“You’re special and you’ve been selected to know about this special place,” says Athena, played by actress Raffey Cassidy in Disney’s Tomorrowland.

MCM London Comic Con saw a special Tomorrowland panel with actress Raffey Cassidy in attendance. Directed by Brad Bird, the film sees an optimistic teenager, Casey (Britt Robertson) and a former boy-genius inventor, Frank (George Clooney) embark on a dangerous adventure to a mysterious place known as Tomorrowland.

In the film, Cassidy plays Athena, who puts Casey’s quest for Tomorrowland into motion when she gives her a pin. “Athena is very optimistic,” said Cassidy of her character. “She’s very wise, intelligent, caring and very protective.” She also noted her character’s wit, which is apparent during the scenes she shares with Casey.

Cassidy explained how the audition process for the film was very long, which involved her doing a self-tape, as well as doing a screen test in the UK and in the US. When it finally came to filming, she described it as “so much fun and a great experience.”

That the film is inspired by the Tomorrowland area at Disney theme parks, Cassidy explained that she had never been there before till it came to shooting the film, adding that her favourite ride there is Space Mountain. On working with director Brad Bird, she said, “He’s really imaginative. He always made you feel comfortable with what you’re doing.” She also explained how she was excited with the prospect of working with George Clooney. When asked about the chemistry she shares with his character Frank, she said, “Chemistry-wise, it just was there.”

Of an action scene in a memorabilia store that involves Athena, when asked what it was like putting it together, Cassidy said, “Every single part was so fun. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to do it all day long.” She added that the stunt team was “really cool” so she was always comfortable and never nervous when it came to shooting the action scenes.

Because her character has fight scenes and speaks different languages, Cassidy was asked about the schedule when it came to training for her character’s skills. She explained that she started in the UK with two months training in “swimming, gymnastics and martial arts.” This continued with another month in Canada. “Through the experience of actually filming Tomorrowland I did 3-4 days a week to keep it up,” she added. “If there was a fight scene coming up I would do quite intense training to make sure everything needed to be sharp.” For the different languages, she learnt the dialogue phonetically, adding, “I tried to do it as much as possible.”

When asked about the main message she hoped people would take away from the film, Cassidy said, “The future is unknown, it can be what you want it to be.”

Tomorrowland is out now in cinemas.

Photos by Sarah Tsang.

Originally published on MCM Buzz on 22 May 2015.