My Interview with the Adorable and Talented Raffey Cassidy (Athena) #TomorrowlandEvent

**I received an all expense paid trip thanks to Disney and ABC studios. All my opinions are my own and not swayed by outside sources.**

This past weekend, Tomorrowland came out in theaters! If you have not seen it yet, you are truly missing out so make sure you head to your theaters to see it. If you already saw it, go see it again and bring the entire family. Tomorrowland is such a wonderful family friendly movie that is thrilling, exhilarating, and moving all at the same time. It is perfect for younger generations because it tells the theme of how we are in charge of our own future and can change it to make ourselves better. All kids and adults alike should see this movie!

There was so many amazing talented actors and actresses in this movie including Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and Tim McGraw to name a few. One name that you might not recognize though is Raffey Cassidy who plays the role of Athena in Tomorrowland. You might not recognize her name because she is only 13 years but her talents are immense for her age. She has had starring roles in Snow White and the Huntsman and Dark Shadows to name a few of her earlier works. With such a young age, her future is bright and I am sure we will be seeing a lot of her in the future. She is absolutely OUTSTANDING in Tomorrowland and in a few years, her name will be one we see over and over again in movies!

We had the privilege to interview this up and coming star during our press trip. When she first entered the room, she was just so adorable. I have to pull out a picture of me as a child because she sort of resembled me as a child (with dark hair, light eyes, and freckles) but she was way cuter! I loved how she came in and immediately was engaged with us.

I began by asking her the first question on how she began her career as an actress? She told us her brother is an actor and when he went on an audition, they asked her to audition and it began from there. She also told us she did a self-tape first for the audition process, then went to London for an in-person interview, and then went to America to do a screen test.  She was so humble which I loved about her!

She then proceeded to tell us about her first scene and her favorite scene that she filmed in Tomorrowland. She said her first scene was the one in the open fields where young Frank Walker goes on the bus.  Her favorite scene was the blast from the past action scene because she loved the excitement in it. That was one of my favorite scenes in Tomorrowland!  She also told us the most challenging part of filming was creating a background for Athena.

We were interested to know from Raffey what her take home message from the film was?

” I think everybody should be very optimistic and feel that there’s a way around situations if they’re in a bad situation. There’s always a bright side.” -Raffey Cassidy

She loved playing the part of Athena and attributing to the great themes of Tomorrowland. She loved that Athena was an old soul inside a young body and how wise she was.

Of course, we all noticed how unbelievable her outfits were in Tomorrowland. She told us that on her dress was an actual algorithyms, which I thought was very neat. She loved all the outfits, especially her blue dress.

When watching the movie, we noticed that Athena is quite strong and has a lot of martial arts scenes. We asked her if she got training in martial arts for this movie?

“Yeah, I trained for two months in gymnastics and martial arts, and then I went to Canada and did another month of martial arts and a bit of gymnastics.”-Raffey Cassidy. 

 

She told us after the initial training, it extended for six more months to prepare for this role. It certainly shows in Tomorrowland!

She also was so adorable talking about the fun she had driving the truck in Tomorrowland and how everyone was scared of her driving and telling her to stop getting so close to the ramps. Hey…She is only 13:)

Raffey Cassidy told us it was a blast to work with George Clooney and what a wonderful and funny man he was to her, filming this movie. He was both professional and funny at the same time is how she described him!

We were interested in knowing if she got to spend time with Young Frank in the movie?

“Yes I did. It was more towards the start of filming and then his scenes were separated out. So he was there during the whole filming process, so I got to see quite a lot of him, because most of my scenes were with young Frank, or Frank.”- Raffey Cassidy

We were also interested in knowing what traits in Athena she saw in herself?

“Well, if I had to choose something, it would probably be optimism, because I think that I feel that I’m quite optimistic and always look on the bright side of a bad situation.”- Raffey Cassidy

Just like George Clooney, she mentioned to us that she would love to travel with the jet pack and this was her most favorite technological piece in Tomorrowland.  Haha- You and me both! She also told us her favorite location to shoot was the Eiffel Tower!

