Jeff Bridges kneeling meditatively in a safe house room with lit glass floors like something out of the end of Kubrick’s 2001.

The same laser machine that originally catapulted Flynn into the computer, now in a cobweb-infested attic.

Little touches like the View-Masters are meant to make a set visit more pleasant and enjoyable, but also to send off a very clear message: “We know EXACTLY how to tickle your nostalgia bone!”

Inside the War Room we saw lots of artwork, including a look at Flynn in two opposing outfits, and also his ageless digital avatar Clu, who unlike Flynn is clean-shaven and whose suit glowed a neon orange, indicating a possible antagonist. They will be using the “Benjamin Button” technology to de-age Jeff Bridges for his scenes as Clu, some of which were briefly glimpsed in the trailer (watch below). Other characters seen in artwork on the wall include Quorra (loyalist), Castor (fixer), Siren (gem), Rinzler (Clu’s primary attack dog), and so on.

It is very clear that Kosinski is aiming for realism in the design work, not a stylized look ala 300. Things look PRACTICAL. There is atmosphere, rain, fog, distant mountains. The streets are shinier, there’s more grime and reflections. There is a real-world shipping crate that reads “Dumont,” a nod to David Warner’s villain character. An updated Solar Sailor. There are new, updated Recognizers, black and sleek. When asked if they still come apart into separate pieces, the producer answers, “not on purpose.”

Everything is the same but evolved, as if the universe was still on an old Cray computer like a contained Galopagos, disconnected and evolving. They even brought in Syd Mead, the great visual futurist who was on the original’s design team, for a day to inform these new worlds. Some new additions to the arsenal are also glimpsed, including a four-wheeled dune buggy, Clu’s throne ship, a giant crane on the roof of Encom, and some other vehicles which were only hinted at that really let our imaginations FLY.

There is still an ‘82-era light bike in Bridges’ safe house, but whether it will be used or not remains to be seen. Unfortunately, for those of you hoping for a return of the cute “YES” & “NO” companion, we are “sad” to report “BIT” will not be returning.

One of the biggest criticisms leveled at the original TRON, from critics to even vocal supporters like Pixar’s John Lasseter, is that the film did not engage the audience enough emotionally. Given this widely-held opinion, it’s no wonder the producers Justin Springer and Sean Bailey, who have been on the project since 2004, give us a pep-talk about the emotional direction the film will take, with Sam Flynn going into the computer to search for his father. This is a far better anchor for an audience than the first one, where everything hung on Flynn searching for a piece of information.

After having our run of the War Room we made our way to The Quantum Room, which is where all the wardrobe are kept. As some readers pointed out after our previous article, the lit-circuit look on the 1982 costumes was not achieved with computers but rather through painstaking frame-by-frame optical backlit compositing. It is no secret that studios farm out more time-consuming work like this to Asia as a standard cost-cutting measure, which explains the large number of animators literally credited in Taiwanese!

These new suits, however, are lit practically. The costume repair shop had many of the distinct character suits (136 costumes total), all of which have paper-thin, radio-controlled lights integrated into the black molded rubber. The wiring is safe, and is described as being almost like silkscreening with light, run on nanolithium batteries that can power an electric car. The “lamps” are all Velcro so they can come off and be replaced when necessary. Sean’s suit also has a built-in light disc, a parachute, and the legs have little round grenades in them, in case you’re curious.

Neville Page, the brilliant young creature designer responsible for, among other things, the Cloverfield monster, ventured out of his usual beastly wheelhouse to design these new suits. With his head shaved bald for an appearance related to his Romulan designs for Star Trek, Page explained the new suits for which light was “the glue” that held them together.

“The thrust of my efforts were really the specialty costumes,” he said. “This is considered specialties to a degree because of the lighting but it’s still kind of sewn together and fabricated in that respect. But the ones that are the foam suits so the black guards, Rinsler, Jarvis, those kind of costumes are the ones I had the most time spent on.

“As you know the original was leotards with black tape, and the helmet was a hockey helmet with black tape on it. So it’s risky to homage it and have it work. Particularly since the technology that we had to use was going to be practical lighting within the suits. In the first one, where the technology is nowhere near what we have today… we weren’t able to do the thin precision lines that they were able to do, simply because of the fact that our lights had to be bright enough for the camera to pick them up. So our lines kept getting bigger and wider, and when it got bigger and wider the potential for them to break was higher so we’d have to break it at the legs. It was an interesting awareness that we couldn’t do as much as they could do back then graphic design wise. But clearly we’re able to do more in terms of sculpture.”

We got to really see these suits in action entering the soundstage housing the massive set for the End-Of-Line Club, a bustling bar filled with many colorful denizens of the electronic world. The whole set must have been at least 3-stories high, with huge diagonal columns. There is a big LED panel under the floor connected to a laptop running footage of clouds to surreal, trippy effect. There is a bar stocked with blue liquid in large bladders, a partially-bluescreened staircase (the steps will float) leading to a stage, and a DJ booth housing none other than French house music duo Daft Punk, who are also creating the soundtrack for the film. Guy and Thomas were wearing Tron-World iterations of their usual black-helmet outfits, and piping in a droning, rhythmic cut they had created for the scene that completely fits the New Wave cyber-punk, proto-fascist vibe.

Michael Sheen walked (or rather WAS walked) onto the set looking like Ziggy-era David Bowie, with shocking white hair, tight-white leather outfit, pale skin, piercing white neon contacts, and, of course, a pimp cane! His suit was so tight he had to be assisted to merely lean on a tall stool to talk about his nightclub impresario character, Castor.

