It's All About Family
Plotwise, this is what we know so far…the film will be set around 30 years or so after the original Tron , and focuses on Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of Jeff Bridges’ character Kevin.
Computer giants ENCOM have become the most successful digital company in the world, but Flynn Senior has been missing for the last couple of decades. Sam is understandably keen to track down his old man, his search soon leading him to a secret room hidden within the run-down Flynn’s arcade.
Naturally, it’s not long before he’s pulled into the Tron universe, where things have turned distinctly sour since the last time we were here… Excited much? Us too…
It's All About Family
Plotwise, this is what we know so far…the film will be set around 30 years or so after the original Tron , and focuses on Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of Jeff Bridges’ character Kevin.
Computer giants ENCOM have become the most successful digital company in the world, but Flynn Senior has been missing for the last couple of decades. Sam is understandably keen to track down his old man, his search soon leading him to a secret room hidden within the run-down Flynn’s arcade.
Naturally, it’s not long before he’s pulled into the Tron universe, where things have turned distinctly sour since the last time we were here… Excited much? Us too…
It Will Be Shot In 3D
Although apparently, it won’t be anything like another 3D film you might have heard of.
"Our approach is not like Avatar ," says director Joseph Kosinski in an interview with MTV . “I think that’s 3D from the first shot to the last. Ours is sort of a Wizard Of Oz approach."
"Ninety-eight percent of the 3D is in the world of Tron. The 3D really starts once we get into the Tron world." And if the trailer is anything to go by, it’s going to look very special indeed!
Five Scenes Will Be Shot For IMAX
Not satisfied with shooting in three glorious dimensions, Kosinski has revealed that five of the film’s action sequences will be filmed with IMAX cameras, a la The Dark Knight .
“In an IMAX theater, the black bars at the top and bottom of the frame will disappear,” explains Kosinski. “It will become a full-screen sequence, which should be really cool. I think IMAX will be the way to see this movie.”
3D light-cycle races, played out across a screen several stories high? Yeah, we think he's probably right about that one.
The Tron World Looks Incredible!
The teaser trailer released for last year’s Comic Con may have whetted the appetite, but to be honest, we weren’t that thrilled by the look of the Tron universe.
It felt a bit blocky and, well, a bit eighties for our liking! Not any more though…
The latest trailer looks visually breathtaking, packed with sleek, glowing surfaces and suffused with a Blade Runner -esque air of menace. Even the suits look the business...
It's Got A Script From The Writers Behind Lost
If anyone was worried that this would just be a dumb, special-effects led blockbuster, the presence of Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis on writing duties should convince them otherwise.
A screenwriting partnership responsible for a lot of the better moments in Lost ’s twisty-turny narrative, Kitsis and Horowitz know how to wring tension and suspense out of the most preposterous of set-ups.
Not that there's anything preposterous about being sucked into a computer and having to chuck frisbees around to survive or anything.
The Teaser Campaign Will Take Some Beating
If the film is half as good as the marketing campaign, we’ll be in for a treat.
Back in July last year a series of golden coins marked ‘Flynn’s Arcade’ arrived at a number of movie websites, accompanied by a flash-drive containing a code leading to the website www.flynnlives.com.
Since then, fans have been led a merry dance to assorted teasers, trailers and Tron -related goodies, all of which will take some living up to.
The Soundtrack Will Be Ace
In a bit of casting as inspired as anything that will end up on-screen, robot-fancying electro pioneers Daft Punk have been roped in to do the soundtrack.
“These guys take Tron very seriously,” says Kosinski. “It was almost like they were interviewing me to make sure that I was going to hold up to the Tron legacy.”
And for those of you pining for a bit of eighties power-balladry, Journey have provided a track as a nod to the original film. Lighters at the ready!
Bridges Is Back...
And not only playing one character, but two. Well, sort of.
The Dude will reprise his role as Kevin Flynn, but will also play the avatar that character created in the original film. A bit of a headscratcher, but one Bridges is keen to take on.
“The same things appealed to me about the original,” he told Collider , “which was this idea that there’s a kid aspect to what I do. I used to love to pretend when I was a kid, and here’s a movie where I get to play a guy who gets sucked into a computer!”
...And He's Come Over All Benjamin Button
The Clu 2.0 avatar that Flynn inhabits in the Tron universe looks like Jeff Bridges…only younger. About 30 years younger!
The stunning effect has been knocked up by Digital Domain, the team behind Brad Pitt’s wrinkles in Benjamin Button .
It’s a technique that was also spotted shaving a couple of decades of Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart in X-Men: The Last Stand , and produces a pretty uncanny impression of Bridges as he appeared in the first film. Spooky!
Jeff Isn't The Only Old Face To Return
Who’s that old buffer yakking on to Garrett Headlund at the beginning of the trailer? Hang on a minute, it’s Bruce Boxleitner!
Looks like Flynn’s old mucker Alan Bradley is back for seconds, and director Kosinski insists he’s not just there to appease the fanboys.
“To include Bruce Boxleitner is not at all a cameo or stunt casting,” he says. “He is integral to the story we’re trying to tell, which is why he’s in it. We’ve taken the events of the first movie as historical facts.”
Girls, Girls, Girls!
The eye-candy won’t only come in the form of those flashy new light-cycles.
The lovely Beau Garrett and Olivia Wilde are both on board (happily seen sporting slinky, skin-tight outfits in the trailer), with the latter taking a particular shine to the Tron-universe. “There’s nothing cooler than a lightcycle,” gushed Wilde to Wired , before admitting to being a little starstruck by Jeff Bridges.
“It was an amazing resource to have the star of the original there on set,” she says. “ Although I had to stuff my fist in my mouth not to ask Lebowski questions.”
Michael Sheen Is In It
It might be a CGI-driven juggernaut of a movie, but there’s still room for a good old-fashioned character actor.
Sheen will play a nightclub host (a possibly villainous one by the looks of his manic, white-haired appearance in the trailer…) and seems to have been blown away by the sheer scale of the thing.
“It was amazing, because there’s a lot of green screen involved,” says Sheen, with wide-eyed enthusiasm. “My stuff was mainly in this nightclub…there were hundreds of extras and it was one of those great scenes where there’s just loads going on.”
There May Be More Sequels
Depending on the success of Legacy , we may well have a fully blown franchise on our hands.
According to the Blue Sky Disney blog, a healthy box office performance could be, “the beginning of a new trilogy of films that start with the word ‘Tron’ and finish somewhere else…”
What is confirmed is that an animated series is in development, potentially as a stopgap to maintain interest between sequels…watch this space!
