Disney Tomorrowland Exclusive Interview w/Rising Stars #‎TomorrowlandBloggers‬ and ‪#‎AladdinBloggers

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It was such a pleasure to fly out to California to interview some of the talented cast from Disney’s Tomorrowland.

Disney invited us to celebrate the Blu-ray Combo Pack, Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) release of Tomorrowland, coming out October 13th.

Learn more about Disney Movies Anywhere in this post here.

[Photo, courtesy of Week 99er]

Our group sat down with two of the rising stars from the movie: Raffey Cassidy (Athena) and Thomas Robinson (Young Frank).

[Photo courtesy of Women and their Pretties]

Raffey was born in England and has been acting since she was 7 years old.  She is the younger sister of actors Grace Cassidy and Finney Cassidy.

Raffey already has an impressive and rapidly growing list of movies under her belt.  She was the youngest ever actor to feature in Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow, which has also included actors Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and Gemma Arteton.  Her movie credits include Universal Pictures “Snow White and the Huntsman” opposite Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, as well as Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows” with Johnny Depp.

Recently, Raffey wrapped up production as Molly in Amber Entertainment’s “Molly Moon”, with Emily Watson and Dominic Monaghan.  On the small screen, she co-starred in television’s “Mr. Selfridge”, along with Jeremy Piven.

Raffey is a gorgeous, impressive and soft-spoken young lady.

Bonus Clip from the set of ‘Tomorrowland’.

Her partner-in-crime, Thomas Robinson, was a little nervous but quickly relaxed and chatted happily with us.

Thomas is most recognized for his breakout role in the 2010 summer comedy, “The Switch”.  He played the loveable son Sebastian, opposite Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston. He has also appeared in FOX’s hit comedy “Arrested Development” (with Jason Bateman) and Lifetime’s police drama “The Protector”.

I hope you enjoy our interview below.

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
GROUP INTERVIEW
SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

Thomas Robinson   :   Hi guys.

Interviewer:   Hi.  Come and join us.

Raffey Cassidy   :   Okay, thank you.

Interviewer   :   How are you doing?

TR   :   Good.  We’re doing great.

TR   :   She’s actually gonna get me some water right now.

Interviewer   :   Do you guys mind if we take a couple quick pictures?

[Camera clicks]

Interviewer   :   All right, so first question- what was your favorite part of making the movie?

TR   :   I really liked all the stunts.  The stunts were so much fun to train and film that part.  The falling sequence, I actually did it in, like, an indoor skydiving thing.  Have you been to, like, that iFLY?  It’s really cool, and I think of that – probably that’s what the stunt where I was thinking – is about twenty hours in one of those just training and filming that because I had to be in control but look like I was out of control, which takes a lot of practice.  So that was probably the coolest thing that I got to do on that set.

Interviewer   :   Is that the one where you’re flying at the beginning or the end?

TR   :   No, when I fall off the skyscraper – the falling parts.

Interviewer  :  It looks so real!

Interviewer  :   Each of you have pin.  If you could give it anyone you like, who would you give it to?

RC   :   I’d probably, it, I’d probably give it to my [unintelligible] because, like, you can come into Tomorrowland and make cool inventions and then amongst his [unintelligible], you know, be recreated.

TR   :   I would probably give it to my friend, Sam.  He is also an actor, and he has such an open mind, and he’s always game for just anything, and he’s really optimistic, and I think that he would fit in…

Interviewer  :   Who did you say you’d give it to?

TR   :   Mike Wazowski, [LAUGHS], yeah.

Interviewer  :   Besides acting, what are some things that you aspire to do as you get older?

RC   :   Um, well, I’d like to kind of do, um, special effects makeup and stuff like that.  Uh, I really like that kind of stuff.

Interviewer  :   What genre of special effects?

RC   :   Like, gory and cuts, and, yeah…  Yeah, [OVERLAPPING].

Interviewers :   Yeah, you should watch Face Off.  I was thinking pretty fairies…

RC   :   Well, I’ve got pictures on my phone of voodoo dolls with masking tape all over my face.

Interviewers  :   Oh, how fun.  What about you?

TR   :   I wanna be a chef.

Interviewers  :   A sauce chef?  What kind?

TR   :   I like baking, and I really like doing stuff – like chopping and… [SHRUGS]

Interviewers  :   That’s awesome.

TR   :   Yeah.

Interviewer  :   Do you help your mom?

TR   :   I do.  Sometimes I just cook, though, [LAUGHS].

Interviewers  :   Oh my gosh, can I adopt you?  Do you have special recipes?

