'Tomorrowland' is one of the only original blockbusters we'll see in cinemas this summer. "I think it's a really bold thing for Disney to be willing to do a film that isn't a sequel and isn't a comic book," says the movie's star George Clooney, who adds with a smile, "and putting me in a summer movie is a very bold thought."

George Clooney at the premiere of 'Tomorrowland'George Clooney at the premiere of 'Tomorrowland'

At 54, Clooney is feeling his age. "I'm getting too old for this," he says, laughing. "The script said, '55-year-old, angry, bitter has-been, formerly handsome.' And I thought, 'Brilliant, you wrote that for me?' Then on the set I had to fight another old TV doctor [Hugh Laurie, aka House]. I was just getting beaten with a cane the whole time!"

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Ironically, Clooney was drawn to the project because of its youthful optimism. "I actually grew up during the Cold War period," he says, "and although we always thought the world would end in some sort of nuclear holocaust, everybody was pretty hopeful because the voice, the power of the one, really did feel as if it mattered."

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He notes that the 1960s are remembered as the time of riots and assassinations, "but we also had the civil rights movement, and we had Vietnam protests, women's rights and all those things where you felt you could actually have some part of changing," he says. "So I didn't ever have that great disappointment in mankind. I always felt that it's going to work out in the end, and I still feel that way."

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It's clear that 'Tomorrowland' taps into that optimism. "The film reminds you that young people don't start out their lives cynical or angry or bigoted. You have to be taught all those things," he says. "I watch the world now and think, 'Well, I see really good signs from young people out there.' And I feel as if the world really will get better."

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