In an interview with MTV Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski gave same details about his upcoming December film. One of worthy note is how the 3D mirrors the way Wizard of Oz used color. He also talks about Jeff Bridges performance and a possible MPAA rating. Check out some of the interview below and click here for a new poster released yesterday.
MTV: How immersive is the 3-D? Is it start to finish, or does it pop up in key sequences?
Kosinski: Our approach is not like “Avatar,” which I think is 3-D from the first shot to the last. Ours is sort of a “Wizard of Oz” approach. Ninety-eight percent of the 3-D is in the world of “Tron.” The 3-D really starts once we get into the Tron world.
MTV: Is the technology you’re using similar to what James Cameron used or what Robert Zemeckis has used?
Kosinski: It’s a combination of technologies that Zemeckis has been using in terms of the completely digital motion-capture of a character and for the live-action camera system. We used a camera developed by James Cameron’s company. We used a newer generation of camera than the one used on “Avatar.” They built it specifically for us.
MTV: So the takeaway is that Jeff Bridges is playing at least two representations of himself, one that is a contemporary of the original character and one that is a younger version. How much of Jeff are we going to see?
Kosinski: Jeff is playing two characters. He’s playing Kevin Flynn, the character from the original film, and he’s playing Clu, the avatar that Kevin Flynn created in the 1980s. I’d say he’s Clu 2. There was a Clu in the first film who looked like Jeff but was very simple in terms of his abilities. He’s very stiff. Clu 2 is a second incarnation of Kevin’s avatar. He doesn’t only look like Jeff, but he can think like him too. So it’s a whole new level of artificial intelligence.
MTV: What strikes me from the teaser and my visit to the set is that this is a dark film, an adult approach to the material. It’s not a G-rated Disney film.
Kosinski: I don’t know if I would say adult. There’s nothing in the film that would keep kids from watching it. I think the aesthetic of the film is largely a reflection of my aesthetic and what I’m interested in. When you make a movie, you can only make the movie that you would want to see. For me, it was taking what I loved about the first film, which was the design elements that Syd Mead and Moebius [a.k.a. Jean Giraud] did, which I feel is timeless, and extrapolate it forward 28 years. We’re saying in the world of the computer, it’s been thousands of years and it has evolved.
MTV: Has there been a mandate in terms of rating?
Kosinski: While making the movie, we never did anything to serve a particular rating. We made the movie we wanted to make. I think Disney would be really happy with a PG rating. But I haven’t had it reviewed by anyone. I imagine it will be PG or PG-13.
Check out the full interview here.
Tron: Legacy hits theaters December 17th, 2010.
What do you think about this approach to 3D?