Jeff Bridges wanted his mind blown, says “Tron: Legacy” producer Sean Bailey.
“We went to talk to Jeff when doing another 'Tron' was just an idea,” Bailey (pictured right with Bridges at Comic-Con 2010 ) told TheWrap, “and before he would commit he said to us, ‘Tell me the things you are going to do that no one’s ever done before.’ ”
That attitude, says Bailey, who became Disney’s head of production during the making of the “Tron” sequel, which opens in 3D on Dec. 17, is why he calls the Oscar winner “a big part of our creative process.”
“One of the things I really admire of about Jeff is he asked a lot of questions both before we started filming, during filming in Vancouver and afterwards,” Bailey admits. “I feel because of that we asked some interesting questions about human emotions and human reality in a digital world.”
Bridges, the star of the original “Tron” from 1982, plays the character of Kevin Flynn in the estimated $200 million sequel as well as – thanks to the power of CGI — his digital nemesis Clu.
“The result is Joe Kosinski has created a spectacular visual world but we also have an emotional character-based story,” Bailey says the “Tron: Legacy” director’s efforts. “So we hope we can pull it off both ways.”
Certainly, when it comes to promoting “Tron: Legacy,” with fans old and new, Disney is going for it every way possible. The massive multi-year, multi-million dollar campaign for the sequel, made all the smoother by Bailey’s dual roles on the production and at the studio, has raised comparisons of anticipation to “Avatar” — and not just because “Tron: Legacy” is in 3D.
After word emerged in 2005 that a “Tron” sequel was in the works, the rollout, one of the longest and most anticipated in Hollywood history, started with a teaser at Comic-Con 2008, ramped up at the San Diego fan gathering this year with more footage and appearances by the stars – not to mention some true fan participation — and now is in full flight.
The marketing campaign of trailers, theme park attractions, online (see Disney’s viral Flynn Lives site), video games and other merchandising, a much publicized Daft Punk soundtrack, a 23-minute worldwide IMAX preview on Oct. 28 and looming billboards is the surest sign the studio has a lot banking on “Tron: Legacy” this holiday season – even though the 1982 original was only a cult classic.
Though, as much as “Tron” has grown over the decades, the Disney production boss says its appeal is philosophical as well as those zooming Light Cycles.
“For me the legacy of 'Tron' is conceptually,” Bailey ponders, “I always thought the movie was ahead of its time in terms of the human and the digital,” he states, “they were envisioning that before we all had computers on our desktops. Now we are looking at it again in our era.”
As Tron forward as Bailey and Disney want to be, they are careful to pay respect to the original’s fanbase and the legacy aspect of their devotion.
“If you are a fan of the first movie I hope you will see we honored it,” Bailey told TheWrap. “There are a lot of Easter eggs in “Ton: Legacy,” he added without giving any specifics, “some references back to the original that you’ll see.”
“Having said that, in the end it was really important for us,” says Bailey, “and for Jeff to make a stand alone movie with “Tron: Legacy.”
Let’s see if that blows audience’s minds like it must have Jeff Bridges’.
