Little White Lies May - June 2015

What if there was a place – a secret place – where nothing is impossible?” This question, spoken in a hush of wonder by an unseen George Clooney, framed the world’s first proper introduction to Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland A World Beyond. Shrouded in mystery since news of its existence first contorted the blogosphere into rabid fits of baseless speculation, the project once known as “1952” has always enjoyed the mystique now afforded to any gargantuan studio tentpole that doesn’t have a number in its title or belong to a connected cinematic universe. Borrowing a tactic from JJ Abrams’ playbook (as well as screenwriter Damon Lindelof, the man who wrote so many of its pages), the very premise of Tomorrowland has been protected like a state secret, and those keen to…

LWLIES: WE HAVE A WORKING THEORY THAT, TO SOME DEGREE, EACH OF YOUR FILMS ARE ABOUT INCREDIBLE THINGS THAT ARE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT. BIRD: Heh. Yeah, I think that’s true. I think all of the most important questions in life aren’t provable. You can’t prove that somebody loves you. You can feel it, you can be convinced of it, but there’s no test, there’s no way to measure or record it. All of the most fundamental questions – is there life beyond this? Is there an organising force? Is there a God? All of those questions that baffle everybody are also unprovable, and I think there’s a lot of mystery and wonder to life that is just in every moment, sitting around us, waiting to be revealed. HOW PRE-FORMED…

If you were to present an atlas to any man, woman or child circa 1955 and ask them to locate the happiest place on Earth, their finger would invariably drop on Anaheim, CA. Built in just one year at an estimated cost of $17m, Disneyland first opened its gates at 2:30pm on Sunday 17 July, 1955. For the American people it was a day of celebration and ceremony not seen since the 1939 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows. After being introduced to his adoring public by actor and future president “Ronnie” Reagan, with network television cameras poised to capture this momentous occasion, Walt took the mic: “To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth…

The day after Pearl Harbor, Walt Disney’s studios were effectively converted into a full-time propaganda branch of the military. Storyboard man Bill Peet recalled in his memoirs the instant change: “army and navy brass paraded up and down the halls as authorities and supervisors on the various government projects, and Walt was no longer commander-in-chief.” Donald Duck and the rest of the gang went to work, battling the Nazis while reminding everyone else why they fought in a series of cranked-out shorts. Victory Through Air Power was different, a featurelength pet project. Major Alexander P de Seversky’s book of the same name was a bestseller when it was published the previous year. The film version interpolates to-thecamera lectures from Seversky with animated illustrations of his points regarding the necessity of…

Theme park rides based on popular entertainment, like the many that populate Walt Disney’s vast kingdom of artifice, are supposed to promote excitement and discovery in their customers, not horror. Troubling elements in the source material, however subtextual, are excised in favour of a glossy and enjoyable façade. But those familiar with the film that inspired Disney World’s Submarine Voyage ride (in operation from 1971-1994) might feel conflicted while basking in the glow of its underwater simulacrum. Jules Verne’s ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ and Richard Fleischer’s 1954 film adaptation revolve around the exploits of a vengeful mass murderer. Captain Nemo (James Mason), a genius scientist who has built a technologically advanced submarine called The Nautilus and taken refuge under the sea along with a close-knit group of conscripts, conducts…

World-building is not a new thing in the movies and certainly not a new thing for Disney, a word that long ago transcended its descriptive functions to become synonymous with happy endings in picture-perfect settings. Tomorrowland A World Beyond aims to ground its positive outlook in a more social realist sensibility. As a live-action drama, the new world had to be found and built. The production team were keen not to rely on visual SFX. “It was incredibly important to us that our actors not be standing in front of green screens and be told, ‘Look over there. That’s the most amazing thing that you’ve ever seen!’” said screenwriter, Damon Lindelof. So how do you build a utopia for our savvy and cynical times? LWLies spoke to four people who…