Billy Crudup has always been the kind of guy you’d buy something from. He’s got that smirk — part charmer, part devil, maybe part tour guide to your next questionable life choice. In Hello Tomorrow!, Crudup sells time shares on the moon. He’s selling you the future you’ve always wanted — the one you read about in Popular Mechanics when cars were supposed to hover and your life was supposed to be way better than it actually turned out.
It’s retrofuturism dipped in 50s optimism and shaken with a twist of 21st-century desperation. “It’s an extraordinary endeavor to make a sci-fi,” Crudup told me, sounding like a man who’s seen the puppet strings. “I’ve only had a couple experiences like this — you have an army of puppeteers and robot controllers with remote controls. Sometimes you’re in a moment of despair and there’s a guy in a full green suit next to you.” So yes, the magic’s real — if you like your magic held together with fishing line and duct tape.
Crudup’s character Jack Billings is the American sales pitch incarnate — the carnival barker with the grin that says, you want this, trust me. “He’s genuinely interested in people and he has such an empathetic heart,” Crudup said. “He doesn’t always know the best ways to help people, but if he listens, he can figure out where they feel desperate — and hopefully he can find something in his bag of tricks to sell them that makes the day a little bit better.” For a nominal fee, obviously.
If the mid-century glow makes you nostalgic, that’s the point. Crudup knows the secret sauce here is that gleeful, reckless 50s daydream. “There was a sense of, oh the war’s over, now let’s get into the hope of a peaceful future and all the joys that technology is going to bring us,” he said, almost wistful. “We imaginatively think it was like that — the jetpacks, the cars that hover. Even in our future it hasn’t really happened the same way. But it’s a great tool for telling a story — the past, the future, and the present are all kind of similar. When you appreciate that, you can live for today… and not constantly be waiting to say hello tomorrow.”
Smooth, Billy. Smooth.
He’s got a thing for the old stuff, too. “I used to park cars and deliver subs in college — spent a lot of time in my car listening to nothing but Motown,” he told me. “Mercifully, I was indoctrinated into this incredible era of music.” And yes, Hello Tomorrow! works that vibe, with Mark Mothersbaugh (yes, that Mark from Devo) cooking up a soundtrack that feels half jukebox, half Jetsons. “They would re-record these classics so they sound familiar — right there at your fingertips, but something’s a little bit altered about it. It’s magical.”
Ask Crudup if he believes in the snake oil his character’s selling and he gives you the answer you’d expect: Of course he does. “Jack is nothing if not an American,” he said. “We’ve got holidays built around buying things that will make your life a little better while showing you that people love you — as opposed to, well, just loving each other all the time.”
So go ahead. Sign the deed. Take your time share on the moon. Billy Crudup will be there waiting, grin wide, to sell you a new tomorrow — as long as you keep paying for it today.
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