“Well I remember when I first met Joe he was saying that this character is a showman,” said Sheen in his chipper English accent. “Wants to have big energy, for it to be very colorful and vivid and very different than everything else that has come before in the film. He’s a kind of chameleon character so you’re never quite sure who the real him is and keeps changing all the time. There’s a little bit of Frank-N-Furter, a little bit of Ziggy Stardust, a little bit of Joel Grey from ‘Cabaret,’ there’s all those kind of things in here.

“He owns this club and he’s supposedly the coolest cat in the city. He entertains in the club as well as being the owner of it. Apparently he’s also part of a resistance movement within the world of Tron, and Sam Flynn gets sent my way because there’s some cackle who might be able to help him, and if you want to get to him you have to go through me so that’s about all I’m going to tell you.”

In the scene being shot, Sam Flynn is being given a flamboyant tour of the club by Castor, who ascends the staircase, exclaiming “Have a drink, courtesy of the End-Of-Line Club. Libations for everyone! Change the scheme, ELECTRIFY THE BOYS AND GIRLS!” A tall, statuesque female clubgoer grabs Sam and sleekly directs him towards the bar, where TRON creator Steven Lisberger is bartending. Castor points his cane at Lisberger and gives him a little salute. An appropriate cameo.

The suits look glorious onscreen, but clearly painful in real life.

“I like the way it looks, and that is it,” Sheen explained. “There is nothing else I like about it. There is not one bit of it that is comfortable, but it looks fantastic and the work that’s gone into it… all the work on the wardrobe department on this film has just been incredible. You know, they’ve worked so hard and I’ve had about six costume fittings over a series of, you know, a whole slew of months. Each time it gets tighter, each time I think I have to lose a little bit more weight. The fact that it lights up, all that kind of stuff is incredible.”

Olivia Wilde, who plays Quorra, was also on hand during the shooting, and while she was not as agitated by the costume, she also happened to not be in hers at the moment, appearing in her street clothes and looking very at-ease.

“I won’t complain ’cause we’re really lucky to get to wear them,” she said, “but they’re not easy. So whenever we’re sitting there straining or, you know, figuring out how to move in them, Jeff says, ‘Well, you know, in the first film, we wore basically white, you know, white leotards.’ Not easy for any man or woman.”

Apparently her character does more than her fair share of ass-whupping in the film, which required a lot of acrobatics and martial arts training. She also trained on a flight simulator at the U.S. Air Force base in Arizona for the A-10.

“I play Quorra,” she continued. “I’m a close confidant of Jeff Bridges’ character Flynn. Close, personal confidant. I don’t think it will give anything away to say that Joan of Arc was a major inspiration for my character. As far as other films I think there’s something to be said for Natalie Portman’s character in ‘The Professional.’ So I don’t know if you can imagine a mixture between that little girl and Joan of Arc…”

The camera glides through the crowd and around the set on a long crane running on an electric track hanging from the ceiling. A Sony F-35 dual lens camera is contained inside a single metal box on the end of the crane, to enable the 3D shooting. Unlike many recent films that have opted to cheat and post-convert to 3D, Kosinski is shooting with the same Cameron-Pace system used to shoot “Avatar.” It is actually on a motion control rig, the first time its been used, which was mainly installed for a big fight sequence so they could get clean plates.

As each take happens, Kosinski watches the realtime footage on a polarized 3D monitor set up in video village. We got to try out the glasses ourselves, and all agreed the 3D delineates the levels of foreground, middle ground, and background in a way that adds depth and realism. The 3D will only be used in the Tron World, the transition to which will be very similar to the transition from black & white to color in “The Wizard of Oz.” When the director is not there he casually talks shop with his actors and crew, a very calm, assured presence on the set. Occasionally he will consult with Lisberger, who in his costume is enthusiastic, smiling, clearly enjoying himself and in his element.

This is a fully populated sequence, giving the appearance of a speakeasy. You will get to see a cross-section of different inhabitants/programs. Just from the few shots we see, the elegance and restraint of Kosinski’s style is evident. “Lots of energy on this one, lots of crosses… lights on!” he bellows. The lights are controlled by radio, and it is fun to watch everyone’s costume turn on at once.

After the debut of the trailer, and what we saw on set, there is no longer any doubt Tron Legacy will be a milestone visual achievement. Whether this film will ultimately have the emotional impact on audiences the original missed the mark on remains to be seen, but Wilde is very hopeful.

“The first one was more of a cautionary tale,” she says. “So this one is sort of what happens when that cautionary tale has not been heeded. When there’s been 30 years of technology becoming increasingly powerful, where are you left at that point?

“Just in the three months I’ve been working on this, I feel what I’ve learned is like I was saying to Jeff, you have to treat it like it’s a character piece, like it’s any other film. And that it’s fun. I mean this movie should feel like a ride. It should feel like an adventure, and that’s what I think what we’re making, something that people will want to see again and again because it’s enjoyable. It does have emotional weight to it, but it should still feel like a fantastic ride. So I think that’s what we’re doing. And I think — God I’m just so excited!”

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“I use the sword.  I’m the only one who uses the sword and then we have the disc and shields as well as weapons,” Wilde reveals excitedly. “So, it’s kind of cool.”

And then, of course realizing it’s a Disney movie, Wilde smiles and adds, “You will be able to buy them soon.”

Stopping by with co-star Garrett Hedlund in skintight black suits highlighted by electric and glowing looking accents before shooting a major action scene, Wilde says she was “amazed” at how the original “Tron” filmmakers were able to be so forward thinking way back in 1984.