In Tomorrowland, Raffey Cassidy’s character is a robot who gets to delve into such neat experiences. We were interested to know if this was harder for her because her character was a robot rather than a real person?

“Athena has so many different qualities. She’s optimistic. She’s intelligent. She’s wise, and I just kind of put all of those together. I always had an image in my head for a scene so it was never just going into it and trying to create one in my head. I always had an image that would just help me and I’d always be able to think of it to get me through the scenes.” -Raffey Cassidy

SPOILER ALERT!!! At the end of the movie Athena dies. Raffey Cassidy told us this was the hardest scene for her to film. She told us that it was a lot of lines to memorize but once she learned them, it just flowed. George Clooney made it easier for her because he led her and made a lot of eye contact with her. Again she told us how professional he was.

We were interested in her take on the message she would tell girls her age about the future?

” I’d say the future isn’t a place we’re going. It’s something we’re making, so it can be anything that they want it to be.”- Raffey Cassidy

She told us the movie made her feel much more optimistic, as it did for us all. It made us all, including her, look at our future and make it the best it can be!  We can all be in charge of our own future. This is a very important theme in Tomorrowland! She also mentioned that it is important to be a dreamer which both she and Athena are.

After, she told us she travels with her entire family. She has three brothers and one sister, and they all go together when one of them has to be on set. After seeing the movie, the whole family was supportive and excited to see their sister in such a great film!

She was adorable in telling us about how she visited Disneyland and was eager to visit Disney World. She told us her favorite ride was Space Mountain.

We were interested in knowing if she found it challenging at all to portray emotions but also remain kind of stoic a little bit with her character, since she’s a robot?

 “With Athena, they didn’t really want to show any emotion cause she’s always alert and  she always just wants to attack people. So, I found that she would never wanted to show emotion, but maybe sometime she wanted to show that she did care and did something to protect them.”- Raffey Cassidy

While she was the kid on set, there was plenty of times she felt like she had to take on the adult role in the film.

 “Athena is kind of the mom of the whole going. She looks after Casey and Frank, trying to bring them together  to help him save the world. Through their adventure, they would  become family.”-Raffey Cassidy

As we mentioned through our interviews, George Clooney is such a funny man and he loved to play pranks. We were interested in knowing what was the best prank he played on them in the movie?

“There was this one time when we were shooting and we pulled upon a black monorail and the doors would open, and the camera would be there watching us. So George thought it would be funny if we all ran to the side of the monorail and the doors would open and nobody would be there. So we did it and  everybody then waits and then wonders where they all gone?”- Raffey Cassidy  

She told us the best part of making this film was how close everyone got on set. They were like one big family. When asked about future plans, she told us that she would love to continue acting along with other goals.  She also told us that she loved seeing the final result of Tomorrowland. Everyone had different jobs on set and at the end, it all came together. That was one thing that amazed her!

While her work days were long (usually 6:30 Am-5 PM), she never wanted to go home once her shooting day ended. She loved filming this movie!

We ended the interview with her telling us that her favorite role model was Britt Robertson.

“I think she’s somebody to look up to and admire because she’s like an normal person but she’s done so much, she’s just so kind and I really, really like her!”-Raffey Cassidy

Next up for Raffey is going back to school but like I said before, we are going to see much more of her in the future. She truly is superb playing the role of Athena in Tomorrowland.

It was a great interview and we were sad to see her leave. I can’t wait to see her future as I know it will be very bright.

Do not forget that Tomorrowland is now in theaters and it is a movie YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS! Trust me, you will love this movie so head to your theaters, see it, and then let me know what you think! To learn more about Tomorrowland, follow them on their Facebook and Twitter page. You can also see my review of Tomorrowland here: Tomorrowland movie review along with other fabulous interviews we had that day. Happy watching!