“Like Harr y potter we have a young hero learning about this mysterious other world”
this tale is in the grand tradition of screen science fiction.
“This is the story of a young woman [ Casey Newton, played by Under The Dome’s Britt Robertson] who sees something. Who has a vision. It’s not a spiritual vision, but one that’s powered by technology. In the same way that Roy Neary had an encounter with a UFO [ in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind], this girl is very inspired by this place that she doesn’t entirely understand. She’s had a fleeting glimpse, and she wants to know more about it. In order to do so, she’s gonna need help; and the person who is going to be her guide into this world is a man named Frank Walker, played by George Clooney. She’s got to find him and talk him into giving her a hand. But when she finds him he’s not entirely willing to just roll over and take her there. He’s got a slightly different opinion about this place than perhaps he once did. That’s the mystery of the movie – what happened? What changed? What had that wonderful place that she glimpsed turned into?”
Jensen points out that, in addition to Close Encounters, Tomorrowland: A World Beyond also finds inspiration in a modern fantasy favourite.
“Like Harry Potter we have a story that involves a young hero learning about this mysterious other world. She’s being called to it, or so she thinks. She enters into it and has an adventure there. But where Harry Potter is about magic, ours is about science and scientific possibility, and a lot of other things that are more allegorical. Tomorrowland stands for all things that can reside within the imagination, whether it’s a great inventor coming up with the next great invention that’s going to help the world, or an artist who’s developing the next great piece of work, the next great story that’s going to inspire the world. So yeah, we’re Harry Potter- esque in that sense – that down- the- rabbit- hole, through- the- looking- glass, through- the-wardrobe kind of movie about another world.”
Though Tomorrowland: A World Beyond, like JK Rowling’s wizarding saga, has its “chosen one,” Lindelof was determined to give that well- worn genre trope a fresh spin.
“With any movie of this size and scope, the stakes are huge. We didn’t want Tomorrowland