Jeff Bridges Talks ‘Tron 2’

What started as on and off rumours turned in to widespread speculation and then finally concrete facts: Tron was getting a sequel. But while the emergence of Tron 2 was enough to get the fanboys wetting their pants, there was still the question of who would be in it? Could they really manage to get original star Jeff Bridges back for the sequel, even though he’s now pushing 60?

Way back in November of last year saw the first rumblings that Bridges may indeed be once again being sucked in to a videogame. He seemed keen, and so did everyone else. Now it has been confirmed that Bridges will indeed be the star of Tron 2, and his reasons for signing up to the project are quite simple.

He told The Guardian:

“[Tron 2 is] another unique, wild experience that was too good to turn down. Engaging in that world again feels just like it did all that time ago. Basically, I’m still a child, I love being childlike, and here was another chance to play with these crazy toys. And the cutting-edge technology makes it exciting. 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.”

“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 80ft 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.”

So bridges signed on the dotted line purely to be a part of the whole Tron saga once again. Good for him. I agree with him also that Tron 2 should be able to utilise the new technology invented since the first movie to become an even better version of the original.

The only question mark remaining is whether the technology will actually take away from the appeal somewhat. Personally, I love motion capture and special effects-laden blockbusters, but I can see the argument for keeping Tron old-skool.