Not a lot of info about director Brad Bird’s new movie Tomorrowland, except that it films from August until the year’s end in Vancouver.

Oh yeah, and George Clooney is one of the stars.  Hugh Laurie is the only other name attached so far. It’s a Disney movie, so figure that there’s a tie-in to the old theme park ride.

Brad Bird is the Pixar veteran (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) who made the jump to live-action with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. That globe-trotting Tom Cruise hit was partly filmed in Vancouver, which must have played a part in why Bird is bringing his next movie here.

Vancouver-based special effect wizard Mike Vezina (The A-Team, 2012) is also attached, so expect something to blow up real good.

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Before today, all we knew about Disney’s Tomorrowland was that Brad Bird would direct George Clooney in it, Hugh Laurie would probably sign as the villain, and Damon Lindelof signed a seven-figure deal to co-write the script. Now we finally have an idea of what Tomorrowland is about, and it involves alternate dimensions and robots and a theme park.

Hitfix  posted an extended synopsis. The short version is, George Clooney is playing the middle-aged man (Frank Walker) and Hugh Laurie is playing David Nix, a corrupt boss of an alternate dimension’s Disneyland.

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 in charge of Disneyland 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. [Hitfix]

I’m not sure why that synopsis starts with the statement that Tomorrowland “appears to be a place where” yadda yadda. That’s a very detailed synopsis if it’s based on what something “appears to be”. We can play at that game. It appears to be that Hugh Laurie’s character, who runs the alternate universe’s Disneyland, will die and be cryogenically frozen. Then George Clooney goes to Six Flags. We just used imagination to discover all kinds of new things!

From director Lily Keber comes the feature documentary, Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Genius of James Booker which explores the life, times and music of James Booker, the legendary New Orleans performer who Dr. John proclaimed “the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced.”

The film will be making its World Premiere at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival next month.

The project recently raised over $18,000 in completion and music rights costs, en route to its premiere.

The film includes Interviews with: Harry Connick, Jr., Hugh Laurie, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Charles Neville, Cosimo Matassa, Harry Connick Sr., Joe Boyd, Bunny Matthews, Ron Cuccia, Joshua Paxton, Tom McDermott, Reggie Scanlan, Ronald Markham, George Winston, and countless others.

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Hugh Laurie is in negotiations to play the villain in Tomorrowland, Disney’s top secret sci-fi project starring George Clooney and being directed by Brad Bird.

The plot of the movie project, which until a couple of weeks ago was being called 1952, is under lock and key, though it has been described as being in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg’s 1978 movie about a man searching for extra-terrestrials on Earth.

All that is known about Laurie’s character is that he serves as the movie’s antagonist.

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof co-wrote the script with Jeff Jensen, an editor at Entertainment Weekly.

The pedigree of Bird and Lindelof, their standing in the geek community and the force field of secrecy enveloping the project have raised interest in Tomorrowland. 

Laurie is best known for his Emmy-nominated starring role as the brilliant but cold title character in Fox’s House M.D. which ran from 2004-12. The show kept him busy, but he did find time to appear in the ensemble drama The Oranges and to lend his voice to such animated fare as Arthur Christmas and Monster vs. Aliens.

He is repped by WME.

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The expansion helped bring more talent to the fest, according to fest chairman DaleStrack. Running Sept. 26-30, fest will screen slate includes headline films “The Oranges” (featuring Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, Catherine Keener), the Dustin Hoffman-helmed “Quartet” (with Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon and Billy Connolly) and comedy “Seven Psychopaths” (featuring Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell). World preems include thiller “Red Line” and “The Story of Luke.”

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Here you have some pics of Hugh and the cast of “The Oranges” at the premiere of the movie in New York City.

The Oranges (NYC Premiere) – 09/14/12