“It’s really amazing to me that they didn’t know what they were talking about when they said programs or bits, bits or anything like that,” Wilde insists. “It was all gobbledy-gook for them.  And they were able to make it sound fluid.  So, that’s pretty impressive to me even when they’re using the desk, the flat computer with the touch screen thing.  That to them must have just been so insane and implausible and to us now, it sort of holds up as well.  I’d still like a desk that could do that.”

Not much is known about Quorra, Wilde’s character in the long awaited sequel except that she’s connected to the missing Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and teams up with Flynn’s son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), to take down an out of control Master Control Program.

Secrecy is important even on an embargoed set visit and Hedlund admitted its easier to keep his lid shut than he expected, “I find it’s a little more therapeutic not being able to talk about it.  Cause it’s harder always trying to– like we’d love to share everything.  But when you’re constantly– you got the mouse behind you.”

That “mouse” is Disney of course, the studio that was willing to take a big chance that a return to the virtual world of “Tron” could work over a quarter century after the first film became a cult phenomenon.  Luckily, director Joseph Kosinski’s vision is aligning for exactly the sort of experience audiences are looking for after James Cameron’s immersive “Avatar.”  That’s made “Legacy” one of the most anticipated films this holiday season, but even pre-“Avatar,” Wilde was awed by the 3-D technology the production was using.

“I think what’s cool is that we’re going so far beyond the 3-D,” Wilde says. “[They are] really utilizing all the new technology, technology people haven’t heard of yet so it won’t just be the 3-D that makes it special.  I think that’s kind of exciting.  We’ve been saying that the movie should– the movie will feel like a ride, which is what people expect now from a film. I mean, people’s home entertainment systems are now so advance why do go to the movies?  But ‘Tron’ will be a great reason to go. And I think that’s really fun.”

Audiences will have to judge for themselves with “Tron Legacy” opens nationwide and in IMAX on Dec. 17.

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What did you think of the original Tron movie when you saw it?
I watched the original in 2003 when I was filming Troy in Malta. I remember thinking how crazy people’s minds were in those days, to be able to create a film dealing with a man being sucked into a computer. I never thought that one day I would be involved in this.

Did you have any hesitations in accepting the role of Sam Flynn?
I’ve always been hesitant of being involved in a big commercial blockbuster because there is a lot of fear involved. The fear of massive exposure, that all the visual effects will be as grand and as impactful as they’ve been promised to be, and hoping that the story will come across well. But this film was perfect to jump into without fear. The director was fantastic and the cast are amazing. I’ve always wanted to work with Jeff Bridges, and now we’re playing father and son. I’ve known Olivia Wilde for years prior, and it was just as big a deal to her as it was for me because neither of us had starred in a big commercial vehicle, and it was cool to share and take this step forward with her.

How did you prepare for the role?
The character I play is an extremist full of adventure and life, so basically we had to go through a lot of extensive physical training in order to prepare for the stunts. I had to get my motorcycle licence and train every morning from 7am to 9am, and then go do physical combat training: punches, knees, and kicks. And afterwards I would go into hard- core training – jumping over things and doing weight-lifting for an hour.

So you made a movie and got into shape?
[Laughs] Yeah, I guess, but then for my last role I played a country singer, and as much work that I put into getting in great shape, I had to put into getting in the exact opposite shape.

Tell me about your film where you played a country singer
The film’s called Love Don’t Let Me Down, and it was just as difficult emotionally as Tron was physically. I play a young country singer that goes on tour with Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, who is one of the biggest country stars out there but who has fallen down too many times. She gets taken out of rehab to go on tour and she wants me to open for her because she’s fallen for me and finds an extreme amount of promise in me. So we go on to this tour, and one thing after another starts to fall apart.

How did you prepare for Love Don’t Let Me Down?
We filmed in Nashville for two months, and I got there a month early and stayed in a cabin on a ranch, where I kept up with all the guitar rehearsals, ‘cause I never knew how to play a guitar before.

Is the guitar something you’ll keep up?
Oh yeah, not publicly performing, but as a private passion, just like writing.

What kind of writing do you do?
Anything really. If I have a great night, I sit down and use a pen and pad as a pal to whom I’m really excited to tell it all too. It’s kind of like documenting my time, so maybe one day when I’m a grandfather, my grandchild can look at it and say, “Look at the life he was able to live.”

What about your life in LA; what do you do when you’re not working?
When I get home I really just kick my feet up and ready everything I’m meant to read, and write what I couldn’t write, or watch what I just couldn’t get myself to the theatre to watch when I was filming in a different city.

What is the hardest lesson you’ve learnt since you began acting?
My biggest thing has always been privacy. It’s always been a struggle for me to express myself when the questions are personal. I prefer the ambiguity. For every interview I would almost prefer saying the opposite of what’s true about me and keep people guessing, rather than giving them facts that they can formulate an opinion or judgment of me based on what they’ve heard is true.

So it’s easier to be in front of a camera as a character rather than yourself?
Oh of course, big time. Even though you’re right there, there’s a big mask to hide behind.

Have you always been so private?
I guess so, I grew up on a farm in a small town where you do or say one thing and everybody knows about it. So I learned at a very young age just to keep my mouth shut. You see it happen. People talk around town; there’s always the town gossip: “Oh did you hear about so and so?” or “Did you hear what went on in this household?”

It must be hard to remain private when you are making movies. How do you deal with the criticism?
I think the best way to deal with negative comments is to just not respond to them. I’m not the one who’s had to deal with a lot of that right now. I mean, when Troy came out, people were saying this and that online. Yeah it’s crazy, but it blows away. I just never really cared about what people say.

