As our review of Brad Bird‘s "Tomorrowland" notes, part of the film’s core is built upon "the aspirational dreams of the Edison, Tesla and Einstein-style inventors of the world." It’s a spirit that’s key to the upcoming movie, spinning a universal appeal out of the imagineering magic that Walt Disney conjured during his peak. In early versions of the movie, the plan was to show another one of cinema’s greatest visionaries getting his own dose of inspiration.
In an interview with Disney Insider, Bird reveals that he had plans for a fictionalized Stanley Kubrick to appear in the kind of cameo that only the most diehard cinephiles would probably notice. "There was briefly a storyboarded moment where young Frank went to a part of the World’s Fair called ‘To the Moon and Beyond.’ It was a movie that was shot in 70 mm and projected in what they called Spacearium 360 by Cinerama," the director explained. "And he was there watching this, which was projected on the ceiling and then he leans back and sitting next to him was Stanley Kubrick, who was also at the World’s Fair and in seeing that film, tracked down Douglas Trumbull to do the effects for ‘2001.’ So we had that and we were going to find a guy who looked like young Kubrick, but that was one of those ideas where there wasn’t enough room for it. And it’s beside the point. But the ‘64 World’s Fair had a lot of those things in it and that’s why it was such a cool idea for me."
Meanwhile, Bird and his co-writer Damon Lindelof stopped by IGN, where the conversation turned toward sequels and post-credits scenes. Lindelof shared his half-joking, half-serious idea for a "Tomorrowland" stinger that was never shot. “My pitch was that there was going to be a post-credits scene in ‘Tomorrowland.’ At the very end of the movie, there’s a pin and you see someone picking it up and the reveal would be that it was Sam[uel L.] Jackson, and he’s wearing an eyepatch, he’s holding a lightsaber and maybe a Frozone uniform. And he just goes, ‘I’m in this one too?’ And then bam, cut to black,” Lindelof said laughing.
"Tomorrowland" opens this Friday. Check out the IGN talk below.
