Sunday
05Oct2008
Jeff Bridges on 'Tron 2': "Another Chance To Play With These Crazy Toys"
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 7:05PM
Jeff Bridges was already a two-time Oscar
nominee when he starred in a highly experimental science-fiction flick called
Tron back in the early 1980s. The film went on
to become a cult classic, and director
Steve
Lisberger spent the past 25 years or so mulling
over a sequel.
Bridges recently talked to Will Lawrence of The Guardian about that film and his recent success in Iron Man.
"The big draw for me with Iron Man was [director] Jon Favreau," says Bridges. I got the script and wasn't sure I wanted to do it, but when I heard that Jon was involved""
"When he told me he had Robert Downey Jr, I thought that'd be wonderful," he adds. "Jon had a very hard time convincing the powers that be that Robert was the right man, but he was such a wonderful off beat choice."
As for Tron 2, which will be helmed by Joseph Kosinski, Bridges thinks it was too good to pass up, invoking childhood when he laughs about getting "another chance to play these crazy toys." "Doing the teaser trailer for Comic-Con, I had my first experience of motion capture. And that's turning the industry on its head. It's amazing being part of that."
Bridges also believes that the technological advances will help the sequel surpass to the inventiveness of the original film.
"Well, when we made Tron there was no internet, no cellphones. But now we have motion capture, so I think we'll get a far more successful version of the story, which is someone literally getting sucked into a video game. When we did King Kong in the 70s, one minute you'd have a shot of Rick Baker in this big suit and then you'd cut to this 80 foot stiff model, and they looked nothing alike. Compare to that Peter Jackson's King Kong: The technology is there and they did a wonderful job. I thought they created a beautiful Kong. So I hope that'll be the same for Tron."You can see Bridges now in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, and judging by its opening weekend box office, you'd be one of the first.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in How to Lose Friends, Iron Man, Jeff Bridges, Sci-Fi, Sequels, TRON | Print Article | Email Article | 1 Comment | Share Article
Reader Comments (1)
I would love to see a remake of Tron more than a sequel...maybe with the Pixar treatment. The world has changed so much since 1.0. Back in the 80's video games were more social, and the arcade was a big aspect of the story. But now, it would have to be more decentralized with an X-Box 360/Online starting point.
Can it be done?
Hellz yeah it can!
Can it be done right?
We can only hope.