Would you ever go back to living on a farm?
Yeah. I feel that everything that pulled me to the city slowly pushed me away from it. The peace and quiet and the freedom that I never realized meant as much as it did. We didn’t have any neighbours for miles, woodland to run around in. life is too short when you fine yourself sitting in a car for four hours everyday trying to get from East LA to West LA to Hollywood and then back to East LA.

If you had to give up acting today what would you do?
Be a country singer. [Laughs] I don’t know, I grew up with country music all my life, and I was never a good country singer and I could never play an instrument, but from this experience out in Nashville, I just feel in love with it.

Tron Legacy will be in cinemas in December.

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Anyway, last June I was invited – along with a few other online journalists – the set of Tron Legacy when the film was in the middle of production. If you checked out my set report, you know how excited I was to be on the set and how amazing everything looked. As I said, I grew up watching Tron. It was one of my favorite films as a kid and never in my wildest dreams did I think Disney would make a sequel. So getting to stand on set and watching Jeff Bridges play Kevin Flynn was a dream come true. And while I was able to do a lot of on set interviews, Disney did two set visits and on the first one, the journalists had a lot of time with Garrett Hedlund. Since our visit didn’t have much time with him, they’ve provided me with that interview to run in it’s place. So if you’d like to read what Garrett Hedlund had to say about making Tron Legacy, hit the jump:

Before getting to the interview…if you haven’t seen the amazing trailer for Tron Legacy, I really suggest watching it before reading the interview. And for those just joining the party, Garrett Hedlund plays Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) son in the film and he’s been on his own for a long time as his dad went missing. Watch this trailer. It’ll explain everything. And if you’re not excited for Tron Legacy, this trailer will change that.

Question: Can you talk about the character that you’re playing here? You’re Flynn’s son and we don’t really know that much more about it.

Garrett Hedlund: Well it’s pretty much, you know, film sort of takes place 20 years, after Flynn has sort of mysteriously disappeared. And starts off kind of with me. Sort of see this kid, I mean he’s the biggest shareholder in the company, you know, really at this point. And he grew up without his father. Lived with the grandparents, and Alan Bradley kind of always looked after him. You know, got him out of trouble, things like that. And then, Allen pays a visit and sort of ushers me to kind of go to Flynn’s…go to the office and check things out. And I go there. Me as Sam as a character is kind of a kid with a lot but sort of does a little with it, you know? Very reclusive and sort of, you know, kind of in his own, introverted and things like that I guess. And sort of does all these kind of extreme things just because he can. You know, he’s very interested in base jumping and motorcycles and the container home by the water with the wonderful view. And he grew up without his father and is now kind of going to search or find his father. And once he gets into this world it’s, he was right all this time. And then there’s the light bikes and the discs and the game grid and all this sort of stuff comes to play.

You get to do a lot of physical stuff too in the film?

Hedlund: Yeah, initially when we started this, I started the first week in January. Started with motorcycle training and getting my license and after the hour and a half of motorcycle training, I’d drive over to 8711 where the stunt coordinator David Leach, that’s his compound. And so we’d do the fight training there; we’d do, you know, sort of exercises and jumps. And do that for an hour and a half and a lot of hand-to-hand combat. And then trained with the trainer Logan Hood who, you know, sort of trained all the 300 guys for Jeff Silver. And trained with him for an hour, intensive training so. The two months of that felt like I’d already filmed the film. And now we come on to this and we got to continue and keep it up. But everything is great sort of abilities to acquire.

Did you get to, I know the light cycles are CG but are you actually riding a motorcycle at some point in this?

Hedlund: Motorcycle yeah. The beginning sequence in the film is kind of a pseudo chase and also, yeah a big old sort of chase sequence with the motorcycle there. And then we get onto the light bikes and I think that we’ll be doing in September back in L.A. or something, motion capture or something.

Did you do any father-son bonding with Jeff Bridges?

Hedlund: Yeah, somewhat. I mean, you know, very long days here and a lot of the times it can be distracting. I mean, usually you had time between camera setups but most of us are always being fiddled with getting lights glued back on or battery packs changed and or this and that and, you know, it’s always kind of something and–

Was that part of rehearsals though? To get a good vibe going?

Hedlund: Within the, yeah with I’ve always been such a fan of him and his kind of self character and his charisma and everything. And I knew I’d really get along with him and we did. It’s kind of…he’s got a very big portion of him that’s still just a kid. So it’s very easy for us. I mean we just kind of play games. I was saying yesterday, you know, he had the game, Pigs, the old fashioned one, where it’s the snout or the leading jowl or how they land. And, you know, so it’s always funny going back and forth like that, like woo man yeah! So but yeah I mean such long hours the weekends you’re really just trying to restore, regain, what you’ve lost over the week. So most of us sort of flee our own ways and cocoon and then we come back to set, hopefully refreshed.

Did you pick up any of his, maybe his mannerisms at all since you’re his spawn?

Hedlund: I think…naturally for father and son and stuff like that if he was doing something I would, you know, almost kind of mirror it a little bit. Gestures and leaning up against something kind of had that, cause I know I have that with my dad. I’d come back in from the field, he’d be like did you finish cultivating? I’d be like well I went up and down, I still got to go kitty-corner and then I’d lean and then, you know, so it’s like you lean just like your father. So it was those little things, you know? Or hands and what you’re doing with your gestures, how you annunciate things and so it’s nice, yeah.