RC   :   I really like making lemon bars.  Those are probably my favorite dessert.  And I like making, fudge, caramel, and appetizers like jalapeno poppers and stuff like that.

Interviewer  :   What advice do you have for other kids that wanna act just like you?

RC   :   Along the way you’ll fail, that sort of stuff, but that makes it all the better when your dream comes true. And just never give up.  Keep trying until you get, your dream, and you’ll have fun when you do.

TR   :   I think probably in the audition process, you’re gonna get a lot of no’s because there’s a ton of people trying out for all these parts.  Don’t let that bother you.  Just be yourself in the room, and if it’s a fit, and if you did well, stuff will happen.

Interviewer  :   What was it like working with George Clooney?

RC   :   It was fun.  He’s such a cool guy that’s so inspirational – he’s just so down to earth. He’s so kind.  He always kept the set very relaxed.

Interviewer  :   Did you know he was aboard the movie, helping with the sector?

RC   :   No, what?

TR   :   Really.

Interviewer     :   And when you got the role, how did you find out about Clooney and what he was like.  Did they give you an intro?

TR   :   I pretty much just knew what to do, [LAUGHS], because I hardly knew who he was, and I watched, like, little pieces from his movies.  Um, but I wasn’t really playing George Clooney.  I was playing, I was playing Frank, so it didn’t really…

Interviewer   :   What did your mother [unintelligible]

TR   :   Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.

Interviewer   :   Does your mom make any comments about you being in a movie with George Clooney?

TR   :   Nope.

Interviewer   :   How would you get around in Tomorrowland? Like in transportation?

Both   :   Jetpacks.

Interviewer   :   [LAUGHS]

Interviewer   :   Were you in harnesses?

TR   :   A lot, [LAUGHS].

Interviewer   :   Yeah?  What was that like?

TR   :   Those things are so uncomfortable.  They dig in all the wrong places.  I think one of them had, like, six-sixty different ways they could connect a wire to it and twelve different buckles just to get it on.  So it took, like, thirty minutes – maybe forty-five every day – just to put that on.  And if I had to take it off for lunch or something, that just adds more time, so I get a shorter lunch break.  But it was definitely worth it to be able to do all that cool stuff with the wires and the air tunnel – the wind tunnel.

Interviewer   :   Was it scary?

TR   :   Not really, because at first, I thought I was afraid of heights, and then they took me up on a forklift, like twenty-five feet in the air, and I didn’t really mind it.  And then, for like, two months before, like the real training started, they signed me up for flying trapeze…

Interviewer     :   They did?

RC   :   Yeah, and now the instructor there is a really friend of our family’s, and we’re gonna go back.  So that was a pretty cool way to get me, used to that.  But it was really fun.

Interviewer   :   For you, was it a choice to become an actress? Because your siblings do it?

RC   :   Oh, well, I mean…

Interviewer   :   Was it your dream to be an actress?

RC   :   They wanted me to do different things but,  it was never said to me that I thought, oh, I want to be an actress.  But then one day my brother he went to an audition, and they said, oh, would you like to come in?  We need a little girl.  So I thought, well, why not, and I’ll have a go.  And then I went in, and I got the part, and then on I was like, great, I wanted to carry on.  But, like, my parents never said, you know, it’s something that, that all of us do.  Still it was my choice.

Interviewer   :   What’s next for you two?  Do you have another project that you’re working on?

TR   :   Project homework, [LAUGHS].

Interviewer   :   What grade are you in?

TR   :   I’m in eighth grade.

Interviewer   :   Eighth grade?

TR   :   Yeah.

TR   :   I’m scared.  Next year, I’m gonna be a freshman and that sounds terrifying.  [LAUGHS]

Interviewer   :   Regular public school or where do you go to school?

TR   :   I actually go to Stanford Online High School.   It’s sorta like being homeschooled, but I still go to class.  It’s just online.

Interviewer   :   Cyber school.

TR   :   Yeah, it’s like one big Skype conference call with all the students and the teachers.  The workload is a lot.  Like, I have a ton of homework, but it feels really rewarding, and it’s really fun.

Interviewer   :   And it’s at your own pace for the most part?

TR   :   No.  Not at all.  It’s like going to regular school.  Like, every day – like, on Tuesdays, I have a class at 7:15, and I get out of school at 2:30, and then I have the rest of the day to do schoolwork, and I have certain due dates for all of my classwork, so it’s basically school except for it’s online.

Interviewer   :   Is it every day?

