Tomorrowland Casting Confirms Plot Rumors About Brad Bird’s Next
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Brad Bird’s upcoming science fiction film Tomorrowland has been shrouded in mystery from the word go. Initially operating under the codename “1952,” Tomorrowland is being scripted by former Entertainment Weekly editor Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof — good or bad news, depending on your thoughts about Lost and Prometheus. It’s been the subject of much speculation and more than a little detective work, but now a new casting announcement confirms some of the plot details that were previously rumored.
The Hollywood Reporter says young Raffey Cassidy, who has appeared in Snow White and the Huntsman and Dark Shadows, has been cast to appear opposite lead actor George Clooney, and Hugh Laurie as the villain. Here’s how THR describes her role:
Cassidy will play a young girl robot who has been around for decades. Also a key factor: She knows several fighting styles. She has a previous relationship with Clooney’s character, a bitter inventor.
It sounds like we may be getting a little girl character in the vein of Firefly’s River Tam: unimposing physically, until she kicks your ass all the way across the room. It’s still hard to get a gauge on the tone or feel of this movie, since everything we know about it is pretty strange.
Here’s the full plot rundown that was first reported by HitFix’s Drew McWeeny early last month.
The “Tomorrowland” that they keep referring to in this break-down appears to be a place where science has blown past the world we live in, and when Frank Walker was a young man, he first encountered the promise of Tomorrowland at the 1964 World’s Fair. David Nix was there, showing off his own work, and he told Walker to come back when he was older and his inventions actually worked. A girl named Athena saw great promise in 11-year-old Frank, though, and she snuck him into Tomorrowland. Eventually, Frank was discovered by Nix and thrown out, but not before learning that the girl he loved, Athena, was actually a robot.
By the time we meet Frank in the film, he’s much older, and George Clooney is set to play the part. Nix is the role that Hugh Laurie is signed for, and by the point the main story of the film kicks in, Nix has been the mayor of Tomorrowland for many years, and he’s become rotten, corrupt. Athena, unchanged since Frank was a young man, plays a key role in the film, and the hero is a girl named Casey who has a quick scientific mind that becomes important as the story unfolds. Nix is a guy who values technical accomplishment over creative thinking, and when he throws Frank out of Tomorrowland, he’s not alone. Every creative thinker is banished, allowing Nix to focus purely on aesthetics and technical advancement for its own sake.
Tomorrowland is set to hit theaters on December 19, 2014.