I don’t know the end of the movie but your character is sort of the protagonist in the same way that Jeff’s character was in the first Tron.

Hedlund: Yeah I mean–

So, did you guys compare notes?

Hedlund: You know, it’s funny chatting to him about it. I mean I won’t say how he referred to what he felt of his performance within that but. Definitely, you know, trying to still have a sense of life and freedom and all of this kind of energy. And also the wits and the smarts and always trying to sort of achieve something or always putting something together. And figuring things out, you know? That’s what a lot of this is, is I’m always just trying to figure something out. And, you know, that’s, there’s a lot of tricks that kind of go on throughout this film and a lot of revealing, you know, so it’s.

Is it difficult as an actor, I mean, my assumption is that the way it sounds at least in how it’s been described is that your character sort of stumbles into this world that you’ve never really experience before. Is it difficult as an actor shooting a movie out of sequence and to sort of track that sense of sort of wonder and amazement at everything you’re seeing, your character is seeing presumably for the first time?

Hedlund: Mmm hmm, yeah, definitely. Just kind of within that, you know, very sort of once you get into the world and once me and Flynn come to being together it’s sort of very impressed with everything that this man has kind of accomplished. And at the same time, it’s all blue screen, you know, at this point. So yeah, you got to look out. I mean, um, I’m constantly ask what you’re seeing here, how bright is that, you know, how loud is that, how many of them are there? And…

And how do you get the answer? Do you have pre-viz that you look at or…

Hedlund: Yeah they do have their, they do have a rough assembly of pre-viz of what they’re going to sort of, it’s going to kind of track to look like. Other than that, then you also don’t want to do the same, you know, steal from your pre-viz character what he’s doing…like how he stepped there. You know, or I like how, or that was a really good reaction just seeing that [LAUGHTER]. You know, the pre-viz doesn’t even look like me, it looks like some sort of six foot four Italian guy. So, it’s like is that what they really wanted?

Do you feel some kind of, you know, you are the protagonist and this kind of restarts a continuation of what is currently going to be a major franchise, a budding franchise for Disney. Day to day does that feel like a big load on your shoulders? How does that manifest?

Hedlund: Not really, I mean, I’ve always kind of felt that, you know, if you think about things that way it can only take away from you. I mean I sort of approached this film like, you know, the last film I did was a smaller budget film. You had the ability to be yourself; there wasn’t so much pressure on you. It’s only what you put out there is, you know, sometimes you’re not asked for certain things. And so it’s always trying to, I mean, within that yeah, I just try and alleviate all of the possibilities of stress whatsoever from my mind. Because I don’t feel an extreme amount of pressure in this position. Maybe that’s good or maybe somebody wouldn’t feel as much but, you know, each day is such a new sort of thing. I mean a new, a new part of the story where, you know, from the solar sailor, you know, on the game grids or every day is so different to where you’re mostly just trying to focus on that day in particular. What you’re going to do, how you’re going to make it believable. And not about, you know, the grand sort of spectrum of things to what could be or, you know, all that. It’s more of a fear than, you know, anything else, you know? I have an extreme amount of curiosity to see what this is all going to look like because for now when you look at playbacks in the monitor it’s just, you know, your mug and a blue screen. You can become critical, you’re like oh I flinched there, or I blinked there. Man I shouldn’t blink so much and then it’s like [LAUGH] but there’s going to be all this glorious stuff back there that’s going to be taking a lot of focus off yourself as well. So I can.

I don’t know how much of a fan you were of the original film but have you had that moment where you say to yourself oh my god I’m in Tron?

Hedlund: Yeah from the, I mean, when we were doing the disc stuff for me because we haven’t really tackled the the light bike stuff yet or anything but, you know, a couple weeks ago we had to do the disc game platform. And I remember watching the first one and, you know, when I must have watched, I probably watched it in 2003. So when you’re watching that you just say you’re kind of giggling to yourself like man there’s a story around, you know, being within a sort of computer. And all this and they’re wearing hockey helmets, and throwing, you know, a Frisbee is the weapon. Or like, you know, and then it actually was the Frisbee and so now, you know, how many years, you know, after that point when I just watched it out of pure amusement, you know? Now you’re throwing, I can’t even say it. But no, you’re throwing the discs and doing the spin and, you know, saying your lines and it’s all very surreal within that, yeah.

How many discs can you hit?

Hedlund: I hit them in the head. Take 37 apples.

40 feet away, it was a great shot.

Hedlund: It was funny because these guys are sitting at a monitor which, I mean, you know, where their video village was like that. It’s so hard, if you would’ve seen the target that I had to throw at it was basi– it was literally the size of a barn. And it stuck to my hand and flings off this way and sort of does a curve back this way and they’re all watching the monitors with the glasses on them. And like oh I wonder where that one’s going to go. But I’m like Claudio! And like they all, you know, Claudio ducks out of the way, the DP. And he ducks down and because I got this visor on it’s like wearing prescription glasses when you don’t have a prescription. You know, so I can’t see so by the time he ducked down I thought I had killed him. [LAUGHTER] And then like Claudio, are you alright? And then all I see is, you know, Claudio is still ducking and I see Justin come up like this. [LAUGHTER]

That’s real 3D.

Hedlund: Yeah, yeah.

With regard to the costumes, was, what was your reaction when you saw kind of what you were going to be in and then like how do you get comfortable in it?