TR   :   Yeah.

Interviewer   :   And, what’s next for you? [To Raffey]

RC   :   Well, I’m over here, the film’s just come out for Molly Moon, but it’s not come out in the UK, yet, but apart from that – I haven’t got anything else coming up for it.

Interviewer   :   Except homework.

RC   :   Yeah, homework, yeah, [LAUGHS].

Interviewer   :   What grade are you in now?

RC   :   I’m in year nine, but I don’t – I think I’m just… what grade are you in? [To Thomas]

TR   :   I’m in eighth grade.

RC   :   I think I’m, I’m in eighth grade.  I think, yeah, we’re the same age.

Interviewer   :   Do you go back and forth?  Where do you live now?

RC   :   In the UK.

Interviewer   :   So you just work over here, and then over there?

RC   :   Well, no.  When I need to come over, I travel over, and my Mom and Dad would go back home.

Interviewer   :   Thank you for taking your time and composing yourselves so amazingly.

RC   :   Oh, thank you, [LAUGHS].  Thank you.

Interviewer   :   You both did amazing in the movie.

Both   :    Thank you.

Interviewer   :   You guys have a lovely time doing the movie?

RC   :   Yeah.

TR   :   Yeah.

RC   :   Yes, so much.

Interviewer   :   More like play than work?

RC   :   Yeah.

TR   :   Pretty much.  Some of the days I had problems just with the harness and everything, and getting up that early.

Interviewer   :    What time did you start?

TR    :    Some of the call times were, like, 6:30 A.M.

Interviewer   :   Yeah.  That is real rough.

RC   :   Um, sometimes you worked pretty late, but it was, it was really fun.  It was a good experience.

Interviewer   :   How long was the project for you guys, from start to finish?

RC   :   I think, um, it was about a year and a half…

TR   :   Like, yeah, because you have – with the training for all the stunts and everything…

RC   :   But it was the funnest thing that we were so lucky to be able to do.

Interviewer   :   Right, you got to travel all over the place.

RC   :   Yeah, yeah.

TR   :   Most of it was filmed in Vancouver so, we were able to, move our entire family up there, and bring our doggy bed into this really nice apartment, and it… I loved that place.  It’s one of the nicest…

And we got to spend- I got to spend two weeks in Valencia, Spain, um, taking cooking classes.

Interviewer   :   What did you do actually film in space?

RC   :   It was, you know, they had kinda like the Tomorrowland scenes…

TR   :   Yeah, like, buildings that looked like they could only be in Tomorrowland, so they would film on some of those.  It, it was a…

RC   :   What was it called…  The Valencia Arts Center or something.

TR   :   Yeah, yeah.

RC   :   It was amazing.

TR   :   Yeah.

Interviewer   :   What was it like when you guys saw the movie for the first time finished?

RC   :   It was cool.  It was weird that something that we’ve been doing for one and a half years has suddenly just come together.  It was just so cool.

Interviewer   :   Was it different than you imagined?

TR   :   Yeah, it was kinda cool seeing, like, the CGI and the live action stuff all just come together and form the movie.  I really do not like watching myself act.

Interviewer   :   I was gonna ask you…

TR   :   I’m just, like, cringing.

Interviewer   :   So was it like watching through fingers…

TR   :   I just, I’m like, like hiding from…

Interviewer   :   Aww.

TR   :   But I do like the rest of the movie.

Interviewer   :   Excellent.

RC   :   Well, I think Thomas’s part was amazing.

Interviewer   :   Yes.

RC   :   Yeah.

Interviewer   :   Both you guys, and I love the fight scene in the shop.  That was so much fun.

TR   :   Oh, that was fun.

Interviewer   :   Did they teach you martial arts and gymnastics?

RC   :   I do gymnastics and, I don’t [UNINTELLIGIBLE] martial arts because that was really fun.  The stunt, too, was amazing, so whatever we were doing, from hiking onto wires, to flipping, we all just felt so comfortable with doing it because they were just such an amazing stunt team.

TR   :   Yeah.  (to Raffey) I went into training one day, and you were already on the wires, and you were jumping, doing a flip, like, being in the air, and then, kicking something, and it was so cool.

Interviewer   :   Yeah.  It looks so much fun.  Well, thank you so much.

TR   :   Thank you.

Interviewer   :   Good luck.  We wish you all the best.

RC   :   Thank you.  Nice to speak to you.

Interviewer   :   Bye.

[END OF INTERVIEW WITH RAFFEY CASSIDY & THOMAS ROBINSON]