Trivia: Stanley Kubrick Almost Had A Cameo In 'Tomorrowland'

Brad Bird's Tomorrowland is a celebration of dreamers and thinkers of all kinds. A few famous dreamers and thinkers, like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Jules Verne, even make it into the film in a roundabout way. And originally, there was at least one more that Bird wanted to include.

The filmmaker reveals he initially had plans to include a Stanley Kubrick cameo in an early scene set at the 1964 World's Fair. Hit the jump for more on the Tomorrowland Stanley Kubrick cameo that never was. 

Bird revealed plans for the Tomorrowland Stanley Kubrick cameo in a chat with Disney Insider:

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. 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.

It's a nifty concept, and one that surely would've set cinephiles' hearts aflutter. And of course it's made all the cooler by the fact that this is actually what happened — well, minus the part where Frank also attends, because Frank is a fictional character.

While the film doesn't really need more footage of Frank wandering around the World's Fair, I kind of wish Bird had actually shot this scene. It would've made for a killer Tomorrowland bonus feature, and I'm betting there's a not-insignificant overlap between people who would recognize a young Kubrick, and people who actually watch Blu-ray bonus features.