Hedlund: It was actually interesting. Back in Los Angeles we went to a structure in Burbank called the MPCC. And trying the suit on, I mean, you had to go through every stage of it. You know, first maybe it just started with a rough form of the pants, you know. None of these gravings were even in there, no lights, no cords whatsoever, just the pants. You know, those are naturally uncomfortable. I mean just wearing, you know, this kind of under armor form, cause we got it under here too, that’s always uncomfortable. You can feel every single hair on your body movement, you know? And then you try the top on and then, you know, just kept going in stages. Then you got to come back and try it on when they got the cords going through. Then you got to come back and try it on when they got lights to put on it. Then you got to come back when they got boots ready. And then you got to come back when they got a helmet they want to try on you. And then you got to come back when they want to light you up. And it was all these, I must have went back 29 times. Even once I got out here, we were filming and all my weekends went to flying back because we had a month shooting real world stuff. And so I’ve constantly have to take my weekends and fly back and go try the suit on and fly back, get back filming. You know, so but with the suit it was always funny because for the two hours you’re in it while trying it on you’re always like, jokishly, we got to do this for how long? You know, and then the next one you’re like, two months? And then, you know, and so it’s and then once you have to put it on for the first day it’s just, it seems like the longest day in the world. And, you know, your body is doing different things. They got foot straps down here to keep the pants low enough so they don’t raise up. You got this on and you got the boots and the top holds this one up but this has to hold the top down. And so when I raise my right arm I’m feeling a tug on my left foot. [LAUGHTER] And it’s all these different things and your shoulders go out, I mean. I’ve had a lot of chiropractic readjustments. But to the point where I had, you know, both shoulders out and three ribs out, like both hips. Like it’s all just from the, you know, when you can’t sit down and the lower back is going.

That’s why they pay you the big bucks.

Hedlund: Yeah right. [LAUGHTER]

We were looking at the helmets, I mean–I can’t imagine having that helmet on for all day.

Hedlund: Well that one it’s nice cause you can get that one off. These, you know, some of the other cast members have little more technical helmets. In cave, they have to have a cooling system within there, a fan blowing around. Even one of our other cast members has a screen inside cause he can’t see out of anything in his helmet so there’s a camera here. And then the night’s dark here, his vision is dark here. But after two months in the suit, it’s miraculous how it’s just another day at work, you know? Cause the first week it was just like, is it too late to try and resign?

Did you do any method acting?

Hedlund: Within this? I mean, what–

Do you try to get far away from it after hours as you can?

Hedlund: Within this it’s trickier than I ever have to, you know, cause on certain films like the last one I did, I played the leader of a whole sort of, you know, kind of gang of thugs in any town anywhere. And, you know, it’s a very sort of dark story, you know. And my father’s John Goodman and I shoot him in the head, and, you know. Kevin Bacon and Kelly Preston, and I kill them and the kid. Both kids, I kill both kids, so, you know–

I see. So this is the same kind of role?

Hedlund: With that, you know, the trailer time is put to a sort of unique kind of use. Cause what’s not written on the page you’re constantly striving to sort of, you know, write some down, all these kind of ideas, options, alternates. And, you know, and you’re in the trailer for hours so there’s this certain annoyance that can just really rise. There’s, you can go very serious with it, I mean. In this it’s hard because you’re want to be really serious with what you’re doing and always in track of where you want to go with this, but there’s also, it’s a strange process that in between every take, time that you would be thinking about other routes and other routes people are always constantly around you doing this and doing that. Fanning the hov or replacing a light, oh we got 10 minutes before the next one? Let’s replace the light, I’m like no, no let me go and think a little bit. It’s, you know, it gets hard that way. Very distracting but, you know, somehow we are able to make it work at the end of the day, you know?

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All of the old favorites were there: the light cycles, light discs, the battle ships and the spectacular recognizers. Can I use the word “sexy” to describe this trailer? Yes, I can! It is as if, the director of Tron Legacy, Joseph Kosinski, physically took the cast and crew into this video game and began to shoot a movie. It looks that good! A world that is a mix between The Matrix meets, well… Tron. This got the audience really excited for the upcoming sequel. But the audiences excitement quickly turned into disappointment when the release date was revealed at the very end. December 17th 2010 is the official release date for Tron Legacy.

This begs the question: Why did Disney have this event in the first place? The trailer was going to be released next week in front of Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. The movie isn’t coming out for another 10 months. How soon is too soon to create hype? I guess it’s never too soon to create hype considering this movie was featured at The San Diego Comic Con for the last 3 years. And with the success with Avatar and Avatar Day, maybe Disney would benefit from the very early buzz. Even if it was for only 2 and a half minutes. And only played once. I guess any press IS good press.

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Yes, it was just a trailer. A teaser trailer. But *what* a teaser trailer.

Spoilers warning!

* We open on some very The Dark Knight imagery of a helicopter on top of the Encom building. The footage of Garrett Hedlund as Sam (fils-de Jeff Bridges) Flynn. He’s on a motorcycle, zooming around. Next he’s talking to Alan One himself, Bruce Boxleitner, looking a lot like one of the great That Guys, Bruce Davison.

* Alan One tells Flynn the Younger he’s tried to find his father, but, dammit, he’s gone! Next Flynn the Younger goes to the boarded up Flynn’s Arcade. In a feat of metatextuality, the actual TRON coin-op game is there. He puts in a quarter, but it doesn’t take. It falls on the floor. If I were a smarter man, I’d read all sorts of Freudian symbolism in this. While putzing around on the floor, he moves the game, finds a hole in the wall (much like the San Diego Comic-Con fake arcade) and enters a spooky lab-OR-atory.

* He sits at the desk, plays around with a cool looking computer and – guess what? Right behind him is the laser that the MCP used to zap Jeff Bridges in the original.

