Jeff Bridges reprises the role of Kevin Flynn in "TRON: Legacy," the remake of the 1982 classic "Tron," which also stars Bridges. The film, which is directed by Joseph Kosinski and also stars Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, is being released by Disney on December 17.
Theme of technology
Bridges comments, “One of the underlying elements of the story is technology. It’s so exciting to realize all the things that you can do. But what’s happening with technology is that it is developing so fast that we haven’t really developed any ethics to go along with it, or knowledge of what some of the ramifications of this technology will be. So that’s also a theme that ‘TRON: Legacy’ deals with.”
“The marriage of photorealistic computer-generated images and actual practical sets really gives you a sense of the world that you’re in,” says Bridges. “In the original ‘TRON’ we didn’t have that because it was basically black duvetyn with white adhesive tape marking things; we never got the feeling of where we actually were. There’s nothing like walking onto the set for the first time and seeing it all dressed.”
Bridges embraced the new technology on a personal level. “I love going to movies and whenever I see a big epic film where the character has aged from being a young boy to an old man, traditionally there are different actors playing him in those stages. That’s always a little bump for me as I’m sitting there, when they change from one actor to the next. But now as an actor it’s very gratifying to know that I can play myself or the character that I’m playing at any age, from an infant to an old man. That’s really exciting, especially to be part of this groundbreaking technology.”
Working with Kosinski
“I got a pitch from the director, Joe Kosinski,” says the iconic actor. “You’ve got to give Disney credit for seeing his potential. They were smart because he’s such a calm, can-do guy. Joe made a wonderful pitch on the story, where it was going, and that was intriguing to me. Then he showed me his reel, and I saw some of the technology that he had available to him. So then, it was basically the same reason that I did the first one—it was cutting-edge technology at that time, and this one certainly is for this time. Plus, it’s a whole different way of making movies that I haven’t experienced.”
