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Digital Dreams
Actor Jeff Bridges spirals into inner space with the dazzling new sci-fi adventure Tron: Legacy.
Pivotal to bringing Tron back to the big screen almost three decades after the original film was its star, Jeff Bridges. With the much loved actor starring in the dual roles of Kevin Flynn and Clu in the original Tron (as he does in Tron: Legacy), its sequel would have been a tough sell without the involvement of the recent Oscar winner.
Characteristically modest, Bridges ponders his role today. "I'm not so sure how important I was to this," he says. "With Tron: Legacy, I felt very much like I felt when the first one came my way; it's that kid inside of me thinking, ‘I get to play a guy who gets sucked inside a computer, yeah!' That's what brought me to this one as well, but with an added element of the chance to create a modern day myth about technology. Would it have happened without me? It would have gone ahead without me. Or I could have said, ‘Yeah, I'll lease you my image.' That's probably coming up, right?" Bridges says in that deliciously languorous voice of his.
Reflecting on the almost prophetic themes of the original Tron, Bridges particularly enjoys the layers of the new film. "We're creating a new myth about technology and how to deal with it. Technology can bring us closer together or separate us - so how are we going to navigate those waters? This movie certainly gives you a little inkling of how we might do it," says the actor, who can hardly be accused of an over-absorption in modern technology. "When we made the first Tron, our cell phones were so huge that it was like carrying a big suitcase. There was no internet, no personal computers, none of that. It was a completely different world. Obviously, we've come a long way, but I don't Tweet or do Facebook or any of that stuff. I have a website that I like to mess around with, but I don't spend too much energy trying to keep up."
While most of today's new generation of actors are familiar with motion capture work, for consummate character actor Bridges, it was a new experience. "Half the time, I didn't even have a costume, and there was no makeup except for a hundred little black dots on my face," he says. "You're in a leotard and you have a helmet on your head with these antennas coming out that are actually cameras. It's bizarre. As an actor, I really enjoy costumes and makeup. That informs your performance, and you count on those things. When you don't have them, you're really thrown back to when you were a little kid. You had to imagine what that stuff is like," says Bridges.
Vital to the plausibility of the father-son relationship between Bridges and Garrett Hedlund's Sam Flynn was a genuine connection between the elder and younger actors. "We met for lunch in Los Angeles before we all went to shoot in Vancouver," recalls Bridges. "Personally, I'm father to three girls, but my brother's got some boys, and my sister has got some boys, and when I look at Garrett, I can see, ‘Oh yeah, he could be my son.' Something about him reminds me of myself a little bit."
Tron Legacy is released on December 16. For more, pick up the December issue of FILMINK (on stands now) which includes a feature on Tron Legacy with more from Bridges, as well as actors Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and director Joseph Kosinski.