* Blackout.

* Then we see a GIANT EFFING AWESOME Recognizer facing down a human. It has a red, menacing trim. Then a blast of quick imagery flew by. I’m pretty sure I saw Sam Flynn behind the wheel of a Recognizer and I saw Jeff Bridges leading a band of “programs.” Also: a quick shot of Olivia Wilde that proved this film had intense, private rewatch value. We did not see the MCP. But, there was also one shot of a lightcycle heading toward a cityscape that looked phenomenal.

* After the “coming this December” (note – the title treatment for Tron Legacy was a little different than from what we’ve seen so far) there was a really short tag – it was of one lightcycle smashing into another and everyone around me went “coooooool.”

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“It was challenging, in that I got a little taste of this new technology of acting what they call ‘in the volume’ and making movies without cameras,” Bridges said in a group interview Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was promoting the drama Crazy Heart. “It’s a completely different deal. That was kind of a challenge. It was great getting back with my old buddy, [original Tron director] Steven Lisberger, and Bruce Boxleitner.” Boxleitner, who played the dual roles of Alan Bradley and Tron in the original film, will appear in the sequel as an age-appropriate Bradley.

Fans got a taste of Bridges’ mysterious dual role in the original teaser for Tron Legacy, which screened two Comic-Cons ago (embedded below). The teaser gives a sense of how they’ve updated familiarTron effects, such as the light cycles and flying discs, but Bridges said that’s only the beginning of what’s in store for Tron Legacy.

“All that technology that we were going to use in the movie itself is used in the trailer,” Bridges continued. “It wasn’t as highly polished as the movie is going to be, but it gives you a little peek into what you might find. That teaser was something they do kind of often with movies, and I think it’s a good idea. The Coen brothers told me they did it with making Blood Simple. Before they even shoot the movie at all, they shoot the trailer of the movie, as if it was already made, and then they use that to entice the financiers. So, even though it was a Disney property, Disney wanted them to shoot this pretty expensive trailer. I don’t know how much it cost, but it was pretty expensive.” The teaser footage was actually test footage that won’t likely appear in the finished movie.

In Tron Legacy, Kevin Flynn’s son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), goes back into the digital world to find his lost father. Olivia Wilde and Michael Sheen co-star as programs living in the world of computer programs. Boxleitner also reprises his role from the original Tron. Lisberger collaborates as a producer. Joseph Kosinski directs the new vision of Tron.

“I used to love to pretend when I was a kid,” Bridges said. “Here’s a movie that they say, ‘You get to play a guy who gets sucked inside a computer.’ Ooh, yeah. Use all the modern technology that’s available today, [and] the same goes with the sequel, except all the technology that we’re using in that makes the old one look like an old black-and-white TV show or something. Gosh, it’s amazing what they’ve got going on this. I can’t wait to see it all pasted together.”

Tron Legacy has completed principal photography but will not be finished with post-production effects until its release, currently slated for December 2010.

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Filmmakers and members of the cast, including Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn, introduced footage revealing that the story revolves around Kevin’s son Sam.

“I go on search for my father and find myself in this crazy world,” said actor Garrett Hedlund, who plays Sam Flynn.

What he finds is that the world of Tron has been sitting on a server and in that time has evolved on its own. “It’s become darker and more realistic, feeling more like a photo surreal environment,” director Joe Kosinski said.

The footage screened during the panel showed Sam entering the dilapidated Flynn’s Arcade, a building that ought to be familiar to fans of the first film. As he walks through the arcade, the games are covered in sheets of plastic and a layer of dust. He fires up the electricity in the building, making all of the ’80s-era games turn on.

Sam notices one game in the back of the arcade with a huge neon sign that says “Tron.” After unsuccessfully trying to put a quarter into the machine, he notices a groove in the floor. Pulling the arcade game from the wall, Sam Flynn finds an entrance in the wall, so he walks in.

The footage ended there, but as anyone who has heard about last year’s Comic-Con knows, Sam’s father is trapped inside the virtual world of Tron, and has become a much more menacing character.

Bridges, for whom the capacity crowd cheered loudly when he entered, said that coming back to the role wasn’t as hard as he imagined it would be after 27 years. “You think you’d kind of forget those things, but you fall right back into it. It wasn’t that difficult,” he said.

Bridges said the technology of the Tron world is on a whole new level now. “The first ‘Tron,’ when we made that, there was no Internet,” he said. “So what you saw was so new and fresh. I can guarantee you’re going to get that same pop with this one. Everything is going to be superized.”

Actress Olivia Wilde said she plays a “loyal confidant” to Kevin Flynn. “I’m a big fan of the original film, and it was just really exciting to be a part of this. That’s an understatement,” she said.

Kosinski shared shots of Tron City and images of the Gladiatorial Games. The Disc Wars will return, but they’ll function like a physical manifestation of a tournament bracket with all of the battles happening at the same time. The high-tech floor of the Disc Wars game board will adjust each time a competitor is eliminated so the winner will have to play his next opponent until only two combatants remain.

What is probably the most recognizable element of “Tron,” the Light Cycles, will also return, although they will have gone through several generations. Images were shown of the fifth generation cycle, though Kosinski said there will be a part of the movie that travels back in time to the ’80s. There we’ll see the second generation of the light cycle, which is alleged to be the fastest thing on the grid.

Steven Lisberger, who was the director of the original “Tron,” came back for this movie. He is thrilled with the way the makers of the new film have taken his vision and updated it for modern audiences. “When we did the first film, nothing was real. No one had a PC,” Lisberger said. “We got to go to this frontier first and we just got to dream big.”

