, but something that each and every one of us have a responsibility to make reality. His interview was so epic, that you guys are getting not one but TWO George Clooney posts. We didn’t want to spoil all the fun of Tomorrowland, so make sure to check out for George Clooney part deux after the movie opens on May 22nd! Trust me, you are going to want to read it!

Tomorrowland opens in theaters everywhere on May 22nd. Check out this awesome trailer to tide you over until all the fun Tomorrowland interviews are up on the blog!

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