The 3-D footage shown at last year’s Comic-Con was then presented again, showing a much colder version of Bridges’ Kevin Flynn beating down an opponent on a light cycle.

During the question and answer session of the panel, Kosinski was asked why he decided to have Daft Punk do all the music for the movie. “How could you not at least go to those guys?” he replied, to cheers from the crowd. Although filmmakers didn’t have any new 3-D footage to share, Kosinski said there would be plenty more for next year’s Comic-Con.

“We’ve probably got three or four things in this movie that have never been done before, and we’re doing them all at the same time,” he said. “I promise you that next year at Comic-Con you’ll see some things you haven’t seen before.”

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Olivia Wilde (who plays a loyal friend of Kevin Flynn), Garrett Hedlund and the Dude, Jeff Bridges were on hand for some Q & A. No trailer, no final footage persay, as it was announced that they had just finished shooting last week. But we did see a rough assembly cut of a key scene in the film: Spoilers from our next trip to the ENCOM mainframe begin here.

Hedlund as Flynn’s son pulls up to his father’s condemned arcade, and the scene milks some genuine — and surprising — tension using, wait for it, a Journey song. 

Flynn’s son enters an arcade full of old arcade games sporting dust covers. He moves further into the room, as Journey’s “Separate Ways” blares from a still-functioning jukebox. (You were expecting Guitar Hero?). 

The son explores further, past arcade games draped in plastic, to a game in the back that is still on, a game under a neon sign that reads TRON. We glimpse the young Flynn playing the original TRON arcade we pumped quarters into growing up. Flynn’s son tries to drop a quarter into the slot and the game refuses it, spitting out his quarter to the floor. 

Journey is still blaring from the jukebox, and the tension is really pounding. Flynn’s son picks up his quarter and sees that the game conceals a secret passage behind the wall. He pushes aside the game, opens the passage, and enters — the song continues as the game closes in over the passage, locking Flynn inside before cutting to titles. 

The panel also showed the teaser trailer from last year’s SDCC, but now in 3-effin’-D. The trailer features a new Light Cycle chased by an old one of sorts, its rider sporting black and yellow grid attire as the yellow rider’s light wake destroys our new rider’s bike. The rider is knocked into the air and lands on the ground, stalked by the yellow rider on foot — as an older Flynn (Bridges) watches from a cliff-face lair. “You’ve won, alright?!” begs the new rider, as the Yellow Rider readies a disc. 

“It’s just a game,” the new rider insists — inches from death. The yellow rider’s face shield then flickers to life, revealing a digital visage of a young Flynn — before he answers, “Not anymore” — and brings the disc down for a killing stroke as we cut to black. 

Rounding out the panel was a sneak peek at the new world of Legacy via concept art, which blends the worlds of Blade Runner and A.I. with that of the original Tron. 

Expect scenes off the grid to play a significant role in the new movie, as the panel revealed a new look for Tron City, one surrounded by very black, very rocky terrain a la the wasteland outside Zion in the Matrix movies. 

Disc Wars were up next, and they get a huge evolution. We saw a rendering of a new arena for the games, which feature 16 combatants on various platforms that recombine as the matches widdle down to 2 players. The goal now for players is two-fold — strike down your opponent with the disc or score a knock out into de-res for the win. 

Footage shot of an athlete engaging in awesome, beyond wire-fu Disc War moves concluded the behind-the-scenes showcase. The coolest thing about this part, aside from the guy spinning 360 in mid-air, was that he did it without the aid of wires. Without the aid of CG or a springboard. This athlete is a human Neo, apparently, which he reminded us by finishing a spin move and tossing the disc in John Woo slow motion. 

TRON: Legacy was arguably the best presentation from the Disney panel, right after Johnny Depp’s surprise appearance. No one knew quite what to expect, but everyone wants this movie ASAP. We all left with mouths wide in awe at a sequel that promises to make its mark in the competitive 3-D landscape.

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For Garrett and Olivia, what was your entry point to Tron? Was it something that you watched growing up?

Garrett Hedlund: It’s kind of unique how I did it because I was working on my first film and I’d ended up watching Tron for the first time in Malta on a balcony in an alley, and you sort of have this slight kind of instinct at some point. There’s something really going on about Watchmen and about working with all the guys, I was really excited that way, I was really moved when somebody introduced me, I was kind of — it was a great time and even more sort of surreal to be working with all these guys, it’s crazy for me.

Olivia Wilde: Well Garret and I were both released after Tron was released so I was aware that because it because sort of a phenomenon in the culture obviously, I think I was first aware when it was referenced in different music videos, games, TV shows, I think T-Shirts, I probably saw a Tron T-Shirt before I saw the movie, and the first time I really watched it carefully was before the meeting with Joe. I admit, but I’m glad I did, it holds up, I mean right now that retro-funky look that it has is just as cool to watch, I think. It was revolutionary for its time, and we’re revolutionary for our time so it’s very, very exciting for us.
Garrett what was the most demanding of you, physically or for your character?

Garrett: Maybe next year you’ll get a better glimpse, but once in the Tron world, you know it’s fantastic and it looks amazing every time it’s onscreen especially in 3-D, but for two months straight of, you know, all day everyday, you being in this, you start forgetting what it was like film the film with just jeans and a T-Shirt, but physically you’re grueling just day after day and either the cable works or the certain stunts we had to do, you know the most minimal of stuff, can be very tedious and just taking one knee and holding your arms out straight is tough. It just looks great.

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